In-home Caregivers in Carlsbad ask: Is There An Insulin Resistance Solution?

At A Servant’s Heart Care Solutions, we have many Seniors as clients who suffer from type 2 diabetes.  Type 2 diabetes patients have “a hard row to hoe.” Not only do they have to pay very close attention to their diet and make radical adjustments, but they also must undergo painful finger-pricking on a frequent basis in order to monitor blood sugar levels.

While our clients with in-home caregivers in Carlsbad  and other North County cities receive as much help as possible with these tasks from our staff, they face the possibility of serious side effects caused by the medications that they take to stabilize their body’s insulin levels.

Now, though, a team of scientists based right here in San Diego believes they have discovered a way to provide the body with insulin while bypassing the many side effects that plague diabetes patients.

Grappling with Type 2

Type 2 diabetes is commonly referred to in colloquial terms as “the bad one.” That’s because type 1 diabetes is relatively easy to treat and doesn’t impact daily life life nearly as much as type two. Although doctors have succeeded in pinpointing effective ways to stave off the development of type two diabetes, devising effective, side-effect-free treatment methods has been a different story.

At the root of the difficulty is the fact that simply adding insulin to balance blood sugar levels only works for a while. The body gradually builds up a resistance to the extra insulin, requiring a cocktail of additional drugs to correct the resistance. The side effects of those drugs, in turn, are unpredictable as well.

A Breakthrough in Insulin Resistance

The new experiments conducted in San Diego County showed that a protein called FGF1 enhanced insulin processing in mice without causing any of the side effects that previous medications caused. The hope is that this protein, which does not appear to carry any significant negative factors, could end insulin resistance and finally provide a long-term treatment solution for type two diabetes. Anyone who keeps up with medical research knows what caution must come next: More research is needed to discover the full effects of FGF1 on the human body. Even experts who are normally hesitant about medical breakthroughs, though, are expressing surprise and delight over the FGF1 findings.

In-home Assistance for the Elderly in San Diego County for Diabetes

Even if the FGF1 treatment turns out to be the “miracle treatment” that type two diabetes patients long for, it will still have one major deficiency: those patients will have to remember to take it in order for it to benefit them. Forgetting prescriptions for diabetes, heart conditions, and other illnesses often lands seniors in the hospital. This is all the more tragic because in many cases, a little in-home assistance for the elderly in San Diego County might have been all that was needed to avoid a medical emergency. Our caregivers are happy to help their elderly clients remember to take each important prescription on time and in the correct dosage and “log” (record) the fact that they did so.

Photo by Official U.S. Navy Imagery