Pharm: Insulin Flashcards
What does insulin do?
LOWERS blood sugar
______ is low blood sugar
Hypoglycemia
______ is high blood sugar
Hyperglycemia
What is the chronic disease that results from deficient glucose metabolism? Unable to move glucose (sugar) into cells to be used for energy (sugar will stay and accumulate in blood)
Diabetes Mellitus
What is the NORMAL blood glucose range?
70-110
What are the 3 MAJOR symptoms of HYPERGLYCEMIA (3P’s)?
Polyuria, Polydipsia, and Polyphagia
What is Polyuria?
frequent need to urinate (filter out sugar)
What is Polydipsia?
thirsty (dilute the blood)
What is Polyphagia?
increased appetite (sugar is not moving into cells, so body cannot convert the sugar into energy to use)
What is the #1/first sign of type 1 diabetes?
Weight loss
Type 1 diabetics require _____ ____ (lifelong)
exogenous (from outside of the body) insulin
What can the pancreas of the type 1 diabetic not do?
the pancreas does not secrete insulin
When is type 1 diabetes usually diagnosed?
childhood/adolescence
When is type 2 diabetes usually diagnosed?
adulthood (but can happen in younger)
What is type 2 diabetes?
the pancreas still secretes insulin, but not enough or tissues are no longer sensitive to the insulin
What is Secondary Diabetes?
diabetes due to medications
What are the medications that can cause Secondary Diabetes?
glucocorticoids, thiazide diuretics, and epinephrine
When and why does Gestational Diabetes occur?
during pregnancy because of hormonal changes
Where is insulin released from?
beta cells of islets of Langerhans in the pancreas
Why is insulin secreted?
in response to the increase in blood glucose
What med are type 1 diabetics placed on?
exogenous insulin
What med are type 2 diabetics placed on?
oral antihyperglycemics or oral antidiabetics (sometimes placed on exogenous insulin)
A lab value used to determine how well a patients diabetes is controlled over 3 MONTHS
Hemoglobin A1c
What should a nondiabetic’s A1c be?
less than 6
What should a well controlled diabetic patient’s A1c be?
less than 7
What do you need to know about each different type of insulins?
onset, peak, duration
What does ONSET mean?
when effects are seen
What does PEAK mean?
when effects are the greatest (highest concentration)
What does DURATION mean?
the length of time the medication produces its desired therapeutic effect
When could a patient taking insulin be HYPOglycemic?
during the peak
How is insulin currently manufactured?
by using deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology
Where is insulin stored?
in the refrigerator (usually long acting) or at room temperature
What are the different types of insulin?
Rapid-acting
Short-acting
Intermediate-acting
Long-acting
Combinations
What color is Rapid-acting insulin?
clear
What color is Short-acting insulin?
clear (Humulin R)
What color is Intermediate-acting insulin?
cloudy (NPH)
How to mix different insulins?
go from clear to cloudy (not contaminating clear)
What can cause insulin resistance?
animal insulin and obesity
Promote use of glucose by body cells, store glucose as glycogen in muscles
the ACTION of insulin
What is the USE of insulin?
reduce blood glucose and control diabetes mellitus
What meds decrease glucose?
TCAs, MAOIs, aspirin, oral anticoagulants
_______ insulin is adjusted doses dependent on individual blood glucose
Sliding-scale
When to monitor blood glucose?
before meals and at bedtime (rapid or short acting)
______ is when SubQ tissue becomes hard from trauma/continuous use of injection site
Lipodystrophy
What would be given with HYPOglycemia?
glucagon
Methods of insulin administration
pens
pumps
jet injectors
