People with type 1 diabetes are absolutely insulin deficient, so in addition to diet, exercise, and glucose monitoring, insulin therapy is primarily used.
Insulin therapy protocol
Normal people secrete insulin even when they don’t eat, and the stimulation of food during meals causes the body to secrete extra insulin to reduce the rise in blood glucose caused by eating. people with type 1 diabetes have an absolute lack of insulin, so they need insulin replacement therapy to keep their blood glucose stable. The doctor will use long-acting insulin to simulate the basal insulin secretion function, and then give short-acting or ultra-short-acting insulin before meals to simulate the mealtime insulin secretion function stimulated by eating, that is, the “one long, three short” treatment plan.
Some patients have very poor glycemic control and are not well suited to the “one long, three short” regimen. In this case, your doctor may use an insulin pump to set the frequency and push the insulin under the skin as often as your body needs it to keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day in order to control your diabetes.
Non-insulin related therapy
Some non-insulin drugs, such as metformin, also have a role in the adjunctive treatment of type 1 diabetes. There are already some novel drugs in clinical trials, such as glucokinase activators, that may also be a future treatment for type 1 diabetes.
Surgical treatment with islet or pancreas transplantation is also an option, but more studies are needed to verify long-term efficacy, and safety issues remain to be tested. Stem cell therapy promises to be a promising treatment.