Oskar Minkowski was a German physiologist who, in the late 19th century, conducted research on diabetes that would eventually lead to the discovery of insulin. As important as his research was, it’s the way in which he made the discovery that was quite peculiar. A chance meeting and a friendly bet between Minkowski and his colleague Joseph Von Mering is what changed everyone’s understanding of diabetes.

With CGM and FGM systems becoming the norm to manage type 1 diabetes, it can be hard to imagine what we ever did without them. At-home glucometers weren’t available until the 1970s. Knowing what we know now, it’s kind of scary to think of how people measured glucose levels before that. One of the most common ways to test glucose levels was to use Benedict’s Solution or another similar urine analysis method.

It’s been over 100 years since the discovery of insulin. It’s interesting to look back and see how far we’ve come. Our understanding of T1D has evolved a lot over the last few decades. But diabetes goes back quite a bit farther than that. Civilization’s journey with T1D actually started a few millennia ago with Hesy-Ra in Ancient Egypt.

Diabetes is not a new disease. In fact, it has been recognized for thousands of years. And has likely been around a lot longer than that. But, the technology we use to diagnose and treat it is quite new. Blood glucose monitors only came around in the 70s. Chemical tests for urine were designed several decades prior to that. So how on Earth did people get diagnosed with diabetes before these methods were created? I have two words for you: Water Tasters. 

If you’ve been around T1D long enough, or done much research on it, you’ve probably seen this image before. Most likely, you have seen it somewhere and it says it’s a picture of Leonard Thompson, the first person to get an insulin injection. It’s on diabetes websites and diabetes blogs. Over and over the image is associated with Leonard Thompson. In fact, if you Google his name, more images of this little boy will come up than the actual Leonard Thompson. Despite what you’ve seen and been told, Thompson is not the person in these pictures. [Read more…]

January 23rd is one of the most significant dates in the history of diabetes, and even the history of medicine. On January 23rd, 1922, the first successful dose of insulin was given to a patient.

Dr. Walter Campbell specialized in diabetes care and founded the diabetes clinic at Toronto General Hospital. On January 23rd, 1922, Dr. James Collip provided a more purified extract to Dr. Campbell to use on his patient, Leonard Thompson.

Thompson received a 5 cc injection, followed by another 20 cc injection of the extract. The next day, Leonard received 2 more 10 cc injections and his glycosuria almost disappeared.

But, this wasn’t the first time insulin had been tested on humans.