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About Insulin

Published:
8-nov-2004

If you have type 1 diabetes, you're taking insulin, either from shots or an insulin pump. If you have type 2 diabetes, you could be taking insulin, oral medication (pills), or a combination of both insulin and pills. Insulin helps your body feed your cells. Without insulin, your cells can't eat. You may have just eaten a huge burrito supreme, but your cells still are not fed. Your stomach and digestive system is still working. That burrito is turned into glucose and goes into your bloodstream. But then it's just hanging out in the blood, waiting to be eaten by the cells. The cells can't use it unless there is insulin to help them eat.

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Insulin acts like a key to open the door to the cells and let the food (glucose) in. Without insulin, the cell door can't open, and your cells can't eat and get energy. Your cells are still hungry, so they keep signaling your body for more food. That's why one of the signs of diabetes is being hungry and thirsty all the time. No matter how much you eat and drink, the cells aren't using it, so there's no where for the glucose to go. Pretty soon, the glucose is overflowing. That's why someone who just got diabetes may have to go to the bathroom a lot. Your body has to get rid of the sugar somehow because there's no more room for it. So your body sends signals that it's thirsty, you drink a lot, and then the body uses the drink to get rid of extra glucose.

All this time, your cells are not getting the food they still need to work and grow. You are eating and drinking more than ever, but your cells are starving. They can't use the sugar without insulin. So your body acts like you're not eating at all, and you start losing weight.

SOURCE: American Diabetes Association
http://www.diabetes.org/youthzone/about-insulin.jsp