If a person follows the doctor’s orders, can he be fully cured of type 2 diabetes. In other words, will his pancreas eventually start functioning like it used to? By the way, what makes the pancreas stop functioning?
Also, are there any meds for diabetes that don’t involve needles?
Many newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics consider them selfs cured. If you mean can they ever eat sugar like when they were a kid, then no. If you mean living the rest of their lives without drugs or complications, then yes. The pancreas becomes inflamed due to over producing insulin in an attempt to keep up with your ever increasing insulin resistance. Every carbohydrate you consume starting even before birth, moves you toward insulin resistance. Once the resistance becomes so great that the pancreas can not keep up, you are considered diabetic. If you avoid carbohydrates you accomplish two things. First, you give your pancreas a rest, and second, you give your resistant cells a rest. When you give the cells a break from insulin, they actually become sensitive again. After many years of extra insulin, either from drug induced insulin production, or actual insulin injections, your pancreas becomes permanently burned out. By definition, you are now insulin dependent or a type 1 diabetic. Keep in mind that the problem is not too much glucose, but too much insulin. Everyone should have their fasting insulin levels tested. This will detect insulin resistance, years before your blood levels of glucose begin to go up.