What is intensive insulin therapy?

Intensive insulin therapy is considered as an aggressive treatment designed to control your blood sugar levels. Intensive insulin therapy generally requires close monitoring of blood sugar levels and multiple doses of insulin.

In case you choose to try intensive insulin therapy, you will eventually figure out with your doctor to set various goals based on your age, overall health and individual factors. Ideally, this simply means:

1. Blood sugar level before meals: Between 70 to 130 milligrams per deciliter
2. Blood sugar level two hours after meals: less than 180 milligrams per deciliter
3. HemoglobinA1C level: less than 7 percent

What are the key benefits of intensive insulin therapy?

Intensive insulin therapy is believed to prevent or slow the progression of long-term diabetes complications.

Various studies indicate that intensive insulin therapy can:

1. Help in reducing the risk of eye damage by more than 75 per cent
2. Help in reducing the risk of nerve damage by 60 percent
3. Tend to prevent or slow the progression of kidney disease by 50 percent

Intensive insulin therapy tends to boost your energy and help you feel better in general.

What’s your task?

In order to achieve tight blood sugar control with intensive insulin therapy, you need to follow a strict treatment regimen.

1. You may need frequent doses of insulin- You might need an injection of rapid-acting insulin before each meal and also an injection of long-acting insulin before you go to bed.
2. You must check your blood sugar regularly- You should check your blood sugar at least four times a day, before meals and bedtime, possibly more often than you are used to. It’s also important that you track the results of each blood sugar test.
3. You must closely monitor your eating and exercise plans- What you consume has a direct effect on your blood sugar. Also, your physical activity influences blood sugar. You need to track what you eat and how much you exercise in a detailed diary.

Continuous Glucose Monitoring is a new way for people living with diabetes to check glucose readings in real-time or monitor glucose readings over a period of time. CGM system will automatically receive glucose readings every 5 minutes. It reduces the need for finger pricks. CGM can be used with or without an insulin pump.

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