Diabetes : $b Its cause and its treatment with insulinWilder, Russell M. (Russell Morse)
Science
Diabetes : $b Its cause and its treatment with insulin
Wilder, Russell M. (Russell Morse)
Diabetes; Insulin
The Canadian investigators worked in a wholly scientific manner.
Their experiments show great attention to the matter of controls. For
each animal that was tested, there was a normal animal with which to
compare it. The investigators used many dogs, and a vast number of
rabbits in making these necessary tests. Not until all the factors of
danger had been thoroughly controlled was the drug administered to
man. Had it been given without the guiding knowledge obtained by the
observations on rabbits, it seems certain that overdoses might have
been administered and patients have died.
_Overdose of insulin dangerous._--The effects of an overdose of insulin
are striking; there is too great a lowering of the amount of sugar,
and severe convulsions ensue which may lead to death. Insulin is a
powerful remedy; its effects are certain and accurately measurable.
If a human being is given too much, his blood sugar falls to a lower
concentration. When he gets it around 0.07 per cent he begins to be
anxious and nervous about himself. He is likely to become pale, or
to flush and perspire profusely. If the blood sugar concentration
goes still lower his speech may become disturbed, and he may even
manifest mental disturbances. These things too may be prevented, and
immediately stopped once they have ensued, by the giving of a small
amount of sugar, as for example in the form of four to eight ounces of
orange juice. These facts also were discovered by properly conducted
experiments.
The investigators now turned their attention to the problem of this
disease in human beings, and the results have already been broadcasted
through medical periodicals, newspapers and magazines. They are far
beyond the early hopes of scientific investigators of the disease.
In that terminal stage of diabetes known as coma, when the patient
sinks into unconsciousness, insulin seems actually to restore life. Of
far greater importance, it offers for the vast majority of diabetics
comfort and extended existence. Its administration is closely bound
with a knowledge of the food taken into the body, for it is known that
a certain amount of insulin will aid the body in handling a certain
amount of sugar. When the physician decides to place his patient on
the insulin treatment, he usually asks that the patient come into a
hospital so that he may first find out the patient’s normal ability to
digest sugar, and it is this ability that the physician supplements by
the giving of insulin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account