<story><title>New pill can deliver insulin</title><url>http://news.mit.edu/2019/pill-deliver-insulin-orally-0207</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>samcday</author><text>&amp;gt; Once ingested, water dissolves a disk of sugar, using a spring to release a tiny needle made up almost entirely of freeze-dried insulin. The needle is injected into the stomach — which the patient can’t feel, owing to a lack of pain receptors in the stomach. Once the injection has occurred, the needle can break down in the digestive tract.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s some pretty impressive ingenuity. Also sounds kinda terrifying if the 1.0 has any kind of edge case that involves tearing holes in your stomach lining.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not diabetic, but I still have vivid memories of sitting with my grandmother while she constantly pricked her finger to test blood sugar and jabbing insulin pens into her abdomen. It&amp;#x27;s always stuck with me as a particularly unpleasant lifestyle to have to endure. Even still, if I were a diabetic I think I&amp;#x27;d still be waiting a year or two after the release of something like this to make sure all the kinks have been ironed out ;)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>RPLong</author><text>What doctors and researchers get wrong about diabetes is that pin-pricks and injections are not even remotely bad. I don&amp;#x27;t know a single diabetic who cares about injections and blood sugar tests. You get used to that within the first week of diagnosis.&lt;p&gt;No, the unpleasant part of being diabetic is having to live every second of your life as an act of weighing how what you&amp;#x27;re currently doing is going to affect your blood sugar levels an hour for now:&lt;p&gt;- Have I been sitting in this chair too long?
- Have I not been sitting down enough this morning?
- Have I been drinking enough water?
- Did I just drink too much water?
- I haven&amp;#x27;t been to the bathroom in two hours; does this mean I&amp;#x27;m screwed?
- If I eat a piece of toast after dinner, will I be able to have sex with my wife without going hypoglycemic?
- I&amp;#x27;d like to go hiking, but it&amp;#x27;s hot outside and my insulin might spoil, so maybe I&amp;#x27;ll walk around the block instead.
- I just plan on going to the grocery store for 20 minutes; do I need to bring insulin in case there&amp;#x27;s a traffic jam on the way home?&lt;p&gt;Etc., etc. Pharmaceutical companies can&amp;#x27;t solve the real lifestyle problems associated with diabetes short of inventing an actual cure.</text></comment>
<story><title>New pill can deliver insulin</title><url>http://news.mit.edu/2019/pill-deliver-insulin-orally-0207</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>samcday</author><text>&amp;gt; Once ingested, water dissolves a disk of sugar, using a spring to release a tiny needle made up almost entirely of freeze-dried insulin. The needle is injected into the stomach — which the patient can’t feel, owing to a lack of pain receptors in the stomach. Once the injection has occurred, the needle can break down in the digestive tract.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s some pretty impressive ingenuity. Also sounds kinda terrifying if the 1.0 has any kind of edge case that involves tearing holes in your stomach lining.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not diabetic, but I still have vivid memories of sitting with my grandmother while she constantly pricked her finger to test blood sugar and jabbing insulin pens into her abdomen. It&amp;#x27;s always stuck with me as a particularly unpleasant lifestyle to have to endure. Even still, if I were a diabetic I think I&amp;#x27;d still be waiting a year or two after the release of something like this to make sure all the kinks have been ironed out ;)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bitexploder</author><text>I test my insulin willingly with no diabetes. One hard squat hurts way more
Than either of those activities. I have actually teared up from hard lifts. Needles are just a nuisance. The real downside to beetus is having to think about it constantly, IMO. (And managing it for kids, who don’t have perspective on blood&amp;#x2F;needles)</text></comment>