Naturally Control Your Type 2: Diabetes

Control Your Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes: treatment

Weight Loss, Exercise, Tablets, Insulin: Patients with type 2 diabetes usually need a mix of several measures to get their blood sugar levels under control

After diagnosis, patients with type 2 diabetes typically receive medication immediately to lower blood sugar. Often this is metformin. If the treatment does not turn out as desired, the doctor may prescribe another or additional remedy. Many people also have to switch to insulin during the disease.

In addition to these medicines, changes in everyday behaviors are often crucial to treatment success. Those affected should reduce any overweight and move more in everyday life. Both can help to improve insulin action. In the early stages, these lifestyle measures can be enough to control diabetes and, in rare cases, even make it disappear.

Treatment goals: Always individual

Necessary to know: The different therapy modules for type 2 diabetes are ordered by the doctor depending on the particular case. Every patient needs his / her mix of measures according to his / her individual life situation and accompanying comorbidities.

This also applies to the treatment goals that doctor and patient jointly determine. The German Diabetes Society generally advises aiming for a corridor of 6.5 to 7.0 percent for the long-term blood glucose value HbA1c. If, for example, there is a risk of hypoglycemia in the patient, a slightly higher target value may make sense.

Read here an overview of the most essential therapeutic measures.

1. lose weight

Severe obesity is one of the most critical risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes. This is especially true when the fatty tissue accumulates on the stomach. This so-called internal or visceral fat produces substances that impair insulin action. The overweight reduction can help to restore insulin resistance. In part, losing weight is as effective as taking pills.

The weight goals agree with patients with the attending physician. This can also give tips on the right approach. As a rule, sufferers should lose weight through a combination of exercise and a healthy diet. Self-help groups, training, and weight loss programs in clinics and practices can help with this project.

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Overweight is usually an essential part of the therapy for type 2 diabetes. But how do you do it? Essential tips and information on how to lose weight

2. Movement

Physical activity is vital in diabetes for two reasons: firstly, muscles in motion consume more energy. This helps to lose weight. Also, sugar metabolism improves so that the cells respond better to insulin again.

For this, it is not necessary to do sweaty sport. The rule of thumb is that you should be so active about five times a week for every 30 minutes that you can quickly start to sweat. A brisk walk can thus help to improve sugar metabolism.

Patients should consult with their doctor to determine what workload is ideal in their case and what they can expect. In type 2 diabetes, there are often damage to the blood vessels, which can lead to a heart attack in case of excessive effort in the worst case.

However, this potential danger is no reason to give up on type 2 diabetes. The benefits are clear. At the right intensity, the risk is low. Also, being active helps to reduce the risk of a heart attack in the long term.

For all sanity, the fun should not be neglected. That's why it's essential to find a sport that suits you - whether it's running, swimming, cycling or yoga. This increases the chances of staying permanently on the ball.

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3. Medication

Antidiabetics are medicines used to treat high blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetes. This term covers funds from different classes of drugs, which begin at various points in the body.

Immediately after diagnosis, patients will usually receive metformin if there is no intolerance or any other reason against it. If the desired treatment success remains three months later, there is a second antidiabetic or insulin on top. If that does not work, the doctor may prescribe a third remedy.

The different blood sugar-lowering at a glance:

·       Biguanide: Metformin is the only biguanide approved in Germany. It improves the insulin sensitivity of the cells, inhibits the formation of new sugar in the liver, and delays the passage of sugar from the intestine into the blood.

·       Sulfonylureas: They stimulate the pancreas to release more insulin. Sulfonylureas, therefore, only work as long as patients still produce their insulin. The hypo risk is increased with them. 

·       Alpha Glucosidase Inhibitors: They delay the breakdown of carbohydrates in the gut. Sugar passes more slowly into the blood.

·       SGLT-2 inhibitors: They cause the kidneys to excrete more sugar through the urine by blocking the protein SGLT-2, which redirects sugar from the organs back into the bloodstream.

·       Glitazones: They improve the insulin sensitivity of the cells so that they can absorb more sugar from the blood.

·       Glinide: works like sulfonylureas by stimulating insulin production in the pancreas.

·       DDP-4 inhibitors (Gliptine): Inhibit the breakdown of the intestinal hormone GLP-1. As a result, the pancreas produces more insulin, and the gastric emptying is delayed, the liver releases less sugar. 

·       GLP-1 analogs Imitate the action of the intestinal hormone GLP-1 (see Gliptine). In contrast to other antidiabetics, they are injected - like insulin.

 

                                                   Drugs for type 2 diabetes in the profile

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4. Insulin

In people with type 2 diabetes, the pancreas first attempts to compensate for the decreased insulin sensitivity of the cells by increasing the production of the hormone. Over time, however, the forces of the organ diminish, so that insulin production often comes to a complete standstill. This is often the case after several years of illness. Patients then need insulin therapy. That is, they need to inject insulin - usually with a pen, a device reminiscent of a fountain pen.

Today's insulin for diabetes treatment is usually produced artificially in the laboratory (so-called insulin analogs) and differ in onset, maximum, and duration. Short-acting insulins reduce blood sugar after five to 30 minutes and work for a maximum of four to eight hours. They are mainly sprayed with meals as a so-called bolus.

In long-acting insulins, however, an effect occurs only after two to four hours. They work for up to 24 hours, sometimes even longer. They serve to cover the Insulingrundbedarf at about the night - the so-called basal needs. Also, there are retarded insulins ( NPH insulins ), which, as it were, form a middle ground between short- and long-acting insulins.

Also, different therapy schemes are available. Which one is used depends mainly on the circumstances of the patient: Some only need insulin to support the tablets at certain times, others an intensified insulin therapy.