If you have type 2 diabetes, you have more options to control blood sugar than ever before. But just because one drug—insulin—has been around for 90 years , doesn’t mean it’s less useful or important than other drugs.
If you have type 2 diabetes, you have more options to control blood sugar than ever before, including no less than six classes of oral medication and an injectable drug based on lizard venom,Byetta.
Still, just because one certain drug—insulin—has been around for nearly a century doesn't mean that it should be considered as less useful or less important than other "more modern" medications. In fact, insulin's tried-and-true safety record and ironclad ability to lower blood sugar in all patients make some doctors more likely to recommend it sooner rather than later in some people with type 2 diabetes.
"Insulin is an appropriate choice at any point," says John Buse, MD, PhD, director of the Diabetes Care Center at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, in Chapel Hill. "You can start it as the first therapy for diabetes. In some countries, such as Germany, many doctors advocate that as the best approach."
Why Insulin Makes Sense for People With Type 2 Diabetes
Still, just because one certain drug—insulin—has been around for nearly a century doesn't mean that it should be considered as less useful or less important than other "more modern" medications. In fact, insulin's tried-and-true safety record and ironclad ability to lower blood sugar in all patients make some doctors more likely to recommend it sooner rather than later in some people with type 2 diabetes.
"Insulin is an appropriate choice at any point," says John Buse, MD, PhD, director of the Diabetes Care Center at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, in Chapel Hill. "You can start it as the first therapy for diabetes. In some countries, such as Germany, many doctors advocate that as the best approach."
