#diabetic

Service animal shadow ft diabetic Knuckles! Glucose problems.. and suspicion

"A patient with type 1 diabetes has become the first in the world to produce his own insulin via transplanted cells edited with CRISPR.

The edits halted his own immune system from attacking the cells, leading to production of insulin in the pancreas as if he never had the disease in the first place.

Unlike the rampant type 2 diabetes, type 1 manifests as an autoimmune disorder whereby the patient’s immune system attacks and destroys a type of cell created in the pancreas to produce insulin, known as islet cells. 9.5 million people worldwide suffer from type 1 diabetes and there is no cure.

The standard of care beyond daily insulin injections involves using donated islet cells to allow a patient’s metabolism to function normally, followed by medications used to prevent the immune system from attacking those cells. These medications have harmful side effects.

A team of biomedical researchers primarily from Uppsala University, Sweden, in collaboration with UC San Francisco, successfully used the CRISPR gene-editing method to take a donor’s islet cells and modify them so as to evade prosecution by the patient’s immune system.

Three changes in total to the genetic code were needed to ensure the transplanted donor cells didn’t trigger an immune response, including changes to cell membrane signal proteins used as a sign of attack by white blood cells.

CRISPR TO THE RESCUE:

Infant With Incurable Disease is First to Successfully Receive Personalized Gene Therapy Treatment

Aggressive Leukemia Disappears in 13-Year-old Girl Who was First to Receive New CRISPR Treatment

First Patient to Receive Gene Therapy ‘Cure’ for Beta-Thalassemia Living Pain-Free

As a preliminary study, the man received only a small amount of the donated, modified cells, meaning he still requires daily insulin injections. However the results show that the cells produced their own insulin and remained unperturbed by the immune system.

After 12 weeks, the cells were still producing endogenous insulin, setting the stage for longer-term and more robust experiments in the future.

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine."

I am a VTuber, I stream on TikTok every day. I used to get enough support to take care of myself, but things have gotten really rough in the past two years. 

I have recently come into a very big rough patch this year with not getting consistent work, my roommate being laid off and just in general struggling. I’ve almost been evicted twice.

All that I ask is you reblog this post and help if you can, if you can’t that’s totally OK

But I do need insulin to live, both long acting and fast acting, and my rent is very late, but we haven’t gotten an eviction notice yet 

One of my first jobs after I got my masters in medical anthropology was working on a team designing a culturally inclusive type 2 diabetes prevention program. I learned a lot from the nurses and doctors I worked alongside. I’ve also learned a lot from having diabetes for the last 10 years while also gaining about 300 pounds on purpose.

Prevention

A lot of this is also good advice for managing your blood sugar if you already have a diabetes diagnosis.

1. It’s not always possible if you are genetically predisposed. But you can definitely delay the onset.

2. Physical activity lowers blood sugar and decreases insulin resistance. It doesn’t have to be arduous, even just going for a walk a few times a week helps. Try to find something you enjoy. I like to swim laps at the gym.

3. Eating balanced meals and choosing complex carbs over simple ones. This means whole grains and making sure you have protein, fat and carbs in roughly equal amounts in each meal. It’s never a bad idea to have more veggies.

4. Don’t freak out about a pre-diabetic diagnosis. This is a controversial diagnosis and is not accepted by the WHO. About 50% of those who receive this diagnosis go on to develop diabetes. It’s about as predictive as a coin flip. The positive is that it can serve as an impetus to try some of these strategies to prevent or delay actual diabetes.

Management

1. Don’t freak out if you are diagnosed. This is an easy disease to manage.

2. Don’t neglect managing it. Uncontrolled diabetes has significant consequences like blindness, amputation etc.

3. Losing massive amounts of weight to “cure” diabetes doesn’t work. You may see a temporary return to normal blood sugars but you will regain the weight back just like 90% of dieters do. And when you do regain the weight your blood sugar control will likely be worse than before.

4. Ask your doctor for a continuous glucose monitor CGM. They are probably free through your insurance. They are a wearable device that transmits glucose numbers to your phone. They keep you from having to constantly prick your fingers.

5. You have many non injection options for medication. Lots of different pills.

6. Insulin works great. Many doctors will want to delay starting you on it or push weight loss meds. This is because most people gain weight on insulin. Another medication that works really well and also causes significant weight gain is Actos. This medication actually helps move visceral fat out of your liver and turns it into beneficial subcutaneous fat. When combined these can contribute to rapid weight gain and improvement in blood sugar levels.

7. You are the person who decides what medications and treatments you go on. Not your doctor. There may be limits set by your insurance but if you don’t want to take a particular medication and want to instead try something else you have every right to tell your doctor this. You can also tell them you are not interested in losing weight. You can also decline to be weighed at the doctor. They are providing you a service, they are not your boss even though they have power in the interaction. This is called patient’s right of refusal and you should exercise it.