Why might my health professional recommended insulin to me? Insulin is very effective for lowering blood glucose levels. Typically, doctors recommend insulin when other medications are unable to keep your blood glucose within your target range. They also do recommend insulin when your body can’t tolerate other diabetes medications. For example, your body may not respond to other medications, or you may have had serious side-effects from other medications. Insulin might also be recommended if you have other health conditions or personal circumstances that make it difficult to use other diabetes medications. When is insulin needed? For many people with type 2 diabetes, insulin is recommended several years after they are diagnosed with diabetes—but some people may benefit from taking insulin much earlier, even when they are first diagnosed. Everyone is different. Who injects insulin?* Around one in three Australians with diabetes (approximately 400,000 people) currently inject insulin. This includes people with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes and other forms of diabetes. Over 270,000 people with type 2 diabetes currently manage their diabetes with insulin; that’s one in four Australians with type 2 diabetes. *NDSS Insulin Therapy Statistical Snapshot 31 December 2018 Did you know? You don’t have to have type 1 diabetes to need insulin. In Australia, more people with type 2 diabetes inject insulin than people with type 1 diabetes ~120,000 Australians with type 1 diabetes inject insulin ~277,000 Australians with type 2 diabetes inject insulin Next: Insulin: how, how often and how much? ⇒
