Will There Ever Be A Cure?

[gobbly2100]

I cannot help but wonder if there will ever be a cure.

For so many years now I have heard things saying how there is another breakthrough and how there may be a cure and it just seems to die away again.

[Nelson]

We already have at least one cure that appears to be "working": transplant surgery followed by imune supressent drugs. We also have a couple other "cures" on the immediate horizon including stem-cell trasnplants followed by imune supressent drugs and the deal in Brazil where they have completely destroyed the imune system of diabetics and "regrown" it again without it attacking the pancreatic beta cells (at least in the first couple of years following treatment". But, none of these cures are currently better options that insulin therapy because each "cure" has its own side issues that are worse or of much greater risk for most of us compared to diabetes with insulin therapy.

It seems pretty clear to me, that short of a miraculous and unexpected discovery (which do really happen once in a while, look at stomach ulcers for instance), we are in for a very long and slow step by step process where we will develop more different cures and refine the cures we have to continue to reduce the risk and side effects of the "cures" until the majority of type 1 patients are better off with the cure than the desease. I hope that happens in my nine year old child's lifetime, but given the completity of this desease, I am encoraging my kid to plan on taking insulin his whole life and be pleasantly surprised when a better option becomes available.

Sadly, it is still very rare in medicine to ever find a "silver bullet" cure for any complex desease.:(

[bluemom]

The only hope I have for a cure is encapsulated porcine islet cells and perhaps something from Faustman.

[karonray]

No, there will never be a "Cure".......now don't throw rocks yet. I think our best bet is a vaccine that will prevent furture diagnoses of Type1 Diabetes. In saying this ,i think that that will be the first "cure" to come about. Not the "cure" for our children that aready have it.

I ask you all this question " is cancer ever CURED?" or is it just put into remission and you are found cancer free, for a time, but there are reaccurances.( yes this an apple to oranges comparison)

In regards to Type 1 Diabetes somthing has been destroyed in the body. You can try to get rid of the cancer......we are not trying to put something into the body. I guess what i am trying to say is that it is much harder to fix something that is no longer there than it is to try to rid the body of something that shouldn't be there.



Commence the throwing of the rocks........:eek:

Although in the worst way i wish i didn't think like this.

[StillTypeI]

I would agree with the above poster. No cure for those currently diagnosed with Type I. Prevention through vaccine, gene modification or ??
Those who have it when/if a "vaccine" cure is found will become a medical curiosity.

[Ernst]

Regenerative techniques combined with vaccines could be a potential solution for those currently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.