Diabetes Treatments

By Debra Manzella, R.N., About.com Guide to Diabetes

Diabetes is a complicated disease. It can affect many areas of your body as well as many areas of your life. Treatments for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can bring on many new challenges. What you eat, medications, testing your blood glucose, exercising...all these play a role in successful management of diabetes.

1. Nutrition
2. Oral Medications
3. Insulin
4. Dialysis/Kidney Transplant

Nutrition

Good nutrition is a key element of managing diabetes. What, when, and how much you eat all influence your blood sugar.

• Meal Plans for Diabetes Management
• Quick Facts to Know about Eating and Diabetes
• Carbohydrates and Diabetes FAQs

Oral Medications

There are six classes of oral drugs that are used to manage most type 2 diabetes patients: sulfonylureas, biguanides, thiazolidinediones, alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, meglitinides, and DPP-4 inhibitors. Each of these classes of drugs works in different ways to help maintain good glucose control.

• Medication Reference Chart for Type 2 Diabetes
• Oral Medications for Managing Type 2 Diabetes

Insulin

Insulin is necessary when treating type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas stops making insulin. People with type 1 need to inject insulin to keep their blood glucose from soaring out of control. Insulin is also used for type 2 diabetes, if oral medications are not enough to keep blood glucose levels in a normal range.

• Insulin Action Reference Chart
• How to Give an Insulin Injection
• Insulin Pump Therapy

Dialysis/Kidney Transplant

Diabetes is one of the most common causes of kidney disease. What's the connection? Learning the signs of kidney disease can help you connect with treatment options earlier on.

• Kidney Disease in Diabetes
• What is Nephropathy?