Treating type 1 diabetes

People with type 1 diabetes require insulin administration as soon the disease is diagnosed, because their insulin-producing cells have been destroyed. Therefore insulin is vital for them. It lowers blood sugar levels effectively and helps keep diabetes in control.

A variety of insulin preparations make it possible to use different insulin regimens. All of these regimens require insulin injections under the skin, since there presently is no other effective way of delivering it. Insulin regimens range from one or two up to four or more daily insulin injections. Different injection devices  and insulin pumps are available to increase the convenience and precision of treatment with insulin.

The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), the largest study ever conducted in Type 1 diabetes, has established that intensive insulin treatment reduced the risk of diabetes-specific complications: development of diabetes eye disease by 76%, diabetes kidney disease by 54% and of nerve damage by 60%.

Intensive insulin treatment involves either the administration of three or more injections of insulin daily or the use of an external pump. Frequent self-testing of blood glucose is crucial for the success of intensive insulin treatment.  The world’s first combined insulin doser and blood glucose monitor InDuo™ can help people with diabetes to manage intensive insulin therapy.

Increased hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose) is an undesirable effect of insulin therapy. Proper education of people with diabetes and use of the insulin analogues introduced in recent years significantly reduces this risk.