The “truth and lies” of insulin

  When many people with type 2 diabetes are told they need insulin, many say “no”. Let’s take a look at a survey from 708 patients, the question is “If your doctor prescribed insulin to you, would you be willing to use it?” More than a quarter of patients said no, and their reasons were: 1. Insulin can cause many problems: blindness (17%).  2. Using insulin means that my diabetes is already very severe (47%).  3. Insulin treatment will limit my life, no way to travel, go out to eat, etc. (56%).  4.I have done everything I feel I should do, it would be unfair to have to take insulin (42%).  5.I can’t afford to inject every day, it hurts too much (51%).  6.Insulin can cause severe hypoglycemia (49%).  7. I am not confident that I can handle the problems I encounter with insulin therapy (58%).  8. Insulin therapy means I have failed and I am not managing my diabetes well (55%).  9. Once I use insulin, I can’t withdraw it (53%).  The truth is that all of the above reasons are unscientific and are misconceptions about insulin.