T1D Tuesday: Fake It To Make It

For the month of November - Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Month - my Monday Random Round Up goes on hiatus, making way for T1D Tuesday. 

Let's get educated, motivated, and moving on making Type One, Type None. 

Donate to my cousin Ella's efforts by clicking right here.

Along with filling you in on some incredible new research like encapsulation last week, I want to give you an update on things I told you about last year: Namely, work on the artificial pancreas. If you donated to the cause last year, you've helped advance this crazy-in-the-best-way creation.

image

Type 1 Diabetes, in it's most basic form, is when the pancreas fails to produce adequate insulin to release into the bloodstream to regulate sugar levels. Right now, the only way to remedy the situation is to monitor blood sugar levels in diabetics, administering insulin doses via shots or an inserted pump, which reduces injections but not monitoring duties. Neither are comfortable, and neither give a diabetic any real peace of mind. They think about their sugar levels all. the. time.

I'm going to let the experts handle the description of the research currently being done, so straight from the American Diabetes Association:

The artificial pancreas system – which includes an insulin pump, software and sensors that track blood glucose levels on a continuous basis – reduced the incidence of nocturnal hypoglycemia events by 32 percent and the duration and severity of those incidents by 38 percent, by shutting off insulin delivery for two hours once glucose levels reached a predefined threshold value (usually 70 mg/dL) the study showed. The threshold suspend feature is part of the MiniMed 530 G system, made by Medtronic and is currently undergoing review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This feature is available internationally in the MiniMed Veo System, where it is called Low Glucose Suspend.

Hypoglycemia is of great concern because it can lead to unconsciousness, seizures and even death. Overnight hypoglycemia is a concern for most patients and family members of those with type 1 diabetes.

image

The work toward production of the artificial pancreas system is real. Although organ transplants are nothing but serious business, the concept of working around a faulty one with a mechanized version is already in practice. Think artificial heart valves: They replace one part of an organ, becoming a man-made alternative functioning as a part of the internal human body. Living proof? My own mom.

So in the last year, we've gone from working concept to reality-being-reviewed-by-the-FDA. If that's not a happy update, I don't know what is. Again and as always, THANK YOU if you donated last year, and if you haven't yet: What are you waiting for? This stuff is amazing!

Edited to include:
Check out this great article posted on CNN today about what it's like to face the stigma of being diabetic.