Dear Mr. Rawles,
I have a few suggestions to add to the recent article about survival and preparedness for diabetics, particularly type 1 diabetics. I’ve had type 1 diabetes for 13 years and one of the few things I learned pretty quickly is that the power will go out and even if the bottle of insulin is unopened, temperatures higher than 40 degrees Fahrenheit for a long period of time will degrade the activity of the insulin. This will require a much higher dose than what would otherwise be necessary if the insulin is stored properly, if the insulin works at all. Some of the newer insulins will not survive more than a month at room temperature, and less if they’re opened.
A few other suggestions on diabetes survival:
1. Be familiar with how to use all types of insulin, because there would not be any guarantee of a specific insulin type being available for use in an emergency situation. Nor would there likely be doctors and nurses familiar with anything other than humulin Regular and NPH (which are considered to be “old” insulins and are more familiar to those who went to medical school twenty years ago.) Be prepared to revert back to “feeding the insulin”, meaning taking a rigid schedule of two or three injections daily and eating evenly spaced meals of specific amounts of carbohydrate, instead of eating various amounts at different times of day and using several injections of the newer, fast insulins to cover. Those insulins may not be available, and so a “normal” diet would be out of the question.
2. Know how much insulin you need, and how to measure this amount in any type of syringe. Like before, insulin syringes with .5 unit/1unit/2 unit measure may not be widely available.
3. If you do not immediately have insulin available, try to keep in mind what was done prior to its invention in the 1920s, starvation. They knew that carbohydrate seemed to make diabetes worse, and eating large amounts of carbohydrate increased the amount of sugar in the urine. So to prevent this, carbohydrates were restricted. It’s much like a very strict form of the Atkins diet, but even protein is reduced to small amounts, because protein is eventually converted to glucose. There are books from the 1900s on recipes and menus to use to starve diabetic patients, as well as some of the “old-fashioned” methods of screening for glucose in the urine and blood, one good book is freely available on the gutenberg online library web site called The Starvation Treatment of Diabetes. Starvation would not be a viable long-term option because of the obvious end result, but would serve some for a short period of time until insulin becomes available to them. It would kill a diabetic faster, however, to continue to eat normally without insulin.
I have a 6 month stockpile of diabetes supplies, as well as translations of my current insulin regimen using different types of insulins and a plan on how to follow a starvation diet. For 1 month on a standard two injections per day of Regular and NPH insulin, testing urine glucose twice or three times per day and assuming blood glucose meters are unavailable, one would need:
2 bottles of Keto-Diastix strips (measures glucose and ketones in the urine; once opened, a bottle will last 3 months)
1 box of U100 insulin syringes (100 syringes – 60 syringes used in one month = 40 syringe surplus)
1 box of 100 alcohol swabs
1 or 2 bottles of Regular insulin
1 or 2 bottles of NPH insulin
4 bottles of 50ct glucose tablets (which would likely not be completely used)
2 16 oz bottles of light corn syrup (a very efficient method for reversing hypoglycemia/low blood sugar)
Diabetes has really only become complicated to manage in the years since the invention of blood glucose meters and excess information. Those of us with type 1 diabetes have been convinced that in order to “survive” we need so many little pieces of expensive technology, super fast “boutique” insulins and constant monitoring of our glucose levels, so that we are utterly lost if these things aren’t available to us. There are type 1 diabetics alive today who “survived” very well on one or two injections of beef or pork insulin a day, testing their urine for glucose using Benedict’s solution, and avoiding “sugary” foods. If they can do it and live to be 60, we all can. Thank you, — Amber C.
James,
That was good info from Mr Fenwick. A great attitude for everyone to emulate.
As a type 2 diabetic I wonder if part of the Diabetics problem might be solved naturally in the worst case of TEOTWAWKI.
I lost 25 lbs and lowered my blood sugar by 50 to 75 points. The weight came from a period of inactivity after multiple surgeries. I rarely need insulin except when I fall off my diet. Oral meds take care of it normally and I am now able to exercise some. More weight loss is in my near future. My M.D. says Diet & exercise will take care of it when the weight stabilizes at my proper weight.
Considering my experience and from all I read, I’d guess many Diabetics will be helped by lowered food consumption and exercise brought on by TEOTWAWKI. Possibly to the point of needing no meds. I am hoping for that result. – E.H.