If you have had type 1 diabetes for some time, you’ll probably have wished that insulin could be a bit quicker acting.
Unless you have chosen to do a low carb diet, you will likely experience a sharp rise in blood glucose levels followed by a more gradual reduction over a period of up to 4 hours.
This presents a problem in that much of the time between meals will be spent having sugar levels that are higher than healthy levels. So what can we do?
Given the technological developments within diabetes research, it’s hard to fathom how anyone living with diabetes should go into debt or die an early death because of the outrageous prices for insulin and supplies.
T1International, a diabetes charity, launched a worldwide survey in March of 2016 to explore the costs that people pay out of pocket for things like insulin, test strips, and other diabetes costs. We have now received over 200 responses from more than 40 countries. What we found confirmed our concerns about the unaffordability of insulin and diabetes supplies worldwide, and some of the survey data that was gathered is quite alarming.
A 60-year-old Japanese man who claims to be an exorcist has been arrested on suspicion of persuading the parents of a 7-year-old boy with type 1 diabetes to cease his insulin treatment.
Shun Imai, a second grader at Utsunomiya elementary school, died at a Tochigu hospital on April 27. Shun’s parents have also been questioned by police on suspicion of negligence resulting in their son’s death.
An investigation has been launched after a patient was administered long-acting insulin instead of short-acting insulin at a health centre in Wrexham.
This potentially fatal error occurred in August 2015, and due to its severity, was reported as a “Never Event” to the Betsi Cadwaladwr University health board (BCUHB).
According to the NHS, a “Never Event”, which can cause harm or death to a patient, is a “serious and largely preventable incident that should not occur if the available preventative measures have been implemented by healthcare providers”.
Elliot Proctor Joslin is considered a pioneer in the treatment of diabetes. His approach to diabetes – giving the patients responsibility for their own care – was unique at the time.
He is also the founder of the Joslin Diabetes Centre, but why did Joslin have such a big impact on diabetes management?
We look at the story of how a young doctor pursued the field of diabetes after leaving medical school, becoming the first to specialise in it, and saw over 50,000 patients during his career.
Eva Saxl was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1940 at the age of 19. Alongside her husband, Victor, Eva was able to survive World War II by making her own insulin.
Seven-year-old Aiden Fenton was dizzy, vomiting, and hadn’t eaten for three days. Apparently, everything was going to plan.
Ernest Sterzer, born in Vienna, Austria, was three-years-old when diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1928. He began insulin injections immediately following his diagnosis.
When World War II began, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis instigated the Holocaust, a genocide in which approximately six million Jews were killed.
During this time, Hitler’s “Final solution to the Jewish question” saw concentration camps hold millions of prisoners, including Sterzer.
This is the story of how Sterzer survived the Holocaust and what he endured in order to procure the insulin necessary to survive.
In the UK, insulin doesn’t cost anything for diabetics who require it, but there is an estimated 50 million people worldwide who cannot afford insulin.
Copyright © Diabetes.co.uk 2015
