Biohackers take aim at big pharma’s stranglehold on insulin

Re:Biohackers take aim at big pharma’s stranglehold on insulin by jcims on Monday June 28, 2021 @02:35PM (#27665794)

It’s a little more complicated than that. Bread is ingested through a system optimized to absorb nutrients from outside the body.

Insulin must make it into the bloodstream intact, typically through injection. It’s also incredibly potent, a unit of insulin dried to crystalline form weighs less than 40 micrograms, so it much be administered in a sterile carrier fluid.

Lastly the penalty for overdosing is generally called insulin shock or diabetic hypoglycemia, and ‘it is rare but possible for diabetic hypoglycemia to result in brain damage or death. Indeed, an estimated 2–4% of deaths of people with type 1 diabetes mellitus have been attributed to hypoglycemia.‘ [1]

That’s with pharmaceutical insulin, not DIY.

1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetic_hypoglycemia

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Re:Biohackers take aim at big pharma’s stranglehold on insulin by AstralStorm on Wednesday June 30, 2021 @02:40AM (#27685635)

On the other hand, glucose blood levels are reasonably easily measurable and being slightly on the high side is fine, but the precision pumps (or microfluidics) to do this dosing automatically and accurately are still expensive.

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