Diabetes Ancient and Modern: The Evolution of Diabetes as a Metabolic Disease

Diabetes Ancient and Modern: The Evolution of Diabetes as a Metabolic Disease is written for patients, families, carers, and health professionals to provide a historical understanding of advances in the treatment of this serious disease. Dr Val Wilson is a diabetes expert, who also has almost 50 years’ experience of managing her own type 1 diabetes. This book charts every medical milestone in the understanding of diabetes, exploring and examining available literature from the first recognition of diabetes symptoms in ancient civilizations. As scientific methods established and progressed, we investigate the growth of diabetes-based knowledge, leading to modern treatment options and medical advances in the search for a cure. The discovery of insulin in 1921 was a major breakthrough, but living longer with unmanaged glucose levels meant the onset of secondary complications, such as heart and kidney disease. The race was on to further the scientific and medical understanding of diabetes as a serious health condition. Cutting-edge technology to treat and manage type 1 diabetes is examined objectively and subjectively – from the author’s own experience of using these therapies and devices, as is the ever-increasing obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemic worldwide. Many cases of type 2 can be reversed with weight loss so the individual is diabetes-free. We examine the recent introduction of weight loss injections, such as Ozempic – a game changer for type 2 diabetes and weight management. Currently, 6% of the NHS budget is spent on diabetes care annually, making it important that patients understand the treatment options available, and that health professionals can explore these options.