Insulin is the most powerful conventional weapon in the treatment of diabetes. However, today, there are still many diabetic patients (including their families) who have many misconceptions about insulin, which are manifested in the use of insulin “either left or right”. Only by getting out of these misconceptions can insulin be most effective. Myth 1: Once you use insulin, you can’t leave it for the rest of your life Wrong! Except for type 1 diabetes and some patients with advanced type 2 diabetes whose islet function tends to fail who must use insulin for a long time, for most patients with type 2 diabetes, insulin therapy may only be a temporary need, such as during pregnancy, perioperative period or rescue of ketoacidosis, once patients safely pass the stress period, they can consider reducing the amount of insulin or even stop using it and switch to oral hypoglycemic drugs. Myth 2: Insulin injection means treatment failure and aggravation Wrong! Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease. As time passes, the ability of pancreatic B-cells to secrete insulin gradually decreases and insulin resistance becomes more serious, so relying solely on diet, exercise and oral medication will gradually lose its effect. This is not a failure of treatment, but a necessity for the progression of the disease. By using insulin alone or in combination, blood glucose can be well controlled and thus reduce the risk of disease as described above, without making the condition worse for the diabetic. Myth 3: Insulin injections are both painful and troublesome Wrong! The special needles currently used for insulin injections are so fine that you will hardly feel any pain when injecting. In fact, the psychological pain caused by the fear of injection is more serious than the injection itself, and the fear may aggravate the feeling of pain. Nowadays, there are special insulin pens for insulin injection, which are easy to operate and carry, and the injection is completed in a few seconds, which is not particularly troublesome compared to taking medication. Myth 4: Injecting insulin will inevitably lead to hypoglycemia and obesity Wrong! It is true that insulin can lead to weight gain, but as long as the dose of insulin is reasonable, weight gain can be avoided by insisting on controlling diet and increasing the amount of exercise. Hypoglycemia is a common condition during the treatment of diabetes, and both insulin and oral hypoglycemic drugs carry the risk of hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is related to many factors, such as improper diet coordination, excessive exercise and excessive doses of medication, but these can be avoided, and once hypoglycemia occurs, it can usually be quickly recovered with a timely meal and some sugar water. Myth 5: Insulin should not be used as a last resort Wrong! Many diabetic patients are misled by this viewpoint and have to wait until all drugs fail and complications develop to the most advanced stage before using insulin, in fact, it is too late, because at this time the pancreatic islet function has already failed, complications have occurred and irreversible, the patient’s quality of life is very poor, the value of insulin treatment has been greatly reduced. Early use of insulin is not only beneficial for blood sugar to reach the standard as soon as possible, but also can reduce the burden of pancreatic islet cells, so that they can get sufficient rest, protect and repair the function of the islet, and delay the occurrence and development of chronic complications. Myth 6: Long-term insulin injection will make the islet function atrophy Wrong! As there is an absolute or relative insufficiency of secretion of own islet B cells in diabetes, in order to maintain normal blood sugar, it is necessary to supplement exogenous insulin in appropriate amount. Intensive treatment with insulin at an early stage can make the own islet cells get proper rest, which is instead more conducive to protecting the islet function.