NO MORE SHOTS?

Besides the potentially serious implications of being diabetic, being insulin dependent and having to inject yourself day in and day out for the rest of your life gets old. Oh yes! You get used to it. You have to. It becomes routine. Some in the morning, more before bed. Your day revolves around that shot. Well soon, diabetics may have a much more appealing option for taking their insulin. They may just have to breathe in. Researchers are currently studying the effectiveness of powdered insulin that is breathed in through an inhaler for its effectiveness in controlling type 1 diabetes.

The insulin, when breathed in, enters the cells of the lung lining within five minutes. Because it gets into the system so quickly, it also allows for closer control of sensitive blood glucose levels, say researchers. This means patients can calculate the dose according to what they are going to eat and what their physical activity level will be on any given day. For example, if they are going to eat a meal high in carbohydrates they can inhale more. If they know they are going to have a particularly active day, they can take less. It sounds like once you get used to regulating your own dose you are on your way to a more controlled blood sugar that translates into a happier healthier life.

HOW IT WORKS: The patient simply punctures a packet of powdered insulin. The chamber of the device fills with powder and the person turns the top to inhale. It is important to note, patients who use the insulin inhaler are still required to give themselves one injection of the liquid insulin daily.  

Researchers found that glucose levels were significantly lower when the patients had been treated with the insulin aerosol, suggesting that the inhaled insulin was in fact effective in controlling blood sugar. In addition, glucose levels in patients who inhaled insulin were within the normal range 2 hours after eating.

They also note that no patient coughed after inhalation of insulin aerosol or developed hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

Delivering insulin via inhalation instead of injection would get rid of the physical discomfort and psychological stigmata of giving oneself injections and perhaps improve patient willingness to take their medication as prescribed by their physician. This has two tremendous benefits. First off, the individual will be healthier and secondly, because the individual is healthier, there are less demands on an already taxed health care system.

A treatment that makes it more convenient for diabetics to take their insulin would help more people better control their blood sugar, and therefore lessen the complications from the disease. There are many patients who resist taking the three to four injections they really need to control their diabetes every day. Use of the inhaler could also benefit type II diabetics, who represent the majority of all diabetes patients in the United States.  

Diabetics don’t jump for joy just yet because although inhaled insulin seems promising, it could be years before it becomes available to you. Imagine it though instead of carrying around needles to inject yourselves at either work or when going out to eat, in a year or so you may be carrying around a portable inhaler for your insulin. Something similar to what asthmatics use for their condition 

The downside to the inhaler, may be its cost. Actually, only 10 percent of the hormone is absorbed into the lung — the other 90 percent of it is wasted. However, drug companies still has to spend the resources to manufacture the insulin anyway.