Do People With Diabetes Have To Take Medication For Life?

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Growing up, I was pumped full of the notion that people diagnosed with diabetes had to live with the condition for life, which meant they would have to keep taking medications until they died.

That is a really awful reality when you think about it—having to include medications in your daily life just to manage diabetes. This idea of taking medications for life was reinforced when I got to medical school. Seeing the havoc that diabetes could wreak on a person’s life and physical health gave me even more zeal to push the idea that people should keep taking their meds for life.

When you think about it, these drugs have saved countless lives from premature death. People have gone on to live for decades with diabetes because they were taking these medications, and I am all for it.

But Do You Really Have to Take the Drugs for Life?

It wasn’t until recently that I began hearing the term “Diabetes in Remission.” I was shocked to learn that people could actually reach a point in their care where taking medications for diabetes became dangerous for them. I have seen many people who had to go off their meds because their blood sugar levels were so well controlled that it became dangerous for them to remain on medication.

If you had asked me five years ago if this was possible, I would have told you that it wasn’t. But here I was, seeing case after case of people who took it upon themselves to roll back diabetes—and they succeeded. They went off their medications and never looked back. This raises the question: How many people with diabetes know that they do not have to remain on their meds for life?

For proper context, I am talking about type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes, unfortunately, requires insulin supplementation for life. But type 2 diabetes, which results from insulin resistance, can actually be reversed.

How Is This Possible?

Type 2 diabetes is a condition where the body does not respond to insulin properly. Insulin is the hormone that ensures your body uses food to make energy. If the body cannot respond to insulin, it means it cannot use food efficiently for energy, causing glucose to remain in the blood.

This is more pronounced in people who are obese and those with a family history of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is directly related to diet. Many people find that when they change their diet, they are able to control their blood sugar better. Even more, some people find that when they lose weight, their blood sugar control improves significantly.

Some people discover that a combination of dietary changes and adopting a solid exercise regimen helps control their blood sugar so effectively that they no longer need medications.

Is This Something Everyone Can Do?

Diabetes affects people differently, and not everyone will see a drastic change in their blood sugar levels just by altering their diet. Eating healthier helps, exercise helps as well, but no one can predict how much of an impact it will have or whether it will be enough to put diabetes into remission.

Some people have a genetic makeup that makes it easier for their blood sugar to respond to exercise, while others may take longer to see the same level of improvement despite doing the same amount of exercise. I know it is not fair, but it is what evolution and genetics have given us.

Is There Anything You Can Do?

If you are struggling with diabetes, eating healthy and exercising is non-negotiable and will certainly have a significant impact on your blood sugar. Whether that impact is substantial enough to put your diabetes in remission is something you will have to wait and see while staying in close contact with your primary care provider.

Do not miss your annual reviews, and make sure you are staying away from sugar and processed foods. Who knows? You may successfully reach the point where you no longer need medications. If there is anything you should take away from this, it is that diabetes is not a lifelong sentence to medication—people have successfully come off their meds, and it is 100% possible.