Initial Assessment

Insulin User

Insulin User

If you need insulin therapy to manage your diabetes, here are some factors that will help you figure out what types of diabetes technology are best for you.

Type of Diagnosis

The two primary types of diabetes are type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D).

With T1D, your immune system mistakenly destroys cells in your pancreas that make insulin. (Insulin is a hormone that helps to move glucose, or sugar, from your blood into your cells.) As a result, you will need to take insulin therapy for the rest of your life to keep your blood sugar in a healthy range. A variety of devices are available for insulin delivery. You'll also need a glucose monitor to keep track of your blood sugar levels.

With T2D, your pancreas doesn't make enough insulin, or your body doesn't effectively use the insulin that's produced. As a result, you have too much sugar in your blood. Lifestyle changes can help keep blood sugar in a healthy range. Your health care professional will likely prescribe non-insulin diabetes medication as well. Insulin may be added later. In addition, you will most likely need a glucose monitor to keep track of your blood sugar levels.

When You Were First Diagnosed

If you are diagnosed with T1D today, your health care professional will likely recommend using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) right away and an insulin pump within a few months. If you were diagnosed with T1D long ago, these and related technologies may not have been available yet. In this case, if you'd like to make these tools part of our diabetes treatment, talk with your health care professional.

If you have T2D, it's common to be given a glucose monitor right away. This could be a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) or a glucose meter. The type of device will depend on the amount of insulin you are taking and how well your diabetes is managed.

How Well Your Diabetes Is Managed

For people with diabetes, it's important to keep blood sugar levels in target range. Frequent incidents of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and/or hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) can increase your risk of diabetes complications.

One way your health care professional may check how well your diabetes is managed is the A1c test. This is a blood test that shows your average blood sugar over the previous three months.

If you are using a CGM, your health care professional will also rely on time in range. (This is the percentage of time your blood sugar stays within your target range.) Having this information can help guide changes to your diabetes treatment.

What Medications You Are Taking

If you are taking multiple insulin injections each day, you should be offered a CGM. You may also be offered an insulin pump or smart (connected) insulin pen. If you are on any type of insulin (such as long-lasting insulin), you may be offered a smart insulin pen or a smart (connected) pen cap for recording doses.

Beta blockers and other medications can mask symptoms of low blood sugar. Having a CGM can alert you when your blood sugar is dropping. This way, treatment can be given before severe hypoglycemia occurs.

Comfort With Technology

Diabetes technology can go a long way in keeping you healthy. But you have to be comfortable using the devices as well as tools like smartphone apps. If you aren't particularly tech-savvy, your diabetes care team — as well as friends and family — can help you get up to speed. And that can give you more options for managing your diabetes. Learn more here.

Access to Technology

Being able to use diabetes technology generally requires having reliable access to things like Wi-Fi, a smartphone, cell service, and email/internet service. Learn more here.

What Diabetes Technology You Are Already Using

Diabetes technology is a rapidly evolving field, with new products emerging all the time. Your health care professional should be keeping up with the latest innovations. Based on the state of your health and your comfort with technology, they can recommend what products might be right for you. Learn about the types of devices that can assist with diabetes management.

Activity Level

Your activity level — particularly how much you exercise — is a big factor in choosing diabetes technology. On the one hand, diabetes technology can make it easier to exercise safely. For example, using a CGM to measure your blood sugar levels while exercising is much easier than stopping to do a finger-prick blood test. It also may help alert you sooner if your blood sugar is too low during exercise.

On the other hand, diabetes technology and exercise can sometimes be complicated. For instance, you may need to remove an insulin pump for water activities. Or, a CGM could get dislodged while you are exercising in water or due to physical contact or heavy sweating. This, in turn, could lead to the loss of blood sugar data.

If you are active, your health care professional can help you decide what types of diabetes technology will best fit your lifestyle.

Skin Allergies

CGMs and patch pumps use adhesive pads to stick to your skin. In some people with diabetes, these pads cause an allergic reaction that results in a rash or scaly, itchy skin. If this is the case with you, your diabetes care team may recommend one or more of the following:

  • A medicated cream or lotion to ease your symptoms
  • A different pad to avoid the symptoms altogether
  • An alternate device for glucose monitoring or insulin delivery

Financial Considerations

Coverage for various types of diabetes technology varies depending on the health insurer. If you have health insurance, be sure to confirm your out-of-pocket costs before choosing a diabetes technology. If you don't have health insurance, there are resources that can help. Learn more here.

What Matters to You

Your personal preferences can guide you as you choose diabetes technology. For example, if you dislike the frequent finger pricks needed to use a blood glucose meter, you may prefer a CGM. Or you might want to choose an insulin delivery device that is less noticeable under your clothes.

These are just two of the many factors that could influence your decisions about diabetes technology. Your diabetes care team can provide input on making the best choices based on your personal preferences. Learn more here.

Did You Know?

Diabetes Medication

  • Insulin is not the only medication used to treat diabetes. Your health care professional may also prescribe oral (taken by mouth) diabetes medication. Because different oral diabetes medications work in different ways, your health care professional may prescribe more than one type. Your health care professional may also prescribe other diabetes medications given by injection that are not insulin.

Insulin Therapy

  • Frederick Banting, Charles Best, and J.J.R. Macleod at the University of Toronto discovered insulin medication in 1921.
  • The first insulin pump was invented in 1963. However, insulin pumps didn't become commercially available until 1979.
  • There are several types of insulin available for people with diabetes. They differ in how quickly they work, how long they last, and how soon they "peak" (or have their strongest effect).