Who Wants an Artificial Pancreas?

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Permalink Reply by Sharon Stokes on July 6, 2007 at 1:41pm

I'd do it if it was successful and safe.

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Permalink Reply by Cara on July 6, 2007 at 3:37pm

I think I'd let it become a little more mainstream before I tried it. I had some doctors suggest a pancreas transplant years ago & my parents said no. I am glad they did. There have been many new developments in the treatment of diabetes & a cure (I believe) is on the horizon. If I'd had a transplant, I would be on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of my life. Which can be looked at as going from shots (or the pump) to pills. You still have problems. If it appeared to be something that was going to be mainstream and have a great success rating, then I might think about it.

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Permalink Reply by Kirsten Sigrist on July 7, 2007 at 4:04am

I saw the Yale group present their artificial pancreas research at a JDRF research update in April. What they're really trying to do right now is to make a "closed loop" system between available CGMs and available pumps. they are having great success, but their patients still need to "guesstimate" the carbs that they're going to eat, no futzing with basals, though! And they have steady overnight numbers! It's just a matter of time before they get this to work well enough to make it available to the public. The technology is there...

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Permalink Reply by Next Dimensions on July 7, 2007 at 12:28pm

In my view this is just another way around the root of the problem; a cover up for what lies beneath the symptoms of disease which always induce continuing complications. The mechanistic approach to healing (allopathic medicine) views ourselves as an assembly of various components, as in a machine, and is beginning to show serious signs of despair. Newtonian principles guiding our health is now outdated and is slowly being replaced by the quantum worlds that physicists are finding (and still being baffled by). We are a superb combination of consciousness and intelligence, not a Toyota that needs a new fuel pump.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Bishop on July 27, 2007 at 6:07am

I'm sorry but.... HUH?

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Permalink Reply by Doris D on July 8, 2007 at 10:04am

No I don't want to yry that. Done enough and decied that I could live as good with it as without it. Now a cure I would do that but it would have to be out of my system for good, not another machine taking up more space.

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Permalink Reply by Gabe on July 8, 2007 at 2:28pm

The idea of an insulin pump and CGMS combined into one fully-automated unit really, really appeals to me. It's a natural progression from current treatment methods, anyway.

I suppose it really hinges on a computer's ability to genuinely mimic the acute balancing act that is pancreatic function. I've always assumed the pancreas does a bit more than just "check blood sugar" to determine how much insulin to release - if it worked that way, then diabetics wouldn't have a much harder time keeping their levels in check after a meal than non-diabetics.

On the other hand, I would love to be able to tell people I'm "part robot."

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Permalink Reply by Next Dimensions on July 8, 2007 at 2:50pm

We will most definitely be seeing more AI (artificial intelligence) merge with health. It is my opinion though, that we should use it for handicap and accident victims rather than interference with our healing abilities which most people are unaware of. We'll see more powerful integration of this technology with disease, but disease is still highly misunderstood and approached. The further you suppress the symptoms, the further you get away from truly having health and the more chance you have of developing more disease and problems in other areas of the body.

If anyone is interested in AI and it's exponential progression, I highly recommend hearing Ray Kurzweil talk at the Singularity Institute. Another interesting speaker I always enjoy is Aubrey DeGray who is part of the Singularity Institute.

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Permalink Reply by Lili on July 9, 2007 at 6:17pm

Let me see if I have this correctly. Are you saying that Type 1 diabetics should not suppress the symptoms of diabetes (i.e. high blood sugar) by taking insulin?

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Permalink Reply by Next Dimensions on July 15, 2007 at 6:22pm

It is up to the person with the disease to answer this. They have a choice, regardless of what current medical science says, to subconsciously or consciously (or a combination of both) enter INTO the world of disease or to EXIT the world of disease. Lately more and more people choose to enter into disease. Disease is necessary as a catalyst for change (in the person individually and/or in our collective humanity depending on the change needed).

Before being diagnosed in 2005, not feeling well several years earlier were signs to begin a new path, but were ignored/too buried in misunderstanding to have a life changing effect at that moment, so the diabetes was the next phase of change initiation. Your body is not punishing you or malfunctioning in an awry manner, rather it is doing exactly as it is being told; the body is extremely infinite and powerful, much more so than we ourselves and our doctors realize/practice.

All disease has an underlying cause but only symptomatic approaches are allowed, considered, promoted and socially accepted. This drives the economics of disease quite well, but we are realizing that it is not serving humanity well. That is why we need to change the approach to all disease (especially chronic disease) and address them at the root levels of existence.

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Permalink Reply by Lili on July 15, 2007 at 9:33pm

So...your answer is yes, we need to stop taking insulin in order to be cured?

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Permalink Reply by Next Dimensions on July 16, 2007 at 1:37pm

No you will not be cured if that is the only way you are perceiving it. The answer is not that simple and that is why my posts are usually longer than other peoples.

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