Type 2 Diabetes and Diet

Diabetes and Drug Treatments

Types of Diabetes

There are various types of diabetes that can impact people of all ages. Type 1 diabetes is a situation in which a person’s body does not produce enough insulin. Type 1 diabetes is also known as juvenile diabetes because it regularly occurs in children and in young adults. Type 2 diabetes is a situation in which the body’s cells simply do not respond in the appropriate way to the insulin produced in their bodies (Arcangelo & Peterson, 2006). Type 2 diabetes is the most common variant of diabetes with roughly 9 out of every 10 cases being one in which the type of diabetes is type 2. This type usually sets in later in life, around middle age.

Gestational diabetes happens in pregnant women who have not been diagnosed as diabetic before. Their blood sugar levels to elevate during pregnancy, which causes them to experience this type of diabetes. After pregnancy, gestational diabetes can become type 2 diabetes in women and may pose a threat for the child as well.

Drug Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes

As type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, there are numerous drugs that are available to treat it. Preparation for this drug treatment requires a prescription and a diagnosis from one’s physician, without which the drug cannot be obtained. Humulin N is one drug used to treat type 2 diabetes. It is a man-made form of insulin called insulin isophane. Since insulin is what helps the body to lower blood sugar levels, Humulin N does the job: it is an intermediate-acting insulin that can be active for roughly a whole day—anywhere from 12 to 18 hours. It is injected into the body by a syringe-type device called a KwikPen and can be self-administered by the patient (Drugs, 2012). This is the most common form of administration of drug treatment for individuals with this type of diabetes.

Dietary Considerations

Diet plays a considerable part in the lives of diabetics. As many foods especially in today’s day and age are artificially high in sugar content, patients who suffer from type 2 diabetes should strive to consume diets that are organic and all-natural and they should resist consuming sugary beverages like sodas. When they eat diets high in sugar content, their bodies struggle to regulate this additional sugar amount as their cells already have difficulty absorbing the insulin in the body that helps them to process the sugar. So eating a diet high in sugar only compounds the issue. By cutting out sugary content, diabetics can also lose weight as obesity is commonly associated with type 2 diabetes, indicating a long-standing problem of poor diet (Hruby & Hu, 2015). Moore (2018) indicates that food has long been associated with healing powers throughout century and that diet alone can often serve as a type of treatment for diabetes.

Short-Term and Long-Term Impact of Type 2 Diabetes including Drug Effects

Hypoglycemia is one short-term impact of type 2 diabetes and can be a side effect of Humulin N. Blood sugar levels should be monitored daily when taking this drug. Long-term impacts of type 2 diabetes can include damaged blood vessels in the heart as well as in the brain and the legs. This is a condition known as macrovascular disease and is something that patients of type 2 diabetes are at risk of developing over time (Mohammedi et al., 2016). Patients can also suffer from kidney failure and eye sight failure over time. Having the right diet can reduce the risk of these symptoms developing over the long term.