The History of Type 1 Diabetes

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Introduction

    Treatment of type 1 diabetes has come a long way since the beginning of the disease and advancements in technology has a big part in helping this.  Through the article, "History of Diabetes" which is posted by healthline.com,  we are going to look at how the treatment and medical breakthroughs have changed over the years.

The Beginning

    The first recorded documentation of diabetes treatment dates back to 1550 B.C. where the Egyptians where able to identify the disease and even had a test for it.  This test was called "honey urine" and they would simply test if ants were attracted to the patients urine (Porter, Eloise).

    This was done because in patients because when blood sugar is high, the body release sugar through the urine in an attempt to lower blood sugar.  If ants are attracted to the urine, this means that there is sugar in it which points towards the patient having diabetes.

Further Discoveries

    Flashing forward to the 20th century, a Doctor by the name of Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer announced that patients with diabetes had a problem with their pancreas.  He stated that the pancreas wasn't able to produce the hormone that he called "insulin" so the body couldn't break down sugar.  This resulted in the body expelling sugar through the urine (Porter, Eloise).


    This was a great step in the right direction.  Now that the underlying problem of diabetes was discovered, a solution could start being developed.  Before this discovery/announcement, nobody knew how to treat the disease besides practically starving yourself or the patient.

2 Types

    Although the newly discovered insulin injections worked for some cases, others weren't responsive to the treatment.  This lead to the distinction between 2 kinds of diabetes; insulin-sensative and insulin-insensative.  Today, these 2 kinds of diabetes are known as type 1 and type 2 (Porter, Eloise).
    
    Even though the newly found treatment of this disease worked for some, it wasn't a "solve all" solution.  To me, it is interesting how this new treatment lead to the discovery of the two different types of diabetes.

Technology

Before 1969, there was no way to check what a patients blood sugar level was at home.  This lead to a lot of guessing when it came to treatment.  In 1969 however, a large, portable glucose meter was created that was about the size of a calculator.  This lead to patients being able to more accurately monitor their blood sugar levels and have better control of their body (Porter, Eloise).

    Just a year later, insulin pumps were invented as a way to mimic the body's natural release of insulin.  The first insulin pumps were very large (shown below).  Today, they are small and portable which allows them to be worn comfortably (Porter, Eloise).
    

    It is crazy to think that just over 50 years ago, the way people managed their diabetes was completely different than it is today.  Technology has really improved the way that people control their blood sugar levels and has shown to dramatically increase overall health.


If you want to read the entire article about the history of type 1 diabetes, click here.


If you have any questions about The history of type 1 diabetes or want more information about my experience, feel free to contact me!  This is done by clicking the "Contact" link at the top of the page and filling out the form. Or you can always leave a comment below!


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