One of the conceptual problems I have with the state of Type 1 diabetes treatment is that, as with many complex and uncured diseases, all we can do is try to lessen the effects of the symptoms of the disease. Unmodulated blood glucose– the hallmark of diabetes– is only an incidental result of the real problem: my body’s immune system has labeled the insulin-producing beta cells in my pancreas as dangerous, and has killed them off. Without these insulin-producing cells, my body can’t regulate blood glucose levels on its own.
The problem is, the immune system’s attack is hard to reverse and hard to untangle; the best solution we have so far is to inject insulin, and manually control my blood glucose levels so that elevated blood sugar doesn’t overtime lead to worse symptoms– organ death first, and, ultimately, just death.
Insulin treatment, then, is necessary, and it is a God-send for diabetics like me (have you read the story of the first use of insulin in the 1920s? Ridiculously Epic, with a capital E; why isn’t that a movie yet?) But, it’s not a solution, and it doesn’t address the root of the problem: the immune system.
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