Discovered diabetes

[HartHen61]

Hi all, can anyone tell me when diabetes was first discovered, who by and how they split it into type and 2.

 

[HartHen61]

dorry should read type 1 and type 2( mind going fuzzy again) must be my age!!!!!

 

[Andy HB]

I don't know, but am pretty sure that diabetes was known about very early on.

This is what wikipedia has to say on the subject ......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_mellitus#History

Andy 🙂

 

[Northerner]

Originally it was just 'diabetes' and was discovered by the Greeks and the Egyptians. The splitting into the types we know today was relatively recent, as it used to be called IDDM (Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus) and NIDDM (Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus). In the past the two types were also distinguished by the age of the patient, thus 'Juvenile' diabetes fro Type 1 (Type 2 in children was virtually unknown) and Mature Onset diabetes for Type 2, mostly affecting adults. Also, in the past known as 'mild' and 'severe', largely due to the rapidity of problems - before insulin people didn't survive long enough to get what we now know as the 'complications' such as eye, limb and kidney problems - they simply lost weight, lapsed into comas and died.

If you want to read a good book about the history of diabetes, here's a review I did of one:

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=4141

 

[HelenM]

Apollinaire Bouchardat realised during the siege of Paris that several of his diabetic patients improved when their food supplies were reduced dramatically, though others still died very quickly. Afterwards he began to treat his patients with diet, exercise and self monitoring of glucose in the urine. In 1880 another French doctor, Lancereaux divided diabetes into 2 types diabete maigre and diabete gras.
In 1936 (14 years after the discovery of insulin) Harold Himsworth realised that people differed according to insulin sensitivity.
In 1968 Gerald Reaven and John Farquhar discover the role of insulin resistance in what we now call T2 diabetes. He went on to describe syndrome x which is now more often called the metabolic syndrome.
http://www.diabetologia-journal.org/webpages/covers/2005/january.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Lancereaux
http://www.diabetologia-journal.org/webpages/covers/2005/march.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Reaven

 

[Steff]

Harthen just wanted to say you always ask such great Q's .

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

diabetes was present in prehistoric peoples - so it was around even before the Egyptian peoples.

 

[Lewy]

diabetes was present in prehistoric peoples - so it was around even before the Egyptian peoples.

But surely they hadn't discovered/diagnosed it at that point, which was the question?

 

[SilentAssassin1642]

But surely they hadn't discovered/diagnosed it at that point, which was the question?

alright, no need to be picky. I'm just sharing the evidence that was shown me when I was doing archaeology at Uni. OF COURSE they didn't diagnose it, they would have thought it some form of crazy stuff going on through their Gods. In the same way when it was noted by the Greeks, they had no idea what it was other than the persons pee tasted sweet. It was known during the English Civil War as "the pissing evile" right the way up until the wonderful Banting and Best made insulin for the first time.

My point is thus: diabetes has been around since forever. There are theories that Henry VIII had Type 2 diabetes, his ******* son Henry Fitzroy died of undiagnosed Type 1 and even theories that little Edward VI died of it as well.

It has been known since pretty much the dawn of man in varying forms. Just because it wasn't formerly diagnosed/discovered until much later doesn't mean it wasn't around. It is not a new disease.

 

[Lewy]

alright, no need to be picky.

I had no intention of being "picky" I was asking you the question based on your archaeological background, hence the question mark which ended my sentence 😱

 

[Catwoman76]

Hi all, can anyone tell me when diabetes was first discovered, who by and how they split it into type and 2.

Hi everyone, what a good question HartHen. I just thought I would say that this thread IS about when it was first discovered. Yes it must of been around for centuries and centuries, but it wasn't known as Diabetes then. Thank goodness for the brave and clever men, that actually said , yes this urine tastes sweet and then worked out what is was and how it was affecting us. I know Opium was used at one time, thank goodness we DON'T have to do that now ( I did read about it in a book,magazine, but because of my poor memory, I can't remember which!) sorry. best wishes Sheena 🙂

 

[mcdonagh47]

Hi all, can anyone tell me when diabetes was first discovered, who by and how they split it into type and 2.

The Ancient Egyptians first diagnosed it over 3000 years ago ( coincidentally one of the earliest carbohydrate based societies.)

The Ancient Greeks knew a lot about it and gave us the basic name Diabetes Mellitus ( "Sweet Pee"). One Ancient Greek defined diabetes ( Type 1 ?) as "the body turns to urine and is pissed away".

Not until mid 2oth century was the real distinction made between Types 1 and 2. And only in mid 1980s did WHO settle on "Type 1 " and "Type 2 " nomenclature.

Before that there was Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus ( IDDM) and Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM). Which were pretty silly names since everyone is dependent on insulin, especially non-diabetics.

The other terms were Juvenile Diabetes and Mature Onset Diabetes. But they didn't fit either since many Adults (LADA) are dxed with Type 1 ("Juvenile Diabetes"). Hardly any children WERE dxed with T2 though, the growing numbers of children now being dxed as T2 ( theoretically there shouldn't really be any) is testament to the shite diet and way of life in the West currently.

Of course its been with the human race forever, any mammal with a pancreas can presumably be diabetic. One theory even runs that because the genes for Type 2 Diabetes are so widespread and have been scrupulously passed down from generation to generation, they must originally have been beneficial genes - helped to keep bgs up in times of famine and helped old people on the edge of the tribe and not being fed very well to survive.