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Dr. Thomas Willis determined if his parents had diabetes by sampling their urine. If it had a a sweat taste then he would diagnose them with diabetes. This meathod of monitoring blood sugars went unchanged for many years.
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Many people did not know how to deal with diabetes. Once you had diabetes then people would start planning your funeral. Doctors tried everything. They tried putting them on a low-calorie diet but it made things worse. Once they diagnosed you then you had about a year to live, or so they thought.
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An English physiologist Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer's detained study of the pancreas leads him to discover something that is produced in non dibetics, insulin. It comes from a Latin word insula meaing island.
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In 1921 doctors managed to retrieve insulin. They kept a diabetic dog alive for seventy days. In another case a boy was about to go into a diabetic coma from high blood sugars. They lowered him blood sugar and saved his life.
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The first year that insulin was avaliable was 1923. It was very expencive and still is today. The insulin that they had then would work extreamly slow but it was all they had.
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Oral medication was developed in 1950 for people with type two diabetes. These meds simulate the panceas to make more insulin to help keep blood sugars in check.
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In 1960 urine strips were invented so you no longer had to go to the doctor to test yourself. Now they had small strips that you pee on and if they turn blue then you do not have diabetes if I is orange then you do.
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In 1970 the first actual pump was invented but it was very heavy and it had to be carried in a backpack. Not many people had it becuase it was so complicated.
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The first needle free pump was invented in 1979. It weighed a total of 1 and a half pounds and cost $925. It did not have a pressure adjustment so everytime it gave you insulin it would jolt.
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In 1985 is when they came out with the design of the pump that is still used today. It is light, compact, and has a pressure adjustment. Its comfortable and now you can detatch it if you want to go swimming or play sports.
