reference manager 12 word journal of diabetes

That test, which measured blood glucose control over the previous three months (linked to the life of red blood cells), defined an extremely important aspect of diabetes management-tight control of blood glucose levels. Routine blood sugar tests at prescribed intervals continued for a long time until the introduction of the glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) estimation. It imbued diabetic patients with a new sense of freedom, making the disease more comprehensible and manageable. Urine strips in the 1960s and the automated ‘do-it-yourself’ measurement of blood glucose through glucometers, produced by Ames Diagnostics in 1969, brought glucose control from the emergency room to the patient’s living room. Willis, a London physician, epitomised the true spirit of scientific enquiry by his bold action of tasting the urine of his patients-possibly because the passage of copious urine seemed to be the hallmark of the disease! This was a supreme and extreme example of bedside testing leading to labelling a patient as diabetic if his urine was ‘honeyed’. 7 The term mellitus (Latin, ‘sweet like honey’) was coined by the British Surgeon-General, John Rollo in 1798, to distinguish this diabetes from the other diabetes ( insipidus) in which the urine was tasteless. 4– 6 Avicenna (980–1037 A.D.), the great Persian physician, in The Canon of Medicine not only referred to abnormal appetite and observed diabetic gangrene but also concocted a mixture of seeds (lupin, fenugreek, zedoary) as a panacea. to Aretaeus the Cappadocian, who coined the word diabetes (Greek, ‘siphon’) and dramatically stated “… no essential part of the drink is absorbed by the body while great masses of the flesh are liquefied into urine”. 2, 3 Recognised for the last three millennia, recorded history attributes the first complete descriptions in the first century A.D. The ancient Indian physician, Sushruta, and the surgeon Charaka (400–500 A.D.) were able to identify the two types, later to be named Type I and Type II diabetes.

1 Indian physicians called it madhumeha (‘honey urine’) because it attracted ants.

A disease characterised by the ‘too great emptying of urine’ finds its place in antiquity through Egyptian manuscripts dating back to 1500 B.C.

Reference manager 12 word journal of diabetes