The cure for diabetes

[ErinKeegan]

Has anyone heard about a cure for diabetes? I've read an article yesterday, now can't find it but I have an excerpt from the article "The only cure that has ever worked is a pancreas transplant or a transplant of the insulin-producing cell clusters of the pancreas, known as islet cells, from an organ donor’s pancreas. But a shortage of organs makes such an approach an impossibility for the vast majority with the disease"
If you find this article, send me, please
and anyone believes that it works?

 

[EllieM]

Hi @ErinKeegan
google suggests you mean this article here
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/27/health/diabetes-cure-stem-cells.html

which involves a very new treatment for transplanting new islet cells into T1 diabetics. Not really a cure though, as the patients would need to take immunosuppressent drugs for the rest of their lives and so far only one patient has had the treatment.

Pancreas transplants are also given to T1 diabetics, but usually only for severe cases who are also getting a kidney transplant - immunosuppressent drugs aren't given lightly and the pancreas does useful things apart from producing insulin.

But none of these treatments work for T2 diabetes, which probably accounts for 90% of diabetics.

As a T1, I've been living with the promise of a cure in ten or twenty years for fifty years, so I am slightly cynical about the prospect, but I have seen treatment for T1s improve massively in that time. (I was diagnosed before glucometers).

 

[Jaylee]

Hmm, been reading about this since the 1980s? Stemcell research & the pancreas.

Probably the only reason I bought New scientist magazine back in the day..

With regards to transplants. I'll tag in, @Grant_Vicat .

What type of Diabetes do you have @ErinKeegan ?

 

[Grant_Vicat]

Hmm, been reading about this since the 1980s? Stemcell research & the pancreas.

Probably the only reason I bought New scientist magazine back in the day..

With regards to transplants. I'll tag in, @Grant_Vicat .

What type of Diabetes do you have @ErinKeegan ?

Thanks Jaylee. Like you and @Ellie M I spent every 5 years (on average) optimistically believing a cure was on the horizon.
Then the cynicism of adolescence gained the upper hand! It seems this was justified...

 

[Grant_Vicat]

Has anyone heard about a cure for diabetes? I've read an article yesterday, now can't find it but I have an excerpt from the article "The only cure that has ever worked is a pancreas transplant or a transplant of the insulin-producing cell clusters of the pancreas, known as islet cells, from an organ donor’s pancreas. But a shortage of organs makes such an approach an impossibility for the vast majority with the disease"
If you find this article, send me, please
and anyone believes that it works?

Hi @ErinKeegan @Ellie M is absolutely right. Although I haven't had an insulin injection for nearly 9 years now (having had them from 1959-2013), and surreally I have been making my own insulin, I am not officially cured. This is partly because I have to take immunosuppressants for the rest of my life, which cause their own problems (I cannot seperate paper, pages etc and have bad tremors in my hands for at least 4 hours after the morning and evening dose), but also because earlier problems, such as retinopathy, are still open to deterioration. This is one of the reasons I still stick to a controlled carb diet which started in 1966!
I don't want to go on record as the first Type1 to become a Type2! Could even have happened already for all I know. Although diabetes is an "antisocial" disease, I believe that when it is managed well (not always possible) many have healthier lives than
the average. Good luck!

 

[Antje77]

"The only cure that has ever worked is a pancreas transplant or a transplant of the insulin-producing cell clusters of the pancreas, known as islet cells, from an organ donor’s pancreas. But a shortage of organs makes such an approach an impossibility for the vast majority with the disease"

The side effects from a transplantation are very serious, it's not only the day to day side effects, as @Grant_Vicat has told about, but also that for the rest of your life you'll be more prone to all kinds of infections and other illnesses because you have to suppress your immune system with medication.
Without doing this, the body would reject the transplant.

Transplantation can be life saving, yes.
But it's only done if all else fails and you're close to death without the transplant. Not because of a shortage of organs but because it's not an easy treatment, and lots of things can go wrong.
This is why transplants are usually done when a kidney transplant is needed: If you have to take all the risks connected to a transplant, you can add that second transplant to treat the diabetes.

 

[Grant_Vicat]

The side effects from a transplantation are very serious, it's not only the day to day side effects, as @Grant_Vicat has told about, but also that for the rest of your life you'll be more prone to all kinds of infections and other illnesses because you have to suppress your immune system with medication.
Without doing this, the body would reject the transplant.

Transplantation can be life saving, yes.
But it's only done if all else fails and you're close to death without the transplant. Not because of a shortage of organs but because it's not an easy treatment, and lots of things can go wrong.
This is why transplants are usually done when a kidney transplant is needed: If you have to take all the risks connected to a transplant, you can add that second transplant to treat the diabetes.

I would just like to add that I was given the choice with both transplants, which took place in one operation. The risks were made clear, but I had no hesitation. As I am needle phobic. I didn't want to opt for dialysis, and I thought that a pancreas transplant would give my new kidney the best chance. I don't regret my decision at all in that I have still been able to indulge all my hobbies and interests (with adjustments) and most importantly can still enjoy my family, watching my granddaughter becoming dangerously grown up! It's not all doom and gloom.

 

[Antje77]

It's not all doom and gloom.

Thankfully it's not, and you're living proof that life after transplantation can be wonderful!

But I think @ErinKeegan was asking about a pancreatic transplant alone, just to cure diabetes. I think that for almost all diabetics with functioning kidneys, treating diabetes with insulin is a better choice than a transplant, with everything that comes with it.

 

[AndBreathe]

As I understand it, most pancreatic transplants are done on a piggy-back of another organ transplant, most often a kidney.

I have a friend who has had 2 kidney transplants - first one including a pancreas, which has worked since, thereby negating her need to use insulin, but the regime afterwards is quite brutal. When asked, my fried agrees with the brutal description, but says it is better than dialysis several times a week and all that entails (limitations on travel etc.)

Unfortunately, she subsequently needed a further kidney transplant because the transplanted kidney failed. I'll spare you those details, but it was not a usual scenario, but has again been well since.

Her well and my well are very different things. She still gets very tired and her days and weeks are punctuated by the need to take medications and perform checks.

As a matter of interest, she still has "diabetes" reviews, eye screening and she has to have her feet checked much more regularly than you or I, due to an impact of the underlying issue leading to her kidney failure.

Personally, having understood a small margin of what is involved in a transplantation "journey", I'd be doing my best to really avoid it. I have never had to inject insulin several times a day, but I see that as being a route to a better life than major surgery and heavy, lifelong medications to contend with.

 

[sleepster]

If you have a tv licence/iplayer account you can watch about a trial that's starting where I live (starts about 6 minutes in) for people with recently diagnosed diabetes https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episo...-north-east-and-cumbria-evening-news-26042022 (I'm not sure how long it'll be online for)
You can read about it here https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/health/type-1-diabetes-newcastle-trial-23776000 and I'm sure if you google you can find some other (better) articles

 

[ErinKeegan]

Hi @ErinKeegan
google suggests you mean this article here
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/27/health/diabetes-cure-stem-cells.html

which involves a very new treatment for transplanting new islet cells into T1 diabetics. Not really a cure though, as the patients would need to take immunosuppressent drugs for the rest of their lives and so far only one patient has had the treatment.

Pancreas transplants are also given to T1 diabetics, but usually only for severe cases who are also getting a kidney transplant - immunosuppressent drugs aren't given lightly and the pancreas does useful things apart from producing insulin.

But none of these treatments work for T2 diabetes, which probably accounts for 90% of diabetics.

As a T1, I've been living with the promise of a cure in ten or twenty years for fifty years, so I am slightly cynical about the prospect, but I have seen treatment for T1s improve massively in that time. (I was diagnosed before glucometers).

Thank you for your explanation

 

[ErinKeegan]

If you have a tv licence/iplayer account you can watch about a trial that's starting where I live (starts about 6 minutes in) for people with recently diagnosed diabetes https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episo...-north-east-and-cumbria-evening-news-26042022 (I'm not sure how long it'll be online for)
You can read about it here https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/health/type-1-diabetes-newcastle-trial-23776000 and I'm sure if you google you can find some other (better) articles

Nice , thanks

 

[ErinKeegan]

Hmm, been reading about this since the 1980s? Stemcell research & the pancreas.

Probably the only reason I bought New scientist magazine back in the day..

With regards to transplants. I'll tag in, @Grant_Vicat .

What type of Diabetes do you have @ErinKeegan ?

Type 1

 

[Daibell]

Transplants can be amazing but do come with life-long issues. My wife had a kidney transplant last year but the immuno drugs can be a problem and she has now developed cancer which can result from the much higher risk when on the drugs. Sadly, there is no miracle cure for a damaged pancreas.

 

[Ushthetaff]

Like many I’ve been hearing about a diabetic cure being around the corner since I was diagnosed over 40 years ago ,however that corner keeps moving . I do believe that a “ cure “ will eventually come but I don’t think I’ll be around to see it , from a personal point of view diabetes is a part of my life now it’s like an old friend sometimes we get on sometimes we argue but at the end of the day we are there together , I think time and experience has made me look at things differently , I do hope that a cure is found just to make things easier for our future generations ,

 

[Jaylee]

Type 1

Hello again,

How long have you been diagnosed?

I know sometimes one can be bombarded with promising scientific advancement through tests done on mice..
I have friends over the years sometime suggest, “they can do this with mice now.” Or “have you heard they discovered that..”
Lol, even my Internet search profile can pull it up along with car parts & music equipment.
My wife once came back from a hairdressing appointment telling me the stylists husband had, had a pancreas transplant.
On further enquiry, he’d had other organs done too..

I’ve long since stopped subscribing to the next “cured” rodent.

 

[ErinKeegan]

Thank all gyus for explaining, I'm probably an incorrigible romantic, but I understand all of you, maybe I don't give up hope. You are very bright and brave people