Understanding what and how much to eat can be a challenge. A registered dietitian can help you create a meal plan that fits your health goals, food preferences and lifestyle. This will likely include carbohydrate counting, especially if you have type 1 diabetes or use insulin as part of your treatment.

Physical activity. Everyone needs regular aerobic activity. This includes people who have diabetes. Physical activity lowers your blood sugar level by moving sugar into your cells, where it's used for energy.

Physical activity also makes your body more sensitive to insulin. That means your body needs less insulin to transport sugar to your cells. Get your provider's OK to exercise.

Then choose activities you enjoy, such as walking, swimming or biking. What's most important is making physical activity part of your daily routine. Aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate physical activity most days of the week, or at least minutes of moderate physical activity a week.

Bouts of activity can be a few minutes during the day. If you haven't been active for a while, start slowly and build up slowly. Also avoid sitting for too long. Try to get up and move if you've been sitting for more than 30 minutes.

Treatment for type 1 diabetes involves insulin injections or the use of an insulin pump, frequent blood sugar checks, and carbohydrate counting. For some people with type 1 diabetes, pancreas transplant or islet cell transplant may be an option.

Treatment of type 2 diabetes mostly involves lifestyle changes, monitoring of your blood sugar, along with oral diabetes drugs, insulin or both.

Depending on your treatment plan, you may check and record your blood sugar as many as four times a day or more often if you're taking insulin. Careful blood sugar testing is the only way to make sure that your blood sugar level remains within your target range.

People with type 2 diabetes who aren't taking insulin generally check their blood sugar much less often. People who receive insulin therapy also may choose to monitor their blood sugar levels with a continuous glucose monitor.

Although this technology hasn't yet completely replaced the glucose meter , it can lower the number of fingersticks necessary to check blood sugar and provide important information about trends in blood sugar levels. Even with careful management, blood sugar levels can sometimes change unpredictably.

With help from your diabetes treatment team, you'll learn how your blood sugar level changes in response to food, physical activity, medications, illness, alcohol and stress.

For women, you'll learn how your blood sugar level changes in response to changes in hormone levels. Besides daily blood sugar monitoring, your provider will likely recommend regular A1C testing to measure your average blood sugar level for the past 2 to 3 months.

Compared with repeated daily blood sugar tests, A1C testing shows better how well your diabetes treatment plan is working overall. A higher A1C level may signal the need for a change in your oral drugs, insulin regimen or meal plan. Your target A1C goal may vary depending on your age and various other factors, such as other medical conditions you may have or your ability to feel when your blood sugar is low.

Ask your provider what your A1C target is. People with type 1 diabetes must use insulin to manage blood sugar to survive. Many people with type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes also need insulin therapy. Many types of insulin are available, including short-acting regular insulin , rapid-acting insulin, long-acting insulin and intermediate options.

Depending on your needs, your provider may prescribe a mixture of insulin types to use during the day and night. Insulin can't be taken orally to lower blood sugar because stomach enzymes interfere with insulin's action. Insulin is often injected using a fine needle and syringe or an insulin pen — a device that looks like a large ink pen.

An insulin pump also may be an option. The pump is a device about the size of a small cellphone worn on the outside of your body. A tube connects the reservoir of insulin to a tube catheter that's inserted under the skin of your abdomen.

A continuous glucose monitor, on the left, is a device that measures your blood sugar every few minutes using a sensor inserted under the skin. An insulin pump, attached to the pocket, is a device that's worn outside of the body with a tube that connects the reservoir of insulin to a catheter inserted under the skin of the abdomen.

Insulin pumps are programmed to deliver specific amounts of insulin automatically and when you eat. A continuous glucose monitor, on the left, is a device that measures blood sugar every few minutes using a sensor inserted under the skin. Insulin pumps are programmed to deliver specific amounts of insulin continuously and with food.

A tubeless pump that works wirelessly is also now available. You program an insulin pump to dispense specific amounts of insulin.

It can be adjusted to give out more or less insulin depending on meals, activity level and blood sugar level. A closed loop system is a device implanted in the body that links a continuous glucose monitor to an insulin pump. The monitor checks blood sugar levels regularly.

The device automatically delivers the right amount of insulin when the monitor shows that it's needed. The Food and Drug Administration has approved several hybrid closed loop systems for type 1 diabetes. They are called "hybrid" because these systems require some input from the user.

For example, you may have to tell the device how many carbohydrates are eaten, or confirm blood sugar levels from time to time. A closed loop system that doesn't need any user input isn't available yet.

But more of these systems currently are in clinical trials. Sometimes your provider may prescribe other oral or injected drugs as well. Some diabetes drugs help your pancreas to release more insulin.

Others prevent the production and release of glucose from your liver, which means you need less insulin to move sugar into your cells. Still others block the action of stomach or intestinal enzymes that break down carbohydrates, slowing their absorption, or make your tissues more sensitive to insulin.

Metformin Glumetza, Fortamet, others is generally the first drug prescribed for type 2 diabetes. Another class of medication called SGLT2 inhibitors may be used.

They work by preventing the kidneys from reabsorbing filtered sugar into the blood. Instead, the sugar is eliminated in the urine.

In some people who have type 1 diabetes, a pancreas transplant may be an option. Islet transplants are being studied as well. With a successful pancreas transplant, you would no longer need insulin therapy.

But transplants aren't always successful. And these procedures pose serious risks. You need a lifetime of immune-suppressing drugs to prevent organ rejection. These drugs can have serious side effects. Because of this, transplants are usually reserved for people whose diabetes can't be controlled or those who also need a kidney transplant.

Some people with type 2 diabetes who are obese and have a body mass index higher than 35 may be helped by some types of bariatric surgery. People who've had gastric bypass have seen major improvements in their blood sugar levels. But this procedure's long-term risks and benefits for type 2 diabetes aren't yet known.

Controlling your blood sugar level is essential to keeping your baby healthy. It can also keep you from having complications during delivery. In addition to having a healthy diet and exercising regularly, your treatment plan for gestational diabetes may include monitoring your blood sugar.

In some cases, you may also use insulin or oral drugs. Your provider will monitor your blood sugar level during labor. If your blood sugar rises, your baby may release high levels of insulin.

This can lead to low blood sugar right after birth. Treatment for prediabetes usually involves healthy lifestyle choices. These habits can help bring your blood sugar level back to normal. Or it could keep it from rising toward the levels seen in type 2 diabetes.

Keeping a healthy weight through exercise and healthy eating can help. Drugs — such as metformin, statins and high blood pressure medications — may be an option for some people with prediabetes and other conditions such as heart disease.

Many factors can affect your blood sugar. Problems may sometimes come up that need care right away. High blood sugar hyperglycemia in diabetes can occur for many reasons, including eating too much, being sick or not taking enough glucose-lowering medication.

Check your blood sugar level as directed by your provider. And watch for symptoms of high blood sugar, including:. Diabetic ketoacidosis is a serious complication of diabetes. If your cells are starved for energy, your body may begin to break down fat.

This makes toxic acids known as ketones, which can build up in the blood. Watch for the following symptoms:. You can check your urine for excess ketones with a ketones test kit that you can get without a prescription.

If you have excess ketones in your urine, talk with your provider right away or seek emergency care. This condition is more common in people with type 1 diabetes. This condition is seen in people with type 2 diabetes.

It often happens after an illness. Call your provider or seek medical care right away if you have symptoms of this condition. If your blood sugar level drops below your target range, it's known as low blood sugar diabetic hypoglycemia.

If you're taking drugs that lower your blood sugar, including insulin, your blood sugar level can drop for many reasons. These include skipping a meal and getting more physical activity than normal. Low blood sugar also occurs if you take too much insulin or too much of a glucose-lowering medication that causes the pancreas to hold insulin.

Low blood sugar is best treated with carbohydrates that your body can absorb quickly, such as fruit juice or glucose tablets. There is a problem with information submitted for this request. Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health.

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Diabetes is a serious disease. Following your diabetes treatment plan takes total commitment. Careful management of diabetes can lower your risk of serious or life-threatening complications. Make physical activity part of your daily routine.

Regular physical activity can help prevent prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. It can also help those who already have diabetes to maintain better blood sugar control. A minimum of 30 minutes of moderate physical activity — such as brisk walking — most days of the week is recommended.

Aim for at least minutes of moderate aerobic physical activity a week. Getting regular aerobic exercise along with getting at least two days a week of strength training exercises can help control blood sugar more effectively than does either type of exercise alone.

Aerobic exercises can include walking, biking or dancing. Resistance training can include weight training and body weight exercises. Also try to spend less time sitting still. Try to get up and move around for a few minutes at least every 30 minutes or so when you're awake.

Keep your vaccinations up to date. High blood sugar can weaken your immune system. Get a flu shot every year. Your provider may recommend the pneumonia and COVID vaccines, as well. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC also currently recommends hepatitis B vaccination if you haven't previously had it and you're an adult ages 19 to 59 with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

The most recent CDC guidelines suggest vaccination as soon as possible after diagnosis with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. If you are age 60 or older, have been diagnosed with diabetes, and haven't previously received the vaccine, talk to your provider about whether it's right for you.

If you drink alcohol, do so responsibly. Alcohol can cause either high or low blood sugar. This depends on how much you drink and if you eat at the same time. If you choose to drink, do so only in moderation — one drink a day for women and up to two drinks a day for men — and always with food.

Remember to include the carbohydrates from any alcohol you drink in your daily carbohydrate count. And check your blood sugar levels before going to bed. Many substances have been shown to improve the body's ability to process insulin in some studies. Other studies fail to find any benefit for blood sugar control or in lowering A1C levels.

Because of the conflicting findings, there aren't any alternative therapies that are currently recommended to help everyone to manage blood sugar.

If you decide to try any type of alternative therapy, don't stop taking the drugs that your provider has prescribed. Be sure to discuss the use of any of these therapies with your provider. Make sure that they won't cause bad reactions or interact with your current therapy. Also, no treatments — alternative or conventional — can cure diabetes.

If you're using insulin therapy for diabetes, never stop using insulin unless directed to do so by your provider. Living with diabetes can be difficult and frustrating. Sometimes, even when you've done everything right, your blood sugar levels may rise.

But stick with your diabetes management plan and you'll likely see a positive difference in your A1C when you visit your provider.

Good diabetes management can take a great deal of time and feel overwhelming. Some people find that it helps to talk to someone. Your provider can probably recommend a mental health professional for you to speak with. Or you may want to try a support group. Sharing your frustrations and triumphs with people who understand what you're going through can be very helpful.

And you may find that others have great tips to share about diabetes management. Your provider may know of a local support group. You can also call the American Diabetes Association at DIABETES or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at CURE If you're worried about the cost, talk with your doctor.

Some types of insulin cost more than others. You can also find resources to get financial help for diabetes care. The way you take insulin may depend on your lifestyle, insurance plan, and preferences. Talk with your doctor about the options and which one is best for you.

Most people with diabetes take insulin using a needle and syringe, insulin pen, or insulin pump. Inhalers and insulin jet injectors are less common ways to take insulin.

Artificial pancreas systems are now approved by the U. Food and Drug Administration FDA. Talk with your doctor to see if an artificial pancreas is an option for you. You can give yourself insulin shots using a needle and syringe.

You draw up your dose of insulin from the vial—or bottle—through the needle into the syringe. Insulin works fastest when you inject it in your belly, but your doctor may recommend alternating the spot where you inject it.

Injecting insulin in the same spot repeatedly could cause the tissue to harden, making it harder to take shots in that area over time. Other spots you can inject insulin include your thigh, buttocks, or upper arm, but it may take longer for the insulin to work from those areas.

Some people with diabetes who take insulin need 2 to 4 shots a day to reach their blood glucose targets. Others can take a single shot. Injection aids can help you give yourself the shots. An insulin pen looks like a writing pen but has a needle for its point. Some insulin pens come filled with insulin and are disposable.

Others have room for an insulin cartridge that you insert and replace after use. Many people find insulin pens easier to use, but they cost more than needles and syringes. You may want to consider using an insulin pen if you find it hard to fill the syringe while holding the vial or cannot read the markings on the syringe.

Different pen types have features that can help with your injections. Some reusable pens have a memory function, which can recall dose amounts and timing. An insulin pump is a small machine that gives you steady doses of insulin throughout the day.

You wear one type of pump outside your body on a belt or in a pocket or pouch. The insulin pump connects to a small plastic tube and a very small needle. You insert the plastic tube with a needle under your skin, then take out the needle.

The plastic tube will stay inserted for several days while attached to the insulin pump. The machine pumps insulin through the tube into your body 24 hours a day and can be programmed to give you more or less insulin based on your needs.

You can also give yourself doses of insulin through the pump at mealtimes. Another type of pump has no tubes. This pump attaches directly to your skin with a self-adhesive pad and is controlled by a hand-held device.

The plastic tube and pump device are changed every several days. Another way to take insulin is by breathing powdered insulin into your mouth from an inhaler device.

The insulin goes into your lungs and moves quickly into your blood. You may want to use an insulin inhaler to avoid using needles. Inhaled insulin is only for adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Taking insulin with an inhaler is less common than using a needle and syringe.

A jet injector is a device that sends a fine spray of insulin into the skin at high pressure instead of using a needle to deliver the insulin.

It is used less commonly than a needle and syringe or a pen. An artificial pancreas is a system of three devices that work together to mimic how a healthy pancreas controls blood glucose in the body.

A continuous glucose monitor CGM tracks blood glucose levels every few minutes using a small sensor inserted under the skin that is held in place with an adhesive pad. The CGM wirelessly sends the information to a program on a smartphone or an insulin infusion pump.

The program calculates how much insulin you need. The insulin infusion pump will adjust how much insulin is given from minute to minute to help keep your blood glucose level in your target range.

An artificial pancreas is mainly used to help people with type 1 diabetes. You may need to take medicines to manage your type 2 diabetes, in addition to consuming healthy foods and beverages and being physically active.

You can take many diabetes medicines by mouth. These medicines are called oral medicines. Most people with type 2 diabetes start with metformin pills. Metformin also comes as a liquid. Metformin helps your liver make less glucose and helps your body use insulin better.

This drug may help you lose a small amount of weight. Other oral medicines act in different ways to lower blood glucose levels. Combining two or three kinds of diabetes medicines can lower blood glucose levels better than taking just one medicine.

Read about different kinds of diabetes medicines PDF, 2. If you have type 1 diabetes, your doctor may recommend you take other medicines, in addition to insulin, to help control your blood glucose. Some of these medicines work to slow how fast food and beverages move through your stomach.

These medicines also slow down how quickly and how high your blood glucose levels rise after eating. Other medicines work to block certain hormones in your digestive system that raise blood glucose levels after meals or help the kidneys to remove more glucose from your blood.

Besides insulin, other types of injected medicines PDF, 2. These medicines, known as glucagon-like peptide-1 GLP-1 receptor agonists, 3 may make you feel less hungry and help you lose some weight. GLP-1 medicines are not substitutes for insulin. Side effects are problems that result from taking a medicine.

Ask your doctor whether your diabetes medicine can cause hypoglycemia or other side effects, such as upset stomach and weight gain. Aim to take your diabetes medicines as your doctor instructs you, to help prevent side effects and diabetes problems.

If medicines and lifestyle changes are not enough to manage your diabetes, there are other treatments that might help you. These treatments include weight-loss bariatric surgery for certain people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, or pancreatic islet transplantation for some people with type 1 diabetes.

Weight-loss surgery are operations that help you lose weight by making changes to your digestive system. Weight-loss surgery is also called bariatric or metabolic surgery. This type of surgery may help some people who have obesity and type 2 diabetes lose a large amount of weight and bring their blood glucose levels back to a healthy range.

How long the improved response lasts can vary by patient, type of weight-loss surgery, and the amount of weight the person lost. Other factors include how long a person had diabetes and whether the person used insulin. Some people with type 2 diabetes may no longer need to use diabetes medicines after weight-loss surgery.

Researchers are studying whether weight-loss surgery can help control blood glucose levels in people with type 1 diabetes who have obesity. Pancreatic islet transplantation is an experimental treatment for people with type 1 diabetes who have trouble controlling their blood glucose levels. Pancreatic islets are clusters of cells in the pancreas that make the hormone insulin.

A pancreatic islet transplantation replaces destroyed islets with new islets from organ donors. The new islets make and release insulin. Because researchers are still studying pancreatic islet transplantation , the procedure is only available to people enrolled in research studies.

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Skip to main navigation Skip to content. Breadcrumb Home Diabetes the basics Diabetes treatments. Save for later Page saved! You can go back to this later in your Diabetes and Me Close. Diabetes treatments. There are a number of treatments available to help you manage and treat your diabetes.

Everyone is different, so treatment will vary depending on your own individual needs. Insulin Everyone with type 1 diabetes , and some people with type 2 diabetes, need to take insulin to manage their blood glucose sugar levels.

If you need help injecting yourself, Emma can show you how in our video below. Some type 1 diabetes symptoms are similar to symptoms of other health conditions. If you think you could have type 1 diabetes, see your doctor to get your blood sugar tested. Untreated diabetes can lead to very serious—even fatal—health problems.

Risk factors for type 1 diabetes are not as clear as for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. However, studies show that family history plays a part. A simple blood test will let you know if you have diabetes.

If your doctor thinks you have type 1 diabetes, your blood may also be tested for autoantibodies. These substances indicate your body is attacking itself and are often found with type 1 diabetes but not with type 2.

You may have your urine tested for ketones too. Ketones are produced when your body burns fat for energy. Having ketones in your urine indicates you have type 1 diabetes instead of type 2.

Unlike many health conditions, diabetes is managed mostly by you, with support from your health care team:. Also ask your family, teachers, and other important people in your life for help and support.

Managing diabetes can be challenging, but everything you do to improve your health is worth it! Insulin is needed to manage your blood sugar levels and give your body energy. Your doctor will work with you to figure out the most effective type and dosage of insulin for you. Ask your doctor how often you should check it and what your target blood sugar levels should be.

Keeping your blood sugar levels as close to target as possible will help you prevent or delay diabetes-related complications.

Stress is a part of life, but it can make managing diabetes harder. Both managing your blood sugar levels and dealing with daily diabetes care can be tougher to do. Regular physical activity, getting enough sleep, and exercises to relax can help. Talk to your doctor and diabetes educator about these and other ways you can manage stress.

Make regular appointments with your health care team. Meet with your doctor for step-by-step instructions. You may want to bring a family member with you to the appointment so they learn the steps too.

Hypoglycemia low blood sugar can happen quickly and needs to be treated quickly. Talk to your doctor if you have low blood sugar several times a week.