Is a cure really around the corner?

shoop99 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-17-2006, 09:40 PM

My doctor told me there should be a cure for diabetes in the less than 5 years. But I have listened to other diabetics and they told me that their doctors said that to them 20 years ago. What do you think?

JungleJim · #2 (**permalink**) 10-17-2006, 10:07 PM

I think your Dr has been smoking something (for medical purposes I'm sure!!).

Seriously, I think they are getting closer, but they are itty bitty steps at a time. I think I will see it in my lifetime, but then I also think about all the money the drug and medical supply companies would lose if I no longer needed my pump, insulin, ect. I guess that thinking could open up a whole new thread.

Dewey · #3 (**permalink**) 10-17-2006, 10:21 PM

I'm one of those who have been told a cure would be out in 10 years, but again, that was over 20 years ago.

Truthfully, with all the money the medical industry makes on meds, strips & other Diabetic supplies, I'm not so sure that I see a cure coming soon.

Don't lose hope, though. It does seem like they're on the brink of some really incredible things!!

ramrummy · #4 (**permalink**) 10-17-2006, 10:57 PM

Only if around the corner means around the corner, down the street, over the bridge and onto the ferry. I think the cure will come with replacing the cells, and that will only come when the 'brains trust' realise that we don't want to clone our kids with diabetes, cancer, etc we just want them to be healthy. I know and understand the ethical reasons for not supporting stem cell research, but i wonder how many of the decision makers have kids with chronic diseases and conditions. Sorry vent over.

I think the near future is in diabetes management, the technology advances have been amazing, even in 5 years. I think that soemone is going to find the cause of diabetes by accident, just like most of the other 'discoveries', but without the research there can be no chance of that accident.

SueM · #5 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 12:53 AM

Considering yu can have a medal for being on insulin for 50 and 75 years I wouldn't bank on a cure.
I have heard the same old thing for the last 41+ years "there will be a cure in 5 years".
More chance of pigs flying I suspect

JediSkipdogg · #6 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 03:41 AM

I on the other hand am very hopeful. I see a stronger ecomony with a cure than without. Healthcare costs will greatly drop and everyone might be able to actually afford it. So I don't see the drug companies making money as the reason there isn't a cure. But that's just my opinion.

The reason I don't see a cure is diabetes is a complex disease and you are dealing with the most complicated organism on earth, the human body.

For type 1s you have to cure multiple areas. You first have to cure what killed the beta cells to begin with. If not, then in 5 years, one will be back on insulin and a full blown diabetic again. That is currently one reason that islet transplant doesn't have a higher success rate. I can't remember her name, but recently a doctor has successfully found what causes type 1 diabetes and stopped it in mice. She has not tried any human studies, but it took her a good amount of time to discover that part.

Then once you have what caused the diabetes gone, you now have to get islet cells back. How do you do that? Right now, the ONLY option is with highly dangerous (in terms of side effects) immunosupprecent/anti-rejection drugs. So instead of taking insulin every day, now you take all sorts of drugs that have dangerous side effects and if you forget any for one day, your body can reject the new islet cells and make you diabetic again. So the option to do without those is by a sense cloning or growing the cells (stem cell research) which are both highly controversial topics in the government.

For a type 2, a cure is easier and harder. It all depends on what the reason the one got diabetes was. If their pancreas is underproducing, then you somehow have to make it produce more. Which, the only option is a transplant, and you can't transplant an entire pancreas. The other problem is what if they have insulin resistance? How to you cause their cells to "open up" to accept the insulin more? That's another area where trouble is.

So I do see a cure in the future. Think of all the advancements in medical science we have seen. And 20 years ago, they thought sugar was the devil for diabetics, not until maybe 5-10 years ago have they seen differently. So fully understanding the disease to begin with is the first problem to overcome. Then after that, curing each area of the disease can come next for a hopeful complete cure.

Remember, medical science isn't an overnight item. And some of the biggest breakthroughs were found by accident and happened upon trying something else.

am1977 · #7 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 04:47 AM

That must be something doctors just say

... I think I was told the same thing too when first dx'ed. But even then, I had trouble believing. I dunno, always the skeptic here

.

Saying that, I think we have made progress and advances in technology, so that's positive. Hopefully, there will be more to come in the near future.

JediSkipdogg · #8 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by am1977

That must be something doctors just say

... I think I was told the same thing too when first dx'ed. But even then, I had trouble believing. I dunno, always the skeptic here

.

The thing is there's really no way to say when it will happen. Do you think the guy that did the first open heart surgery was sitting in his office one day and said..."I think in 5 years I'm going to cut someone's chest open and do surgery on their heart while they are still alive."

I highly doubt it, so they say a random number just to make people feel better and give them some hope. But in reality, it's just going to happen one day and it may be by a freak accident of mixing some chemicals together that for type 1s kill off what kills the islet cells and the promotes/starts growth of new islet cells.

Cyborg · #9 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 05:03 AM

I think they will find a cure for type 1. Perhaps not a cure, but a vaccination. Just as they are starting to find cures for cancer...

E-NICE · #10 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 05:07 AM

I have been married and a diabetic (Type1) for three years. Me and my wife plan on having kids soon, so the cure may or may not be there for me. That being said if it comes in time for my kids, that will be all I need.

scara · #11 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 05:52 AM

There seems to be so many promising avenues of research for a cure and all we need is for 1 of them to pan out...

I'm also surprised to keep hearing that people think that a cure won't come because of the $$ that companies make in pumps etc. Think of the money that would be made from a cure! All the companies out there making diabetes related supplies know that a cure is coming, I'm sure all of them would rather have a piece of that cash than somehow prevent the research from happening.

I could see it being a concern if all the research was done by one company, and that one company also made all the current treatment products... but that is not the case. Whoever gets a cure first will have 100% of the market... that's HUGE dollars and, if nothing else, that's their motivation to get a cure to the market.

camjen1 · #12 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 06:13 AM

Even if a cure was discovered tomorrow in reality just how long would it take for everyone to get the drug or procedure even done. Who would get first dibbs? Should the elderly get first dibbs or what about the newly diagnosed ones with no complications and what about those that are already suffering complications? Makes me wonder!

JediSkipdogg · #13 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camjen1

Even if a cure was discovered tomorrow in reality just how long would it take for everyone to get the drug or procedure even done. Who would get first dibbs? Should the elderly get first dibbs or what about the newly diagnosed ones with no complications and what about those that are already suffering complications? Makes me wonder!

Personally, I think it will be pretty much just like the current islet transplant studies going on now. I'm not sure if they are still handled this way, but when they originally started, they ONLY gave them to people that had no other control methods possible and had extremely high A1Cs and numbers all over the charts.

I think that's who will go first and then possibly those with starting complications, then those newly diagnosed (so they don't have any problems to think about) and then maybe the rest of us.

But I say "Women and Children first Captain."

BriOnH · #14 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camjen1

Even if a cure was discovered tomorrow in reality just how long would it take for everyone to get the drug or procedure even done. Who would get first dibbs? Should the elderly get first dibbs or what about the newly diagnosed ones with no complications and what about those that are already suffering complications? Makes me wonder!

Those with the money. Supply and Demand have always dictated the availability of a product. While it would be nice to romanticise that it would be handled better, which I like to do too, in the end it's about the dollar.

rzrbks · #15 (**permalink**) 10-18-2006, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Is a cure really around the corner?

Yes, it's standing right between Father Christmas and the Easter Bunny.