PREP Type 1 Diabetes and Insulin

[school marm]

(First time starting a thread on TB2K. Hope I do it right.)

Regarding diabetics and insulin: Diabetes doesn't have to be a death sentence at TEOTWAWKI. Unfortunately, most diabetics and their families assume it is and do little to nothing to prepare to live.

However, it can be done. Insulin can be a DIY project, albeit a bit more involved than most. Insulin was first made in the 1920s, where researchers had nothing more unusual than what is found in a high school chemistry lab today. Type-1 diabetic Eva Saxl and her husband DIY'ed insulin in WWII China and saved her and about 400 other diabetics in Shanghai.

Here are two links to their story.

https://www.diabeteshealth.com/evas-insulin/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlOB...ature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlOBl_nEits Try copying and pasting this link for the Eva Saxl story.

And here's how to make insulin:

http://www.jbc.org/content/72/1/57.full.pdf

The link below is to an article that claims insulin can be frozen. While my husband and I are a bit skeptical about this, it's important enough to give it a try. He's going to get some cheap insulin from Walmart, freeze it for a few days, and then try it out on a weekend when he doesn't have any outside commitments.

http://www.medicalcorps.org/insulin-storage.htm

OK, I tried to do as OGM suggested and post this info in the Prep category where it would be more easily seen by those who really need it. I'm still trying to figure out posting here on TB2K. Sorry.

 

[school marm]

I found the place in the Prep Rooms where I should have posted this. Since the original links to this information already ran in the main page a week or two ago, maybe this thread should be deleted. Sorry for any troubles.

 

[Dennis Olson]

This is a very interesting thread. I had no idea one could make their own insulin.

Let's leave it on Main for a bit.

 

[agmfan3]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

 

[jward]

Remember to use the subscribe to thread option folks... Don't want to lose sight of this info, nor depend on the site search function to retrieve it.

 

[HDC]

I tried the link to the you tube video, said not available. I went to Duck Duck Go and typed in "How to make insulin" and came up with that one plus other videos. Looks like Y tube is censoring again. Hope that this helps. Have a neighbor who is type I and insulin prices are becoming a real problem.

 

[school marm]

Prices are skyrocketing, for the "boutique" insulins. DH's insulin alone is $1000/month. That is not including the pump supplies or anything to do with the blood glucose meter. Cheap insulin would run about $75/month, but control is nowhere near as good as what can be achieved with the insulin pump and embedded blood glucose meter, which basically function as an artificial pancreas. We don't look forward to having to old school his insulin.

 

[summerthyme]

Remember to use the subscribe to thread option folks... Don't want to lose sight of this info, nor depend on the site search function to retrieve it.

Seriously.... if you think you might EVER need this info, download the PDF to your computer, save it on a thumbdrive, and PRINT A COPY and stash it someplace safe!

You do not want to count on the 'net being there if things get bad enough to no have access to insulin!

Summerthyme

 

[summerthyme]

So... I've got a question...

If you get around 1000 units of insulin from a kilo of pancreas, how long will that last an "average" diabetic on a low carb diet? I have no idea of the daily doses...

I'm asking because a pig pancreas only weighs 150 grams, and an adult sheep is only 1/3 as large. It sounds like you'll need a LOT of animals... (and, after a quick readthrough of the PDF, a fairly well equipped lab.

Summerthyme

 

[school marm]

My family and I visited about this with the doctor whose emergency prep/post-apocalyptic world medicine classes we took last year. His thought was that diabetics in particular will need to be part of a good community that will have the pigs and cows and be able to get those pancreases for processing. How much insulin can be produced from a kilo of pancreas, I have no idea. I still need to research a lot about this.

Eva Saxl and her husband had that butcher in Shanghai (large city) who got them the yak pancreases. They kept 400 people alive. But they asked those diabetics to limit themselves to 16 units of insulin per day. That is NOT MUCH. My DH uses almost 70 units per day. Yes, he is a little overweight, but really, only a little. He should exercise more and eat more meat and leafy greens and less carbs. But even with a normal-ish diet, he'd still be taking 55-60 units. Post-collapse, diabetics will have to go down to 20-30 units to conserve insulin.

Yeah, you need a lab, but it's not a complicated lab. A modern high school chemistry lab will do. It's another reason why diabetics will need a community.

 

[school marm]

Also, I've got more info to post, but it's in my brain, and I'd like to provide sources. And I don't have time to do that right now, so check back later.

For the diabetics, disposable syringes will eventually run out. You can only re-use so many times, and they don't stand up to autoclaving very well. Glass syringes are still a part of epidural trays, particularly those used in obstetrics. If you can find an anesthesiologist to save some for you, you'll be glad you did.

There's a company that still makes visual read blood glucose strips. Will look that up.

 

[Melodi]

This is a very interesting thread. I had no idea one could make their own insulin.

Let's leave it on Main for a bit.

During WWII there was a Japanese Doctor who kept all the diabetics in his village alive making his own insulin.

It isn't especially easy but it is doable, it even gets a mention in Lucifer's Hammer but by the time the secondary hero has a chance to think seriously about it, it really is too late; I used to wish the authors had said more about this but in the 1970s they might have had "issues" if they had been too specific about how to do it.

 

[Ben Sunday]

This is a very interesting thread. I had no idea one could make their own insulin.

Let's leave it on Main for a bit.

Agree.

This is very interesting and suggests another way to have insulin if and when the wheels come off (so to speak.) Folks that need it can not really do without.

 

[WalknTrot]

Making it is one thing. Making it so it doesn't kill you before the diabetes does is another.

 

[HighStrung]

Type 1 here, posting for reference to read links later. Thank you so much for this info.

 

[ShadowMan]

Someone with good high school chemistry from back in the day (modern classes are a joke) should be able to follow the posted recipe and make insulin provided they have the proper reagents and basic equipment to work with.

During one overseas deployment, myself (Independent Duty Corpsman) and our battalion's Preventive Medicine Specialist (a former basic Laboratory Technician) put together a fully functional basic "field lab". We made our own stains and reagents from scratch. Took donated blood from our Marines and cooked up Blood Agar Culture Plates....from scratch. We could perform all the basic medical lab tests: CBC, WBC, Diff, U/A's, Gram Stains and cultures: BAP, Chocolate, MSP, and some other I don't remember. All the basic and some of the specialty cultures. We could do culture and sensitivities, strep plates, full STD workups, etc.

The key is having the knowledge in hard format (books, binders, notes), some practical experience and extreme attention to detail. It can be done.

Fancy automated machines, computers and such are nice, but the old stuff still works.

CHECK OUT EUROPEAN military surplus sources for glass syringes and stainless steel needles. One of my first jobs in the Hospital Corps at my first duty station was cleaning, sharpening and deburring reusable syringes. It is a Pain In The Arse.....but doable.