In the past, there was no GOOD treatment for diabetes. Most children had a very grim prognosis, with only a slight chance of making it into their twenties. Adults did have a slightly brighter prognosis, but still most did not live for more than 15 years with the disease.
As you know, diabetics take daily blood sugar readings. Well back then they took urine sugar readings , which were very inaccurate because sugar only occurs in the urine when the person has a blood sugar of more than 160. It was very hard to tell what your ACTUAL blood sugar was . Diabetes treatment was really just a guessing game.
Also, weird and disgusting but true, before doctors were able to make more human like insulins, people had to use insulin from a pig's pancreas. This was a really bad idea. Tons of people had allergic reactions because the substance was not anywhere near human. Others could not use it because their body recognized it as foreign and rejected the insulin. There were very few people who got any benefit from early diabetes treatment, before the 1970's or so, if I'm correct.
As you can see doctors have successfully improved diabetes treatment over the past few decades.
As you know, diabetics take daily blood sugar readings. Well back then they took urine sugar readings , which were very inaccurate because sugar only occurs in the urine when the person has a blood sugar of more than 160. It was very hard to tell what your ACTUAL blood sugar was . Diabetes treatment was really just a guessing game.
Also, weird and disgusting but true, before doctors were able to make more human like insulins, people had to use insulin from a pig's pancreas. This was a really bad idea. Tons of people had allergic reactions because the substance was not anywhere near human. Others could not use it because their body recognized it as foreign and rejected the insulin. There were very few people who got any benefit from early diabetes treatment, before the 1970's or so, if I'm correct.
As you can see doctors have successfully improved diabetes treatment over the past few decades.
