You are here: Home / Archives for insulin

Transplants Help Type 1 diabetics Skip Insulin

April 15, 2009 By AnaLise Leave a Comment

There are more and more ways to deal with diabtes these days, and more than that there are more discoveries every day. People with type 1 diabetes who got stem cell transplants were able to go as long as four years without needing insulin treatments, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They said the process, which involves injecting people with stem cells made from their bone marrow cells, appears to have a lasting effect. The study involved patients with Type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes, which occurs when the immune system goes haywire and starts attacking itself, destroying insulin-producing cells in the pancreas needed to control blood sugar.

These patients typically need daily insulin therapy to control their diabetes.

Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and colleagues first reported on the short-term success of the procedure, known as autologous non-myeloablative hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation, in 2007 but have since looked at how long it persisted.

Writing in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association they said 20 of 23 patients “became insulin free — 12 continuously and eight transiently — for periods as long as four years.” The transient group of eight had to restart insulin at reduced levels.

The patients ranged in age from 13 to 31.

To find out if the change was lasting the research team said they measured levels of C-peptides, which show how well the body is producing insulin. They found those levels increased “up to 24 months after transplantation and were maintained until at least 36 months,” their report said.

Even in the group which had to restart insulin there was still a significant increase in C-peptide levels that lasted at least two years, the researchers said.

They said the procedure was able to induce “prolonged and significant increases of C-peptide levels” in the small group of patients who were taking little or no insulin.

“At the present time (it) remains the only treatment capable of reversing type 1 diabetes mellitus in humans,” the team wrote.

“Randomized controlled trials and further biological studies are necessary to confirm the role of this treatment in changing the natural history of (the disease),” they added.

Reproduced through Reuters

Filed Under: Diabetes News Tagged With: diabetes, diabetes treatment, insulin, skipping insulin, Type 1 Diabetes

The Diabetes-Alzheimer’s Disease Link

February 5, 2009 By AnaLise Leave a Comment

In recent studies at Northwestern University, researchers have found that insulin and insulin enhancing drugs can slow, decrease or eliminate the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease.

The hippocampus is the area of the brain that holds the brain/body’s memory cells. If a person has Alzheimer’s Disease, the neurons in this area of the brain are attacked by toxic protein cells called ADDL’s, which are responsible for memory loss.

In a normal situation there is plenty of insulin attached to brain cells, however when the cells are attacked by ADDL’s there is an extremely marked decline in insulin. Researchers also discovered that by treating the hippocampus neurons with new insulin and the insulin sensitizing medication rosiglitizone, which binds to the cells in the hippocampus keeping the insulin with them and keeping them from deteriorating, thus keeping them healthy and keeping the individual’s memory in tact.

It is an amazing discovery that the treatment for diabetes can also be used to treat Alzheimer’s Disease. In fact, researchers are now calling Alzheimer’s Disease a type of brain diabetes. This provides hope that there will be help in the fight against Alzheimer’s, which is such a devastating disease.

Since diabetes affects the entire cardiovascular system, using insulin on its own or with an insulin enhancing drug will help the effects of the brain which has many blood vessels. The fact that insulin is able to slow Alzheimer’s Disease is amazing in and of itself. The fact that insulin can prevent Alzheimer’s Disease altogether is an unexpected miracle.

Filed Under: Diabetes News Tagged With: Alzheimer's Disease, brain diabetes, Cardiovascular system, diabetes, insulin, memory

Can Chewing Gum Control Diabetes?

January 16, 2009 By AnaLise Leave a Comment

Researchers have been looking for ways to treat and control diabetes for years.  Individuals who suffer from diabetes have also been looking for ways to avoid shots and other uncomfortable control measures. 

In addition, insulin taken orally does not always break down in the person’s system, and if it does, it often takes a great deal of time.  Unfortunately, when a person with diabetes takes insulin they don’t have an indefinite amount of time for it to begin working, nor can they afford for it not to be absorbed at all.

Enter the latest remedy for diabetes: insulin chewing gum.  Yes, you heard right.  This might just be the most fun that anyone has taking their medicine.

Robert Doyle, a chemist at Syracuse University in New York State, has performed studies and believes that an insulin chewing gum can break down orally-taken insulin by the digestive system.

Studies in the past have shown that oral insulin pills are broken down and that any enzymes that remain are not easily absorbed into the bloodstream from the gut. Doyle points out that the body has specific mechanisms for protecting and absorbing valuable molecules that would usually be damaged by conditions in the gut.

Doyle believes that the insulin can move all the way into the bloodstream, where it is released to do its work. Tests on rats conducted by his team have shown some promising results, according to New Scientist magazine. Even though the study on rats involved a treatment in liquid form, Doyle and his colleagues are sure that chewing gum would be a better delivery method and would work exceptionally well in humans.

The researchers say that chewing would ensure a plentiful supply of saliva, providing the protein needed for the insulin to make its way into the bloodstream.

If this innovative insulin delivery system works, it would help individuals with diabetes absorb more of the insulin they need and enjoy taking their medicine.

Filed Under: Diabetes News Tagged With: chewing gum, diabetes, diabetes control, enzymes, insulin, oral insulin

Steve Jobs: Pancreatic Cancer and Diabetes?

January 16, 2009 By AnaLise Leave a Comment

 
Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, is possibly suffering from the recurrence of a pancreatic tumor according to doctors.  Though he says he has a hormone imbalance, which is causing him to step down and take considerable time off, doctors point to the possibility of the tumor as well.

Since the pancreas provides insulin for the body, there are many complications when the pancreas encounters problems including but not limited to tumors. 

Recently, since last summer, Jobs has lost a tremendous amount of weight and there have been numerous false reports of his having suffered a heart attack and even a report stating that Jobs had died.  The reports were false, but the one accurate report was that Jobs had surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004 and very little else has been stated about his condition, except when Jobs recently stated that his condition was “robbing me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy”.

Jobs learned in 2003 that he had a malignant tumor in his pancreas. The pancreas is essential because it supplies the body with insulin and digestive enzymes. The most common type of pancreatic cancer is adenocarcinoma.  When someone has this type of cancer, they are expected to live for a year. Steve Jobs fortunately had an extremely rare form of cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor that can be treated surgically, without radiation or chemotherapy. The surgery removes part of the pancreas and the stomach and reconfigures what is left so that the pancreas can continue to supply insulin to the body.
Pancreatic cancer is usually very aggressive; however, it is likely that Steve Jobs has a benign tumor which can be causing the problems he is having.  The situation may be making his body deficient in digestive enzymes.  In addition, he is probably deficient in insulin which caused his weight loss and diabetic conditions, creating a situation that requires him to take insulin injections.

Between the weight loss and imbalances, he is probably, as stated, using a straightforward regimen of insulin, nutritional supplements and diet.  He is fortunate that he has been able to overcome pancreatic cancer for 4 years.  This should bring hope to others who have suffered with pancreatic cancer or diabetes.  It is heartening that doctors and researchers are making progress.

Filed Under: Diabetes News Tagged With: diabetes, digestion, insulin, pancreas, pancreatic cancer

Controlling Diabetes by the Minutes

January 10, 2009 By AnaLise Leave a Comment

Diabetes is usually not controlled by one thing alone, such as diet, but by a combination of things that work together on the body to regulate diabetes and its symptoms.

One of the tools that has always been suggested to combat diabetes is exercise.  Exercise has an effect on blood glucose levels, as well as heart rate, blood pressure and other levels in the body.

Recently in Britain a study determined that blood glucose levels can be kept under control simply by walking for 45 minutes.  Performed by Newcastle University, the study found that walking improved the body’s ability to store sugar and burn fat.  According to the study, after a few weeks of doing this regularly, the effects of diabetes were reduced.  This is especially true for individuals with late onset or type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes has often been linked to sedentary lifestyle, which includes a lack of exercise, and obesity, which is often the result of a sedentary lifestyle combined with poor eating habits.

If diabetes is not treated and brought under control, it progresses and it leads to blood vessel damage, risk of stroke and heart attack, visual problems including blindness, kidney damage and, because of cardiovascular issues, can result in amputation of limbs.

The studies at Newcastle give individuals with diabetes an immediate tool in the arsenal against the symptoms of diabetes without having to add another medication to their regimen.  Even if an individual begins by exercising for just a few minutes every day and builds up to 45 minutes, it will still do some good.

The studies also showed that more active individuals were able to store more sugar in their muscles and they were able to burn more fat.  Since the muscles store most of the sugar in the body, if they are unable to absorb enough sugar, the sugar ends up in the bloodstream keeping the levels too high.  This causes damage to the veins, arteries and many of the organs, leading to long term problems, escalating diabetes symptoms and often leading to blindness, amputation, dialysis or death.

If you or someone you know or love has diabetes, it is important to know that it doesn’t take hours in the gym to try to control it.  It will help to walk for a few minutes a day and work up to 45 minutes every day.  It will improve a person’s health and life, and it very well could save it.

Filed Under: Diabetes News Tagged With: blood glucose, diabetes, diabetes and exercise, diabetes control, Diabetes Symptoms, insulin

The Facts about Type 1 Diabetes

December 1, 2008 By AnaLise Leave a Comment

 

Childhood Diabetes is also called Type 1 Diabetes.  A child or young person that has diabetes is in a situation where their body does not create enough insulin, and as a result, it needs to be treated by taking insulin shots to provide for the insulin not being produced in the body.

The production of insulin, which is an important hormone, happens in the pancreas.  The food a child eats is broken down by the body into a sugar called glucose.  The sugar is carried through the blood and gives the body energy.  Insulin helps the sugar enter the cells in the body and controls the amount of sugar in the blood.

In diabetes there is too much sugar in the blood because there is not enough insulin to balance out the sugar.  This can cause many heath problems, and if they are not treated, these problems can end up being fatal.

In childhood diabetes (Type 1 Diabetes), the pancreas cannot create enough insulin because many of the cells in the pancreas are being destroyed, sometimes due to the body’s immune system destroying the cells.  Sometimes Type 1 Diabetes occurs due to hereditary factors, as it can be genetic and run in families.

Some symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes are excessive thirst, urinating a lot and losing weight.  Some of the treatments include learning about the disease and learning about what type of diet can be helpful and healthy for diabetes.  It is important for the family to learn this information as well. 

Another part of treatment is controlling blood sugar through use of a glucose meter to check the levels, but just as importantly, exploring the choices for a good diet and sticking to it.  Keytone tests are also important.  Keytone tests test the urine to tell you if enough insulin is being produced.  Your doctor or pharmacist can tell you how they work.

Continuous treatment and monitoring through your family’s or child’s doctor is essential, not only for the child that is diagnosed with diabetes, but also to have the entire family tested, as well. 

Juvenile, Childhood or Type 1 Diabetes can be managed and controlled in a way that will allow your child to live a normal life, doing the same things that other children do.  There is a lot of information available.  One of the best sources of information is the American Diabetes Association.  You can call them at 1-800-342-2383 or visit the on the web at www.diabetes.org.

Filed Under: Diabetes News Tagged With: American Diabetes Association, diabetes treatment, glucose control, glucose meter, insulin, juvenile diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes