What Is the Treatment for Diabetes?

Diabetes is treated with lifestyle modifications and medications when needed and here’s what we culled from emedicinehealth.

Lifestyle changes to manage diabetes include:

• Manage A1C (average blood glucose level over the past 3 months)
• Check blood glucose levels daily
• Keep blood pressure in check
• Maintain healthy cholesterol levels
• Don’t smoke
• Follow a diabetes meal plan as recommended by your doctor or nutritionist
  • Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, lean poultry and fish, and low-fat dairy
  • Drink plenty of water
  • Choose foods that are low-calorie, low-fat, low-sugar, and low-salt
• Exercise regularly 
• Get adequate sleep
• Manage stress/practice relaxation techniques 
• Take prescribed diabetes medications 

Medications used to treat diabetes include: 

• Insulin 
  • People who have type 1 diabetes need to take insulin shots or wear an insulin pump every day to manage blood sugar levels
  • About 15% of women with gestational diabetes will require insulin
• Meglitinides such as repaglinide (Prandin) and nateglinide (Starlix)
• Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors such as miglitol (Glyset) and acarbose (Precose)
• Thiazolidinediones such as pioglitazone (Actos) and rosiglitazone (Avandia)
• DPP- 4 Inhibitors such as sitagliptin (Januvia), saxagliptin (Onglyza), alogliptin (Nesina), and linagliptin (Tradjenta)
• Sulfonylureas such as glimepiride (Amaryl), glyburide (Diabeta,  Glynase), chlorpropamide (Diabinese), glipizide (Glucotrol, Glucotrol XL), tolbutamide, and tolazamide
• Biguanides such as metformin (Fortamet, Glucophage, Glucophage XR, Glumetza, and Riomet)
• Dopamine receptor agonists such as bromocriptine (cycloset)
• Bile acid sequestrants such as colesevelam (Welchol)
• SGLT2 inhibitors such as dapagliflozin (Farxiga), canagliflozin (Invokana), empagliflozin (Jardiance), and ertugliflozin (Steglatro)
• GLP-1 receptor agonists such as lixisenatide (Adlyxin), exenatide (Bydureon, Byetta), semaglutide (Ozempic), albiglutide (Tanzeum), dulaglutide (Trulicity), and liraglutide (Victoza)
• Amylin analog such as pramlintide acetate (Symlin)
• Combination medicines, which may be made up of more than one medication in the above classes
• People with gestational diabetes may need insulin or metformin 

If lifestyle changes and medications are insufficient, other treatments for diabetes may include: 

• Weight-loss surgery (bariatric surgery) for certain patients who are obese
• Artificial pancreas