Type 1 diabetes - day-to-day management
Insulin and its action
What are the types of insulin?
There are different types of insulin that are combined and administered according to each child’s personal treatment. The names of insulin types may vary from one pharmaceutical company to another, but their action times remain similar.
- Ultra-fast insulin: starts acting a few minutes after administration and has an action time of 2-3 hours.
- Rapid insulin: starts acting 15-30 minutes after administration and has an action time of 4-6 hours.
- Regular insulin: starts acting 30-45 minutes after administration and has an action time of 10 -16 hours.
- Long-acting insulin: starts acting 1-2 hours after administration and has an action time of 20-24 hours.
Insulin treatments vary significantly, but regular insulin may often be combined with rapid insulin, while long-acting insulin is often combined with ultra-fast insulin.
If a child uses an insulin pump, only ultra-fast acting insulin will be administered in small yet ongoing doses.
Insulin treatments are varied
