Do you believe a cure for diabetes will ever be found? (all types)
Why?
- Yes
- No
0 voters
No. Iâve been promised a cure " in the next 5 years" since I was diagnosed 23 (almost 24) years ago. I think theyâll keep pushing the latest and greatest tech gizmo, but there is no incentive to find a cure.
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Just like commercial viable nuclear fusion or hovercars, the cure will always be 5 years away 
Iâm usually an optimist really, but in this case I think Iâm just being realistic.
Diabetes (especially the autoimmune kind, but all types really) is more complex than most realize. Not to mention that the best funded studies are of pharmaceutical companies who have the means to study new drugs/insulin/devices and all the financial gain from it so it doesnât make sense for them to venture on to find a cure which could take many decades and lots and lots of money. They therefor go for what is financially safe and sustainable for them as large companies often do. It used to anger me but I now understand and accept it.
When I was first diagnosed with T1, not even 4 years of age, one of the nurses told me how lucky I was because the cure is just around the corner, maybe even just 5 years away. That was in early 1986. Itâs been over 32 years now and I stopped holding my breath since.
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I do believe, how could it be different? I am very optimistic about it. Why? I think human mind and body is a very powerful thing, if it can kill itself, then it should be able to cure itself as well and we do know such examples. The question is not âcan we?â - yes, we can. The question is âhow?â. I believe we will figure it out sooner or later.
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I do not, although I suspect some types of diabetes may be cured through gene therapy at some time in the relatively distant future. Why? Because there are about a zillion types of diabetes, not two (or two + MODY). Weâre up to six (or seven, depending on how you count) antibodies associated with âType 1,â and there are clearly some differences as well between ârapid onset Type 1â (in adulthood or childhood) and âtypical LADA presentation.â Then there are the skinny Type 2s, the insulin sensitive Type 2s, the clearly genetic Type 2s, the multitude of MODYâs, the idiopathic Type 1s, the Diabetic Ketoacidosis Prone Type 2s (possibly same as idiopathic T1s, possibly not!), etc.
I genuinely suspect (from looking through the peer-reviewed lit on the genetics of diabetes) that there are likely 50-60 âtypesâ of diabetes, many of which present into âgroupsâ but donât have any real, clinical meaning. Ultimately, all of us are treated (or treat ourselves) according to our symptoms and presentations. A cure would mean medicine has found a way to make a diabetic (of whatever type) into a non-diabetic. And I donât see that happening, other than turning on and off certain kinds of genes in MODY and some Type 2 presentations.
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I heard that âdiabetes is long overdue for a cureâ from a Harvard professor of endocrinology when I was first diagnosed, at which time I also heard the usual âcure in five to ten yearsâ story. That was in 1966, so Iâve long since ceased to have much confidence in such predictions. Five years is the distance between the donkeyâs nose and the carrot hanging from the stick held in front of him: it is just close enough to keep him doing what you want him to do, but far enough away that he doesnât notice he never gets to it
The plan of encapsulating islet cells in an immunologically impervious container and implanting it under the skin to allow for a natural release of insulin to the glucose levels in the body is the fastest feasible route to a âcure,â at least in the sense of controlling blood sugar, and a lot of work has already been done on it. The only step missing is finding some way to ensure an adequate oxygen supply inside the capsule to keep the islets alive, and this should be a simple biomedical engineering problem to solve, but it is taking surprisingly long.
What concerns me is that even if a method of controlling blood sugar is found, that might not cure the characteristic complications of diabetes, which are driven both by the continuing autoimmunity which first attacked the pancreatic beta cells going on to attack other organs throughout the life of the patient, as well as by genes inherited along with those that make patients susceptible to the pancreatic beta cell loss.
I donât have a scientific background, so I donât know.
Even if I did have a proper background in medicine and research, I doubt Iâd âknowâ if a cure was coming.
Being somewhat pessimistic, and knowing they canât cure so many things such as the common cold, Iâd say that there is less than an even chance that they will cure diabetes in the next 30 years. (I will be ashes in an urn or spread out somewhere, long before then)
I checked yesâbut that is for T1âŚIâm T2 and I donât actually think anyone will ever figure that one outâwaaay too complex and waay too many variablesâŚ
Miracles happen,let us hope they can put more into a cure. But ,I doubt it will be soon. Nancy50
I believe it will happen but like most I believe the 5 year promise is a sham. It will not be cured by anyone that has made it their business to profit from diabetes, I doubt any of them are wiling to shoot the goose that lays the golden eggs.
But somewhere out there is another Banting that is more interested in humanity than profit.
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A functional cure will be found. Do I think it will anything to do with me? no.
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Technically, they have cured diabetes in mice. You can get a pancreas transplant, in some cases, which is a cure (although it creates other problems that then need cures). So, they have kinda found cures, just not for me because I am not a mouse. Iâm not holding my breath.
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Yes, but not in my lifetime; maybe 15-20 years for most T1.
Sadly, we make the pharma companies too much $$$/ÂŁÂŁÂŁ for them to really give us a cure.
You have had diabetes for over 52 years? How have you managed to maintain your condition if you donât mind me asking. I am 22 and often get very low thinking I wonât survive until 30 with T1. 
Hi Sophtype 1: I think I have survived largely because of factors Iâve had no control over, such as the genetic influences which cause some of the complications not being as strong in my case, or the continuing autoimmune attack on the body after the initial attack on the pancreatic beta cells not being as forceful as it is in other patients. I also come from a very long-lived family, so the factors which allow my non-diabetic relatives to survive the ordinary stresses of life for a long time have probably helped me as well.
But I certainly wouldnât attribute my long survival to blood sugar control, since I had diabetes for twenty years before the first home glucometers became available, so all through that time there was no possibility of real blood sugar control. When patients were exposed to exotic blood sugar measurements on first entering the Joslin Clinic for periodic checkups in those days, their blood sugar values would normally be in the 250 range. Even though my control has been better after home blood sugar meters were invented, all of the complications I have suffered have developed since that time, not before, so the mystery of the complications deepens. In contrast, another patient I have come to know was diagnosed at age 12 with type 1 diabetes but already in his early thirties he is totally blind and on dialysis, with much better blood sugar control than I ever had.
The best diabetes veteran on this website to ask about his experiences is Richard157, who I think has survived for 67 years as a type 1 diabetic.
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I thought the same thing when I was your age. In fact, I became convinced that I was going to die imminently. When I met my husband at 25, I told him not to get too attached because I thought I was on my way out lol. Iâm 31 now, and thank god I am still ok. I feel a little silly about how sure I was that I wouldnât live this long now, and my best advice would be to try and accept that we donât know whatâs going to happen. We can look at statistics of what is likely to happen, but at the end of the day everyone is different. And my control was abysmal, so luck and genetics definitely play a huge part. We can only do our best, and hope that it all works out.
I agree, cures for any disease are always very very difficult. I also think the focus should be on finding a way to maintain normal BS levels and supplementing some hormone that are typically low in T1s. We may not solve all the associated issues, but this would give one a fighting chance. If your body is dealing with the stress of rising and falling BG levels 24 hours a day it does not have much time to do much else:). I would be happy with any biological or external system that just kept my numbers in a reasonable range:).