A Daily Miracle

By Scott Coulter I called my pharmacy today to refill my short-acting insulin prescription, and tomorrow morning I'll hop in my car, drop off my wife, and pick it up. Then, perhaps, I'll go get some lunch, then head up to the music school where I teach piano and get my studio ready for the first week of lessons. It will be a mundane day of errands. Except one of those errands represents an absolute miracle that has single-handedly kept me alive for the past 19 years. Insulin was isolated in 1921 and was first given to a person with diabetes in 1922. Prior to that date, diabetes was simply a death sentence. I remember hearing that prior to the advent of insulin, doctors would sometimes put patients on a diet of nothing but hard liquor, liquor, as the story went, being the only thing that can go straight to our cells without needing insulin to get it there. And naturally, this solution didn't really solve the problem, but perhaps extended one's life a few extra weeks. Now, I have no idea if that's true — it's something I heard from other Diabetians at summer camp or some such thing. But true or not, it illustrates the point. Diabetes has been a manageable condition for LESS than 100 years. Since 1921, the insulin we use has evolved tremendously. We've gone from using animal insulin to using rDNA engineered insulin. Even in my own lifetime, things have changed. When I first started on insulin, fast-acting wasn't available yet. I took "Regular" and "long-acting." The Regul...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs