I said yes! I hope everyday it will happen. I am a long timer at this 47 very long years and after the first 15 I gave up. Was told the same line we are were, cure in 5 years. My family and I bought it. We volunteered all the time at the local ADA, we did fund raisers and drove family and friends nuts asking to support whatever event we were doing at the time.
And as I got older, I started losing hope. And in losing that hope, I swirled into a deep black hole of depression. Such a struggle when you deal with a chronic condition.
Biggest change came when I moved to San Diego. Got great medical care and found a great organization that works with the mental health side of diabetes. Thank goodness people are starting to get that this disease is mainly mental.
But San Diego also got me into research. There is so much happening here. I have done devices, (pumps, CGM, infusion sets, meters), I’ve done drug studies, mental health studies and my biggest was the ViaCyte stem cell study. I have come away from all the trials with a much better understanding of how trials and the FDA work. It’s going to take a long time. While the stem cell study didn’t work, keep in mind it was just the first one. It was just safe and procedural issues. And sadly the cells didn’t make it. But for me the great thing is we now can make cells that can be beta cells and they can make insulin. Who would have thought back in 1970, that was possible. I was very sad to learn, it didn’t work but it gives me hope. There are very dedicated and passionate doctors and researchers driven to find that cure.
Will there be a cure? I believe there will be! Will I be alive to see that cure? Maybe, but i’m thinking probably not. It’s going to take a very long time. Clinical research moves very slowly. But I will continue to do the best I can with the great tools and drugs that have happened that help us tremendously. I want to be in the best shape possible so when that cure happens, I can get in line with the millions of others to get my cure and I don’t want anything to cause me to maybe get booted out of that cure line due to some complication.
So please don’t give up! Just think about how far we have come. I mean, I could still be testing my urine with my little test tube and eye dropper, taking one injection a day and praying I won’t have another one of those lows that Mom and Dad had to call for an ambulance.
How far we have come! The sky is the limit. And artificial pancreas, here I come until that cure happens!
There are five structural problems in medical research which contribute to the slowness in finding a cure for diabetes.
First, there has been a general stagnation in medical progress since around the 1980s, which has been commented on by a number of experts. This has many reasons, but in large part it has been the result of earlier dramatic progress having been produced by there being so much ‘low hanging fruit,’ that is, easy targets for cures which could readily be developed, so that now only the difficult problems remain, which causes the pace of progress to look comparatively slow.
Second, there is a certain listlessness in the way medical research is done, so that when one researcher finds highly promising results, it is not unusual that absolutely nothing is done to develop this research for another decade or two. In part this is because so many people are doing combined M.D.-Ph.D. programs now, so once they publish some research to get their Ph.D., they just drop their interest in research and go on to pursue a career in the more lucrative branches of medicine. Just the other day I saw a research article which made me think, this is could mean a spectacular improvement in patients’ lives, and then I looked and found it had been published in 1991 and never followed up. Sadly, this is typical.
Third, medical research is so heavily regulated that if there were a cure for cancer developed tomorrow, it would take a good 12 to 16 years for it to proceed through all the required stages of research before it could become available for clinical application. Banting and Best went from finding that insulin worked in a few dogs in October, 1921, and by February, 1922, it was already being tested in human patients, but think of how many people would have died needlessly from diabetes if the modern drug approval process had been in place then.
Fourth, there is enormous conservatism in medicine that resists any innovations, even the good ones. This is in part because those who have established their careers as experts in the old treatments don’t want to be displaced from their comfortable situations by having to learn something new. Also, it is because Big Pharma doesn’t want any non-patentable products to emerge which can cure problems less toxically and less expensively than its own proprietary chemicals, so simple things which work quite well where modern, Western medicine has no answers, such as AST-120, nothing but a modified form of charcoal, to slow the development of renal disease in diabetics, are shut out of the Western market. A medical profession proud of its knowledge asserts that pride by automatically dismissing everything new as quackery, as for example when a famous Ohio clinic for diabetics refused to allow its patients to use insulin until it finally relented in 1926, after killing who knows how many patients by its conservatism. Its excuse had been that if it permitted insulin this would just encourage patients not to adhere to their starvation diet!
Fifth, research toward the development of the atomic bomb was going no where until General Grove was put in charge of it. He came in, cancelled projects that were not going to produce any results and accelerated those that were. He also brought researchers together so that useless, dithering, unfocused, and duplicative efforts would be streamlined to produce the desired development of the bomb in time to have a significant impact on World War II. The problem in medical research is that there are no General Groves, and so the dithering, diffusion of effort, repetition of results, unimaginative continuation of dead-end lines of research, failure to combine results from different researchers to achieve a unifying result, simply continues forever.
Nope. As long as the treatment continues to be a cash cow for pharma there is no chance for a cure.
The first and hardest step in solving a problem is defining a problem. I’ve found that Diabetes defies description - not only in my research, but in my own life.
That being said, I’ll go with the old saw that Diabetes will never be cured as it’s way too profitable.
Sadly…No. Too much money wil be lost if we’re cured or even slightly cured. Think about how many companies, services, etc will be useless or limited in what they pedal. Plus, here’s the big one: if there is a cure it will be so far out of reach for the average Joe. There will ‘guidelines’ you have to meet Iike you have now for pumps and supplies. Wrong insurance…you’re out, too. No insurance…opps, too bad for you, also. Oh, the USA will be the last to approve any cure. 
Sorry for being a Debby Downer but I also wrestle with Lupus and there’s very little hope in squishing that beast either. The few drugs available lately are out of reach due to Pharmacy Management tiers.
But, I’m grateful for what tools I do have to manage. I do have hope. There is good out there.
So many patients say a cure will never be found because it will kill the cash cow of all the highly profitable diabetes treatment products on the market now. My heart sinks whenever I see another ad on tv for yet another diabetes treatment product, since each is another nail in the coffin of a cure. Interestingly, patients never think of banding together to refuse to buy any of these gadgets so they can starve the cash cow to death.
We live at a time when many old truisms - things we’ve believed in for years - have been proven wrong and in many cases harmful.
One example was that fat - particularly saturated fat - is bad for you and makes you fat as well as damages your heart. The second was that high cholesterol is a sign of impending heart attacks. The third was that we should eat as many grains and other sources of carbohydrates as possible. A fourth was that damaged brain cells cannot be replenished and that brain injuries are for life. Well all have now been thoroughly discredited. As long as a person is certain to use his or her brain as much as possible following an injury, beta cells will replace the damaged brain cells. Eating as much grains and other carbs as possible is the underlying cause of the current diabetes epidemic. There is no verifiable link between high cholesterol and heart disease. And it is now known that fat does not make you fat, as we as humans are incapable of storing dietary fat as body padding. (Although eating fat may prevent you from losing weight as ingested fat is burned for energy before your body starts burning stored flab.) So it would not surprise me if in our lifetime another of these “truisms”, that Diabetes cannot be cured only managed, may well fall into the same category as the examples above.
I honestly think there could be a cure but unfortunately it’s a such a money maker for pharmaceuticals that there’s no incentive to finding a cure.
Many European and other Governments fund the purchase of drugs, etc. for diabetics. The cure does not have to come from the USA, it will possibly come from an amalgam of other countries. Hopefully.
I can’t count the number of times I have read medical journal articles with a title like “The Link Between Uric Acid Levels and Fingernail Growth in Type 1 Diabetes,” which couldn’t lead to a cure for diabetes in ten trillion years. But then, at the end of the article, I find the acknowledgement saying, “The authors wish to thank the ‘Run for a Cure’ Foundation for funding this research.”
It just fills me with disgust to think how many earnest patients and their friends wasted their Saturday mornings running to collect funding for diabetes cure research only to have it thrown away on scientific trash like this. Too much medical science is just a matter of science nerds amusing themselves with whatever money they can lay their hands on, like 10-year-old boys pulling wings off of flies to see what would happen, and not caring about the patients.
No. Money. Follow the money. After 22 years. Nope. No cure will be found in my lifetime.
'' A fully reversible disease
Most doctors, dietitians and diabetes specialists claim that type 2 diabetes is a chronic and progressive disease. The American Diabetes Association, for example, almost proudly proclaims this on its website. Once you get the diagnosis, it’s a life sentence. But, it’s actually a great big lie.
Type 2 diabetes is almost always reversible and this is almost ridiculously easy to prove. This is great news for the more than 50% of American adults who have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes or diabetes. Recognizing this truth is the crucial first step in reversing your diabetes or pre-diabetes. Actually, it something that most people already instinctively recognized to be true. ‘’
I am living proof of this …
here is my journey …
hi -
can type 2 diabetes be ‘’ reversed’’ ??? …the simple answer is an emphatic ‘‘YES ‘’ … I became a diabetic on 18 june 2015 … hba1c was 8.7 … on 08 march 2016 - 8 months later my hba1c was 6.0 … diabetes successfully ‘’ reversed’’ … i went public on the 2nd of september 2018 … my blogs have been deleted from the internet … the fact that type 2 diabetes can be reversed is being suppressed by the powers that be … i have emailed many doctors and endocrinologists … i have received no feedback or positive comments …
do doctors still adhere or abide by the hypocratic oath ?? … no diabetic specialists or endicronologists or doctors openly agree that type 2 diabetes can be reversed … or that blood glucose levels can be lowered naturally … my last hba1c reading as at the 15th of september was 5.7 … which is within the ambit of normal … my aim is to educate the public to the fact that type 2 diabetes is eminently reversable … and achieving a ‘‘normal’’ blood glucose level is attainable by any type 2 diabetic …
10th may 2016 hba1c was at 6.2
18th nov 2016 hba1c was at 6.0
01 march 2017 hba1c was at 5.9
now knowing that i had effectively ‘‘reversed’’ my type 2 diabetes and convinced that type 2 diabetes can be ‘‘reversed’’ in a short period of time … namely in a period of 25 to 40 days time … i set about becoming a diabetic again … to raise my hba1c level to over 7.0 which is the threshold figure for being a confirmed diabetic … being an impatient person … i did a GTT on 07 april 2017 … it was inconclusive with a reading of 10.9 … on the cusp of becoming a diabetic …
as 11 on a GTT is confirmation of being a diabetic … i had neglected to gather proof or lab test results to show that i DID indeed become a diabetic … and no lab test results to show that i had reversed my type 2 diabetes in about 35 days … so lets ignore this bit and pretend that i did not become a diabetic …
19th october 2017 my hba1c was at 6.0
because of changing living circumstances i had the next 4 to 5 months free … so once again … i decided to become a diabetic … went for the test on -
18 march 2018 hba1c was 7.2 … i was a diabetic once again
i received a call from my doctor … i duly went to see him … and he confirmed that i was once again a diabetic … i told him ‘’ i know’’ cos its what set out to do … i further told him … that i want to raise my hba1c to over the 8.1 mark … he warned me not to do it … but i ignored him …
on the 30th march 2018 my hba1c went up by 0.1 point to 7.3
after this test … i set about taking hba1c tests every 7 days
on the 06th april my hba1c had gone up by 0.1 point to 7.4
by now my family were up in arms and demanded i stop … and set about reversing my diabetes again … my doctor also weighed in with some horror forecasts … so i decided to start the reversal procedure for type 2 diabetes …
within 7 days … my hba1c dropped 0.3 points … from 7.4 on 06 april 2018 -
13th april 2018 my hba1c was 7.1
from the above result … its plain to see … that i could have reversed my diabetes in much less then 14 days … but i chose to experiment …
from the 13th april 2018 up to the 4th of may 2018 my hba1c remained steady at 7.1 (still doing hba1c tests every 7 days - 20th apr / 27th apr / 04 may )
on 11 may 2018 hba1c was at 7.0
on the 18th may 2018 my hba1c dropped 0.2 points to 6.8 - this after trying different ‘‘things’’ , but sticking to my reverse diabetes strategy
on 25th may 2018 my hba1c remained at 6.8 following the previous weeks strategies but eating normally - i.e . not following my reverse diabetes regimen
on the 2nd of june 2018 my hba1c dropped again by 0.2 points to 6.6
took a week off … hba1c went up by 0.1 point to 6.7 on 08 of june 2018
15 of june 2018 hba1c was back to 6.6
22 june 2018 hba1c was at 6.5
29th june 2018 hba1c remained at 6.5
06 july 2018 hba1c dropped to 6.3
13 of july 2018 hba1c went back up to 6.5
21 july 2018 hba1c dropped to 6.3
28 july 2018 hba1c dropped to 6.2
04 august 2018 hba1c went up 6.3
11 august 2018 hba1c dropped back to 6.2
18 august 2018 my hba1c jumped to 6.5
frustrated at this … i went ‘‘hard’’ at my reverse diabetes strategy for the next 7 days …
25 august 2018 hba1c dropped a massive 0.5 points to 6.0
took a weeks rest …
01 september 2018 hba1c remained at 6.0
i will endeavour to take my hba1c to lower than 6.0 in the coming 7 days …
08 sept 2018 hba1c dropeed to 5.9
15 sept 2018 hba1c dropped to 5.7
my aim is to reach ‘‘normal’’ i.e. an hba1c of between 4.5 and 5
things to note … if u can ignore my GTT and the period i explained above … about the 1st time i voluntarily made myself a diabetic … then it can be deemed that i was free of diabetes as of december 2015/ january 2016 up to maybe february 2018 which is plus /minus 2 years … in this period i enjoyed all foods … including foods diabetics are told to avoid … fries … mashed potatoes . rice … breads etc … but … i ate anything and everything together with the knowledge of how NOT to become a diabetic …
FINALLY - a diabetic of 14 years - successfully ‘‘reversed’’ his diabetes in less than 53 days … there is hope for all type 2 diabetics … hang in there … good luck
enjoy … life is good … smile while u still have teeth … see u soon
p.s. all original lab test results can be made available on request . - 073-949-7527
current hba1c is at 5.7 … i hope to achieve an hba1c of between 4.5 and 5.2 by the 1st of november 2018
sincerely
‘’ When the insulin levels are unable to keep up with the increasing resistance, blood sugars rise and your doctor diagnoses you with type 2 diabetes and starts you on a pill, such as metformin. But metformin does not get rid of the sugar. Instead, it simply takes the sugar from the blood and rams it back into the liver. The liver doesn’t want it either, so it ships it out to all the other organs – the kidneys, the nerves, the eyes, the heart. Much of this extra sugar will also just get turned into fat. ‘’ - the diet doctor … dr jason fung … dr axe … etc
after reading the above passage … I immediately binned my medication … been free of meds ever since … cholesterol levels are have improved … my pressure levels which were extremely bad has now ‘‘normalised’’
''Medications and insulin do nothing to slow down the progression of this organ damage, because they do not eliminate the toxic sugar load from our body. We’ve known this inconvenient fact since 2008. No less than 7 multinational, multi-centre, randomized controlled trials of tight blood glucose control with medications (ACCORD, ADVANCE, failed to demonstrate reductions in heart disease, the major killer of diabetic patients. We pretended that using medications to lower blood sugar makes people healthier. But it’s only been a lie. You can’t use drugs to cure a dietary disease. - source www - the diet dr … dr jason fung etc
‘’ A fully reversible disease
Most doctors, dietitians and diabetes specialists claim that type 2 diabetes is a chronic and progressive disease. The American Diabetes Association, for example, almost proudly proclaims this on its website. Once you get the diagnosis, it’s a life sentence. But, it’s actually a great big lie.
Type 2 diabetes is almost always reversible and this is almost ridiculously easy to prove. This is great news for the more than 50% of American adults who have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes or diabetes. Recognizing this truth is the crucial first step in reversing your diabetes or pre-diabetes. Actually, it something that most people already instinctively recognized to be true. ‘’
''Medications and insulin do nothing to slow down the progression of this organ damage, because they do not eliminate the toxic sugar load from our body. We’ve known this inconvenient fact since 2008. No less than 7 multinational, multi-centre, randomized controlled trials of tight blood glucose control with medications (ACCORD, ADVANCE, failed to demonstrate reductions in heart disease, the major killer of diabetic patients. We pretended that using medications to lower blood sugar makes people healthier. But it’s only been a lie. You can’t use drugs to cure a dietary disease. - source www - the diet dr … dr jason fung etc
''Medications and insulin do nothing to slow down the progression of this organ damage, because they do not eliminate the toxic sugar load from our body. We’ve known this inconvenient fact since 2008. No less than 7 multinational, multi-centre, randomized controlled trials of tight blood glucose control with medications (ACCORD, ADVANCE, failed to demonstrate reductions in heart disease, the major killer of diabetic patients. We pretended that using medications to lower blood sugar makes people healthier. But it’s only been a lie. You can’t use drugs to cure a dietary disease. - source www - the diet dr … dr jason fung etc
I am living proof that t2 diabetes can be successfully reversed
Absolutely a cure will be available.
I have not the slightest shred of a doubt on that. 100%
To me the obvious question is “WHEN”.
For that - I have not even the inkling of a guess.
“EVER” is a very, very long time, as is infinity. In that context, I’ll answer in the affirmative. During my lifetime? Very doubtful, with a heavy accent on “very”.
While I disagree that “insulin sensitive Type 2s” should be anything other than an oxymoron, I agree with David that this is kind of the wrong question, so you cannot get a right answer.
AIDS is a very complicated disease, yet it is getting closer than ever to a cure, in only 30 years. The medicine cocktail was extremely expensive, yet work on the vaccine and cure by those big bad pharmaceuticals still goes on in earnest.
If the medical industry was so corrupt, we’d never have any vaccines.
But with AIDS, how it works is very well understood. No one asks “what causes AIDS, what is its progression, and symptoms?”
With Diabetes, it isn’t a description of a consistent disease. It is a catch-all term for 1 symptom: persistently high blood sugar. That’s why there are dozens and dozens of variations, because there are a lot of things that can go wrong with the body that make you have high blood sugar!
For diabetes where the cause is well understood, then a cure will be found. I’m very optimistic about some MODYs, Type 2s due to obesity, Type 1s with only 1 autoimmune antibody, etc.
But we don’t even fully understand how our drugs work yet (like Metformin), so how can you cure something when you don’t fully understand how it works?
Type 1/2/3c are useful clinically, (Type 1.5 makes me gag in its stupidity), but to even begin on finding a cure, I think the field of medicine needs to more clearly define, then seek to understand, the various causes of diabetes (the symptom) before it can cure the causes of these various ill-defined diseases.
We have a “cure” to diabetes the symptom. I cure my diabetes to euglycemia everyday. But you can’t cure a disease if you don’t understand the cause. 
I think the question is over-simplified. Like, will cancer ever be cured? Well, some cancers CAN be cured now, but many cannot. Like cancer, recent research seems to be indicating that there are more than two or three types of diabetes, with different causes. So to say that diabetes can be cured is more or less saying that ALL diabetes can be cured, and I’m not optimistic about it. And since diabetes is not ipso facto fatal, I think there’s probably less incentive even to very dedicated researchers to find a cure.
So, let me rephrase my answer: No, not in my lifetime and yes, some types may eventually be cured.
Sadly, for far too many it is a slow death. And it’s treatment can also cause fatalities–severe hypo from insulin has killed it’s share of diabetics. This is not a disease to be taken lightly.