I am very excited about this post as I have 2 type 1 Diabetic children who are now adults.
I remember, my one daughter was 5 when I found out she was a diabetic and I had to give her insulin shots a few times a day. Plus prick her finger, and check her blood sugar at least 6-10 times a day, as a child cannot tell you when their sugar is low or high.
If her sugar got too low, she would start to sceam and shake (sort of like someone having an epeleptic fit) and I had to inject her with glucagon (A hormone produced by the pancreas that stimulates an increase in blood sugar levels, thus opposing the action of insulin).
Low blood sugar is dangerous as some of your brain cells die and the child can go into a coma. Now both girls are adults and have insulin pumps, which monitors their insulin and their blood sugar is more stable.
Dr. Eli Lewis from Israel, is a world renowned expert on autoimmune disease and the director of the Clinical Islet Laboratory of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry & Pharmacology at Ben-Gurion University (BGU). In 2003 he began looking into tiny clusters of insulin-producing cells scattered throughout the pancreas.
During that time he discovered that Alpha 1 Antitrypsin (AAT), an anti-inflammatory drug based on a natural protein our bodies produce each day and generally used to treat emphysema, not only shows promise for reducing insulin dependence but in some cases can actually cure a person of Type 1 diabetes.
According to the National Diabetes Association 1.25 million American children and adults have type 1 diabetes: Of the 29.1 million, 21.0 million were diagnosed, and 8.1 million were undiagnosed.
They say it will be about 2-3 more years before the clinical trials are done and hopefully the AAT drug will be approved in The United States. Hopefully the Drug Companies do not shelf this new amazing Drug for Type 1 Diabetes.
Resorses from Jewish World Review. JNS.org and picture from webMd