How is diabetes treated?

How is diabetes treated?

Treatments for diabetes depend on your type of diabetes, how well controlled your blood glucose level is and your other existing health conditions.

• Type 1 diabetes: If you have this type, you must take insulin every day. Your pancreas no longer makes insulin.
• Type 2 diabetes: If you have this type, your treatments can include medications (both for diabetes and for conditions that are risk factors for diabetes), insulin and lifestyle changes such as losing weight, making healthy food choices and being more physically active.
• Prediabetes: If you have prediabetes, the goal is to keep you from progressing to diabetes. Treatments are focused on treatable risk factors, such as losing weight by eating a healthy diet (like the Mediterranean diet) and exercising (at least five days a week for 30 minutes). Many of the strategies used to prevent diabetes are the same as those recommended to treat diabetes (see prevention section of this article).
• Gestational diabetes: If you have this type and your glucose level is not too high, your initial treatment might be modifying your diet and getting regular exercise. If the target goal is still not met or your glucose level is very high, your healthcare team may start medication or insulin.

Oral medications and insulin work in one of these ways to treat your diabetes:

• Stimulates your pancreas to make and release more insulin.
• Slows down the release of glucose from your liver (extra glucose is stored in your liver).
• Blocks the breakdown of carbohydrates in your stomach or intestines so that your tissues are more sensitive to (better react to) insulin.
• Helps rid your body of glucose through increased urination.