The Discovery of Insulin

Brief History on the Discovery of Insulin

I really cannot get over how relatively recent the discovery and manufacturing of insulin took place. January 11, 1922?! And before that, a diagnosis meant that the patient would live for only up to a year. And with that, they would have significant complications to deal with, and often times the patients ending up in a diabetic coma. Many of the patients were children, since type 1 meant no insulin, leaving diet and exercise as not much a help.

Another thing I found interesting was the speed at which the research moved. In only 20 weeks, the scientists moved from injected insulin into a dog to injecting humans with insulin.

On a personal note, it's an amazing thing to read that if I were born less than a hundred years ago, I might have died a year after diagnosis. Learning about the discovery of insulin story really puts appreciation under a bright light for me. Now diabetes can be controlled by taking a few painless injections, and even that has become more and more comfortable in my 8 years since diagnosis. Medical research is moving at lightening speed and with that fast pace, it becomes important to realize that all of it needs to be appreciated on a day to day, injection to injection, pill to pill, operation to operation basis. It is all an infinite blessing.

But then again, to put this in perspective - we don't know how many times a day a healthy person is being protected by Allah (swt) and allowed to live another day.