Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not make or cannot properly use insulin.  Approximately 21 million people in the United States have diabetes.  Having the disease can cause nerve damage, heart disease, blindness, stroke, loss of limbs, and kidney failure.

Because there are researchers trying to find new ways to help those that suffer from diabetes, there are usually frequent medical news updates about diabetes and its treatments.  Recently, there were new “smart pumps” introduced to the market. These pumps constantly monitor glucose levels and if the glucose level begins to fall to low, you can be injected with a dose of insulin.  This great news because doctors believe that keeping your glucose levels at a norm will help decrease the side effects diabetes causes.  The smart pump helps patients almost perfectly tune their insulin needs.  This type of system has been used for adults for about a year, but was just recently approved for use in children that suffer from diabetes.

Other diabetics have trouble with weight gain.  To help keep their weight down, many have begun talking a prescription drug called Byetta.  Byetta, which you may have heard about in recent medical news, is injected once a month and may increase the life span of beta cells.  But, it also helps some people lose weight.  While experts at the Mayo Clinic are not exactly sure why this injection drug cases some patients to lose weight, they think it ay be because it delays movement of food from the stomach to the small intestine.  Researchers believe that this may make patients feel faster quicker, so they end up eating less food.

Another break through in medical news for those with diabetes is inhaled insulin.  For years, people who needed to take insulin had to inject it, but now, there are clinical trials for inhaled insulin called Exubera.  This type of insulin seems to make patients feel better quicker.  It also requires no refrigeration like insulin that needs to be injected.

If you or someone you know has diabetes, keep up with the medical news to find out what new treatments are out there.

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