Just over Thanksgiving I was informed that my best friend's sister was sent to the hospital with a diagnosis of type two diabetes. Without research, the fast treatment that she received to survive, would not be in existence to save her. Due to this, I decided to look at more research that was going on to find out what causes diabetes in healthy children and what they are doing to make sure children do not have to live with diabetes.
The one research that I found most intriguing was that they are tracking the spectrum of insulin resistance in diabetes. They know that diabetes begins when the body resists the insulin that is being produced. They are not sure when and how the disease takes over. The Joslin cohort study, which is ran by Dr. Patti and Dr. Goldfine are using different volunteers along the insulin resistance spectrum. This is done so that they can see the differences between a healthy person without diabetes to a person who has type two diabetes. With the spectrum they will be able to see the changes as they occur with each level of the spectrum. Dr. Patti stated, "if we can identify factors that are different in people at risk for diabetes, those factors may play a casual role in diabetes development" (Joslin Diabetes Center
Through this research, they are developing new therapies to prevent and even treat the disease. Hopefully, in time, more research will find the cure so that no child has to live with this disease. There will be no more pricking with needles to check their blood sugar count and no more poking with needles to give the insulin that they need.
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Charlotte,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this information! I hope your friend is doing better. This is some information I can pass on to my father. Although, they have things now you can use to check your blood without poking yourself. My father is old school and refuse to use them. Thanks again!
I can relate so closely to this topic. Among other health issues, my daughter has ketotic hypoglycemia. In other words, this is low blood glucose along with elevated ketones. This usually occurs with episodes of vomiting. The first time she had one of these episodes, we weren't aware that she has this problem. We rushed her to the emergency room due to lethargy. Her blood glucose was dangerously low. So dangerous that I don't want to even think of what might have happened if we would've waited a minute longer. With the knowledge developed about this condition over the years, the doctors went right to work in order to get her stabalized. The research done on this disorder saved my daughters life! You are right, there many be many sticks and pokes, but I have faith that there will someday be a cure for adults and children with disorders like these with continued research! Great post!
ReplyDeleteYour blog was so informative. I enjoyed reading about the study. So many things we take for granted and we do not realize that without research, there would be so many more health problems today. We have come so far medically, and have a ways to go, but thankfully there are professionals who devote their time to researching.
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