Insulin and Other Diabetes Meds: The Benefits of Early Treatment

Starting Blood Glucose-Lowering Meds Early Can Help

It's human nature to delay unwanted tasks. Especially tasks that involve pricey prescription drugs and daily blood sugar checks. But when people with type 2 diabetes (PWDs type 2) delay their start on a blood glucose-lowering medication, it's not good medicine.

"We now know that type 2 is a progressive disease that requires serious attention from day one," says Virginia Valentine, R.N., CDE, PWD type 2, a clinical nurse specialist in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and coauthor of Diabetes: The New Type 2 (Tarcher, 2008). Mounting evidence shows that early, aggressive management of blood glucose can make caring for type 2 easier down the road. Too often, however, we're slow to act -- especially when it comes to adding and changing medications.