Type 1 is often referred to as juvenile diabetes as it is diagnosed most often in children and young adults and makes up about 10% of the diagnosed diabetes cases. It occurs when the pancreas no longer produces insulin leading to the only treatment being one of injections for the rest of the patients life.
Someone close to me has Type 1 Diabetes so I know the daily routine that they must go through. At this point, it is just second nature to them and the way life is. Most patients either have to inject themselves several times a day with insulin or the alternative is to have an "insulin pump" which, around the size of a pager, constantly pumps small amounts of insulin into the body and allows the person to easily "dose" or inject more insulin when they have eaten. It is a very costly disease to have - there are needles and insulin to buy, as well as catheters and adhesives to purchase when using the pump. And if you don't have insurance, it can be unbearable - which do you buy, your insulin or your food? You need both to survive.
However, recently scientific studies may soon make this disease a thing of the past. It has been shown through researched performed at the Uiversity of California, San Francisco that that two cancer drugs, imatinib and sunitinib, have put Type 1 Diabetes into remission 80 percent of the time in lab mice and worked to permanently for 80 percent of mice that went into remission.
This could soon help a vast number of individuals once it goes to clinical trials, and I applaud the scientists that made this discovery.
The following are a few products that you may find useful for yourself or someone you care about:
- Diabetes Forecast
- Betty Crocker's Diabetes Cookbook: Everyday Meals, Easy as 1-2-3
- Fix-It and Forget-It Diabetic Cookbook: Slow-Cooker Favorites to Include Everyone!
Jason
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