I'm always on the lookout for potential new cures to turn the tide against disease (it must be part of the whole grad school/public health thing), and when I found this the other day in the Wall Street Journal, I was pretty pumped.
A matchstick sized pump that gets inserted into the patient. With a year's worth of insulin, that's constantly being released into the patient in micro amounts to better regulate blood glucose levels. Now that's cool.
The little guy gets inserted right under the skin of the abdomen, and gives the patient 100% of the benefit of using the drug. No needles, no finger pricking, no anything. Just the little matchstick.
I work with a LOT of people with diabetes on a daily basis, and have seen how that disease completely transforms one's life. When a 15 year old kid comes in to see me with Type 2 diabetes, I know what lays in store for them if we can't radically change their life around for them (or they can't get their blood sugars under control). I've seen the diabetics in the nursing home. I've worked there. I've seen how they end up. Missing limbs, practically blind, or unable to talk due to the stroke that they had. It's a miserable state to be in.
Diabetes is nasty when uncontrolled.
And that's one of the reasons I love doing what I do. I get the chance to help people who are pre-diabetic be so no longer, help people be able to get off their meds, and help them to better live their lives.
Unfortunately though, exercise can't solve everything, and medications are often needed. But when you can find a way to still give somebody their meds without all the finger pricking and needle inserting, allowing them to better live their life and to have a happier, healthier one, I think that's pretty stinkin' awesome.
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