Insulin therapy for type 2 diabetes: the benefits and key considerations

If you’re living with type 2 diabetes, you might be wondering about insulin therapy. For many, insulin is the next step if initial treatments are not effective at keeping blood sugar levels under control¹. If you’re feeling nervous about starting insulin injections, you’re not alone – and you probably have some questions². Let’s explore some answers to common questions about the benefits of starting insulin, and important considerations for managing type 2 diabetes.

Remember, if you have any concerns around your diabetes management, it’s important to reach out to your healthcare professional to get the support you need.

In people with type 2 diabetes, the levels of sugar in the blood are too high – this is known as hyperglycaemia¹.

Your body naturally produces insulin to keep your blood sugar levels within a healthy range. You could think of insulin as a key, that allows sugar to get out of the blood and into cells around parts of the body, such as the muscles¹. However, if blood sugar levels stay high for too long, the insulin your body makes becomes less effective and your pancreas has to work overtime to produce more¹. 

For many, diet and exercise alone is enough to keep blood sugar levels under control and manage their type 2 diabetes¹. However, as the disease progresses over time or if blood sugar levels stay high, it can be helpful to introduce medications to help you control your blood sugar levels¹. Insulin is prescribed for people with type 2 diabetes to keep their  blood sugar levels in a healthy range and prevent long term complications¹.

Today there are many different methods for producing insulins able to mimic the hormonal response of someone who does not have diabetes.

In the early 1900s, insulin from pancreas cells was discovered to help treat type 1 diabetes, which led to the development of the first insulin treatment made from purified animal insulin^3,4.

In the 1980s, insulin derived from animals was replaced with ‘human insulin’, which was made in a laboratory with DNA technology and is identical to the insulin produced by our bodies³.

Since the 1990s, different types of insulin called ‘insulin analogues’ were produced, which closely mimic the body’s natural pattern of released insulin⁴. Different types of insulin have different lengths of action; from helping with short-term control of blood sugar levels around meals (bolus insulin), to longer-term control of blood sugar levels (basal insulin)⁵. To this day, ongoing innovation in insulin therapies continues to improve the treatment of diabetes.

If you’ve been prescribed insulin therapy, the additional support it brings managing your blood sugar levels may help you keep the day-to-day symptoms of type 2 diabetes at bay.

When you eat and drink throughout the day, you’re taking in carbohydrates that cause your blood sugar to rise⁶. If it stays high, you can experience symptoms including excessive thirst, frequent urination and dry mouth¹.

One of the advantages of insulin therapy is that is helps to control these day-to-day symptoms, as insulin works to lower the amount of sugar in your blood¹. This can also help you feel more energetic in your daily life, with increased sugar stores within the rest of your body.

Another advantage of insulin therapy is it can help provide more control of your blood sugar levels around mealtimes, which can help to reduce the spikes in your blood sugar levels that you may experience after meals⁷.

If your blood sugar levels stays high for too long, you can develop more serious long-term complications, such as permanent damage to your nerves and eyes, as well as cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease⁸. Another important benefit of insulin therapy is that it can help prevent long-term complications by maintaining your blood sugar levels within a healthy range¹.

When you’re starting insulin therapy, it’s important to rotate injection sites to make sure you’re not accidentally impacting how much insulin you’re absorbing, or how fast it can get to work⁹.

If you’re injecting in the same location over and over, it may become inflamed, develop scar tissue or increase fat tissue under the skin, also called lipohypertrophy⁹. All of these factors can cause poor absorption, making your insulin therapy less effective at keeping your blood sugar levels within a healthy range⁹.

A healthcare professional can help you pull together a rotation routine that is right for you.

As a long-established, life-saving therapy option¹, there aren’t ‘cons’ or disadvantages to insulin therapy when it is needed and prescribed by a healthcare professional – but of course there are things to be aware of when starting insulin therapy such as the adverse effects that you could experience when using insulin for your type 2 diabetes, and you may have some questions or concerns. We have covered some key questions below.

When starting insulin therapy, some people may experience weight gain¹⁰. This can be for a number of different reasons, including how much you take, your diet and the type of insulin you’re taking¹⁰. For example, as insulin is a growth hormone¹, it can make you more hungry¹¹. You may then eat more than you actually need and the excess sugar will be stored as fat¹¹.

If weight gain is a concern for you personally, speak to your healthcare professional about managing it.

As it is a hormone, you can’t take insulin as a pill. Instead, it has to be injected. If you are worried about injecting or don’t like needles, you are not alone^9,12!

It’s normal to feel anxious about injections at first. The most common needles you may be imagining are those used for vaccines, which typically use  longer needles and are injected into the muscle. The good news is that for insulin, the needles used are much smaller and finer^9,12. This means injecting insulin isn’t painful at all for many people.

Despite this, it’s okay to still be nervous! Following the right steps and techniques can help you work through it^9,12. We’ve pulled together some tips for make injecting insulin more comfortable. Click here for more information on diabetes needle anxiety and top tips for injecting insulin.

As too much insulin can lead to low blood sugar, the side effects to watch out for are the same as those for hypoglycaemia - starting off as hunger, anxiety, blurred vision, sweating and headaches¹³. They will be similar to what you experience if you skip meals.¹⁴ More severe side effects include mental confusion, loss of consciousness and seizures¹³.

If you suspect you’ve taken too much insulin or experience any of these side effects, seek medical help immediately.

No, insulin therapy aids with balancing your blood sugar levels¹. When the right doses are taken, at the right time, your blood sugar levels should remain within a healthy range. That’s why it’s important to keep track of your blood sugar levels, stick to your prescribed insulin regime and know how to manage your symptoms to keep your blood sugar levels within a healthy range.

Starting insulin therapy might feel like a big change. You may be worried about injections, or even see it as a failure to manage your disease in other ways. These are normal reactions. But try to remember that it’s a positive change that will help you take control of your health and give your body the support it needs. With the right support and treatment, you can continue to live well with type 2 diabetes. If you have any remaining questions or concerns about insulin therapy, don’t hesitate to reach out to your healthcare professional.

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