My Diabetes Information Blogs
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Happy 85th to the diabetes miracle - insulin
05/08/07
Diabetes Medications, Disease Basics, General
An article in April's edition of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice celebrates the 85th birthday of insulin. Now, those of you that inject it every day, or maintain an insulin pump, may not always want to celebrate insulin's birthday. After all, it is part of the rigmarole, and we understand. Still, insulin is better than the alternatives that existed prior to 1922. Before insulin came along, people with type 1 diabetes would often only last for a few months beyond their initial diagnosis. Type 2 diabetics could often manage quite a bit longer with a very strict diet.
The first insulin administered to humans was actually bovine, from a cow. It was a very exciting moment in Toronto, Canada, when a 14-year-old boy began a miraculous recovery after receiving his first insulin injection. That boy lived for another thirteen years and worked in a chemical factory. Of course insulin injections were a regular part of his daily life. Certainly he did not mind that they bought him 13 more years. Who knows how much longer he would have lived if pneumonia hadn't taken his life?
So don't be too bothered when you hear that the new diabetes drug, Byetta, was inspired by lizard spit.
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