Insulin is a medicine that helps your body use glucose (sugar) for energy.
You'll need to be prescribed insulin for type 2 diabetes if other diabetes medicines no longer work well enough to keep your blood glucose within a healthy range.
Sometimes you may only need to take insulin for a short time. For example:
- if you're pregnant
- if you're ill
- to bring your blood glucose level down when you're first diagnosed
Insulin reduces the chances of getting the symptoms of high blood glucose (hyperglycaemia) and serious long-term problems that can damage your heart, kidneys, eyes and nerves.
How you take insulin
You can inject insulin using an insulin pen. This is a device that helps you inject safely and take the right dose.
Using an insulin pen does not usually hurt. The needles are very small, as you only inject a small amount just under your skin.
Your diabetes nurse will show you where to inject and how to use your pen.
Types of insulin for type 2 diabetes
People who need insulin for type 2 diabetes usually take either:
- a long-acting or intermediate-acting insulin once or twice a day
- a long-acting or intermediate-acting insulin once or twice a day, and a separate rapid-acting or short-acting insulin before meals
- a mixed insulin (biphasic insulin), containing both intermediate and rapid-acting or short-acting insulin, 1 to 3 times a day before meals
Your doctor or diabetes care team will discuss your treatment with you and recommend the insulin treatment they think is best for you. The type of insulin you take and your dose may change over time.
Long-acting or intermediate-acting insulin
Your doctor or care team will usually recommend intermediate-acting insulin (brand names Humulin I or Insulatard). This type of insulin is taken once or twice a day.
They may recommend a type of long-acting insulin (brand names Levemir, Lantus, Toujeo, Tresiba, Semglee or Abasaglar) if you either:
- often get low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia, or hypos)
- need help from a carer to take injections
You'll usually take long-acting insulin once a day.
Rapid-acting or short-acting insulin
If a long-acting or intermediate-acting insulin does not lower your blood glucose enough on its own, you'll also need to take another type of insulin that works more quickly. You'll take these types of insulin before meals.
Your doctor or care team will recommend either:
- rapid-acting insulin (brand names NovoRapid, Fiasp, Trurapi, Admelog, Humalog, Lyumjev or Apidra)
- short-acting insulin (brand names Actrapid or Humulin S)
Biphasic (mixed) insulin
If you need both intermediate and rapid-acting insulin, your doctor or care team might recommend a mixed insulin instead of separate injections.
You'll take this type of insulin before meals, 1 to 3 times a day. It's less flexible than taking separate types, but it means you need fewer injections.
This is known as biphasic insulin (brand names NovoMix, Humalog Mix or Humulin M3).