Sublingual human insulin for hyperglycaemia in type I diabetes.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the hypoglycaemic effects of repeated sublingual doses of human insulin for the treatment of hyperglycaemia in type I diabetes. DESIGN Clinical trial. SETTING A Private clinic. METHOD Eight insulin dependent diabetic males with a mean age of 27 years (range 18-32 years) presenting with hyperglycaemia were given 1 U/Kg body weight of human soluble insulin in 5 equally divided doses at 15 min intervals, sublingually. Plasma glucose was estimated at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 and 150 min. Urine examination for glucose was done at 45 min intervals. RESULTS The results showed that the mean plasma glucose before treatment was 19.93 + 2.1 mmol/L Hypoglycaemic effect was recorded at 15 min and reached a peak at 120 min when plasma glucose dropped to 10.9 + 1.2 mmol/L (p < 0.001). No side effect was reported and insulin was tolerated well. CONCLUSION We concluded that sublingual human insulin in repeated doses has a hypoglycaemic effect and could be used to control hyperglycaemia in type I diabetes.