A healthy diet and regular exercise are crucial to any diabetes treatment plan. But sometimes diet and exercise aren't enough. You need the help of medication. For people with type 1 diabetes, daily administration of the hormone insulin is essen­tial. To live, you must supply your body with insulin medication to replace the insulin your pancreas is no longer able to produce. If you have type 2 diabetes and don't benefit from other medications, you also may need to take insulin.
Use of insulin to treat diabetes, called insulin therapy, has two main goals:

• To maintain blood sugar (glucose) at near-normal levels
• To prevent long-term complications of diabetes

A successful treatment plan takes into consideration what you eat and how much you exercise in determining the amount of insulin you need each day.

Unlike type 1 diabetes, which requires daily insulin, treatment of type 2 disease is more complex because you can take sev­eral routes to manage your blood sugar (glucose). For many people with type 2 diabetes, lifestyle changes alone can control it. For others, these changes aren't enough. Sooner or later, most people need the help of medication.

A variety of drug options exist for treatment of type 2 diabetes. In addition to insulin, five categories of oral medications are avail­able. They are:

• Sulfonylureas
• Meglitinides
• Biguanides
• Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors
• Thiazolidinedinoes

Each of these classes of medications has a different chemical structure and its own method for lowering blood sugar. Some oral diabetes medications stimulate your pancreas to produce more insulin, others help your body reduce its resistance to insulin, and still others slow your body's absorption of carbohydrates.

To effectively control your blood sugar, you may need more than one drug. Oral medications can be taken in combination with each other or in combination with insulin. Your doctor will determine if you need medication to control your blood sugar and which type. Most people begin with an oral drug.