Goals of insulin therapy

Insulin therapy keeps your blood sugar within your target range. It helps prevent serious complications.

If you have type 1 diabetes, you need insulin therapy to stay healthy. It replaces the insulin your body doesn't make.

If you have type 2 diabetes, insulin therapy might be part of your treatment. It's needed when healthy-lifestyle changes and other diabetes treatments don't control your blood sugar well enough.

Insulin therapy also is sometimes needed to treat a type of diabetes that happens during pregnancy. This is called gestational diabetes. If you have gestational diabetes, you might need insulin therapy if healthy habits and other diabetes treatments don't help enough.