Posted on 02/22/2009 11:34:58 PM PST by Marie
Whoops, Eva was the linguist. Same idea.
Attempting this, it would seem, is going to require a steady supply of animal pancreases.
If it were me, I'd agree with you.
But I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about a vibrant 15 year old kid who's looking forward to a wife and a family of his own and who's trusting me to get him there.
In the end, if G-d wants my kid to live, he'll live. I know that. But I also know that G-d helps he who helps himself.
Eating carbs really spikes your blood sugar, and fast. Eating protein raises it somewhat. Eating fat has very little if any effect on blood sugar; so, despite the "conventional wisdom" which has been hysterically anti-fat for decades now, eating fat might be of some help (at least temporarily or in an emergency).
A diet of mostly protein and fat stabilizes the blood sugar. Neither type of diabetic should be eating a diet high in carbs of any kind.
You might also see any of Dr. Richard K. Bernstein's books on this subject. He is a type I diabetic who uses, in fact, very low doses of insulin on himself, and tightly controls his blood sugar within the normal range, because he is very rigid with his diet--both in terms of what he eats and amounts of various foods.
Bernstein also has a website. You might find his biography pretty interesting.
I have a child with chronic health problems. What you are saying is overwhelming to those of us with children who have ongoing medical needs. I have thought of terrible scenarios which may cut off access to health care but have no idea how I would cope. My best advice to you is to connect with a group of people in your community. Mine is my church and there is where I might find support and resources if the worst happens. Hopefully insulin would be available!
Just because the Saxl's used a particular book doesn't mean you would need the same one to find out about the work of Banting and Best. There are undoubtedly better sources, even on the net. Even the Saxl's had access to a laboratory, as well as animal pancreases, and even then it took them a very long time. It also sounds very dangerous to attempt the use of a home-brew preparation that might contain some insulin but might also provoke serious immune reactions.
Rather than going back so far in time, perhaps it would be good to learn more about how recombinant insulin is created. This might be beyond the means of the individual to manufacture but perhaps a small co-op could handle it.
The “recipe” is too complicated and specialized to manage in a SHTF situation...
however...
It did lead me to a link which stated that the details were found in another book: “Sir Frederick Banting” by Lloyd Stevenson.
A couple of clicks and I found a used copy on Amazon. With luck, it will have the details of the earlier experiments. (The ones which were discarded because they weren't feasible for mass production.)
Thank you! :)
This looks quite involved, but in terms of useful lab equipment you can acquire in advance, you might want to have a centrifuge, a vacuum pump, a good PH testing kit, a small lab grade fridge, lab grade filters, and a small water distillation unit. (and a means to power all of the above...)
From that post I pointed to...
...from Frederick Banting’s Nobel Lecture in 1925:
http://www.discoveryofinsulin.com/FGBLecture.htm
Best and Scott who are responsible for the preparation of Insulin in the Insulin Division of the Connaught Laboratories have tested all the available methods and have appropriated certain details from many of these, several new procedures have been found advantageous have been introduced by them. The yield of Insulin obtained by Best and Scott at the Connaught Laboratories, by a preliminary extraction with dilute sulphuric acid followed by alcohol is 1,800 to 2,220 units per kg. of pancreas.
The present method of preparation is as follows. The beef or pork pancreas is finely minced in a larger grinder and the minced material is then treated with 5 c.c. of concentrated sulphuric acid, appropriately diluted, per pound of glands. The mixture is stirred for a period of three or four hours and 95% alcohol is added until the concentration of alcohol is 60% to 70%. Two extractions of the glands are made. The solid material is then partially removed by centrifuging the mixture and the solution is further clarified by filtering through paper. The filtrate is practically neutralized with NaOH. The clear filtrate is concentrated in vacuo to about 1/15 of its original volume. The concentrate is then heated to 50oC which results in the separation of lipoid and other materials, which are removed by filtration. Ammonium sulphate (37 grams. per 100 c.c.) is then added to the concentrate and a protein material containing all the Insulin floats to the top of the liquid. The precipitate is skimmed off and dissolved in hot acid alcohol. When the precipitate has completely dissolved, 10 volumes of warm alcohol are added. The solution is then neutralized with NaOH and cooled to room temperature, and kept in a refrigerator at 5oC for two days. At the end of this time the dark coloured supernatant alcohol is decanted off. The alcohol contains practically no potency. The precipitate is dried in vacuo to remove all trace of the alcohol. It is then dissolved in acid water, in which it is readily soluble. The solution is made alkaline with NaOH to PH 7.3 to 7.5. At this alkalinity a dark coloured precipitate settles out, and is immediately centrifuged off. This precipitate is washed once or twice with alkaline water of PH 9.0 and the washings are added to the main liquid. It is important that this process be carried out fairly quickly as Insulin is destroyed in alkaline solution. The acidity is adjusted to PH 5.0 and a white precipitate readily settles out. Tricresol is added to a concentration of 0.3% in order to assist in the isoelectric precipitation and to act as a preservative. After standing one week in the ice chest the supernatant liquid is decanted off and the resultant liquid is removed by centrifuging. The precipitate is then dissolved in a small quantity of acid water. A second isoelectric precipitation is carried out by adjusting the acidity to a PH of approximately 5.0. After standing over night the resultant precipitate is removed by centrifuging. The precipitate, which contains the active principle in a comparatively pure form, is dissolved in acid water and the hydrogen ion concentration adjusted to PH 2.5. The material is carefully tested to determine the potency and is then diluted to the desired strength of 10, 20, 40 or 80 units per c.c. Tricresol is added to secure a concentration of 0.1 percent. Sufficient sodium chloride is added to make the solution isotonic. The Insulin solution is passed through a Mandler filter. After passing through the filter the Insulin is retested carefully to determine its potency. There is practically no loss in berkefelding. The tested Insulin is poured into sterile glass vials with aseptic precautions and the sterility of the final product thoroughly tested by approved methods.
The method of estimating the potency of Insulin solutions is based on the effect that Insulin produces upon the blood sugar of normal animals. Rabbits serve as the test animal. They are starved for twenty four hours before the administration of Insulin. Their weight should be approximately 2 kg. Insulin is distributed in strengths of 10, 20, 40 and 80 units per c.c. The unit is one third of the amount of material required to lower the blood sugar of a 2 kg. rabbit which has fasted twenty four hours from the normal level (0.118 percent) to 0.045 percent over a period of five hours. In a moderately severe case of diabetes one unit causes about 2.5 grammes of carbohydrate to be utilized. In earlier and milder cases, as a rule, one unit has a greater effect, accounting for three to five grammes of carbohydrate.
(from post #7 at http://medtech.syrene.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3442 )
I also found a PDF of a 1926 lab paper on the process here:
http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/72/1/57.pdf
You’re quite welcome, Marie.
On a related topic, 12,000+ Free Republic posts on survival...
Thread 1:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1990507/posts?page=9901
Thread 2:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2181392/posts?q=1&;page=51
I’ll try searching online, but check local libraries. They might be able to help. Ditto hospital libraries. If it’s out of print, I wouldn’t expect them to have a copy on hand. But they may be able to find a copy, and copy the relevant section for you, or tell you where to find it.
I don’t believe it will get that bad.
Dang, and I had a whole can of grubs saved up. I was looking forward to it.
Total Package RN
Why didn’t I think of that?
Being permanently on Coumadin now, and having mulled over similar worst-case scenarios, methinks one hugely under-discussed factor of major SHTF planning is: once the pharmaceutical infrastructure stops, a whole lotta people are gonna die.
Sorry to sound so horrid. I’d be one of ‘em (and I’m 41 & otherwise healthy).
It hit me when discussing the issue with like-minded survivalists on another board, and was surprised at how many there were in fact medically dependent on some sort of pharmaceuticals. Making your own is good to know - if it’s possible; continued life would revolve around it.
Think about that, and realize that many of us have very good reason to keep our society going at this very high level of technical functionality. Do consider how to homebrew the needed meds, but don’t focus on societal breakdown to the point of helping it happen (as methinks some do). Let’s keep this system running well. I don’t wanna stroke out early.
Some of us with chronic illnesses are stockpiling medications in advance, out of fear. It’s not easy to get additional supplies of meds, but with imagination and determination it can be done. I don’t know how quickly insulin degrades if it kept properly refrigerated, but presumably your electric supply or a supply of ice would be the last thing you would allow to go. You can run a cooler off a car battery, too.
Try ABE books for old or out-of-print books. You can put in online requests for rare books and booksellers all over the US and UK will search for you.
To be honest, some of us who have serious health problems are not going to survive this. If things go very bad, I don’t think I’ll come through it. But your son is much younger, and has a mom to fight for him, so he has a good shot at it. I don’t think anybody’s going to put him in a concentration camp even if things get very hairy.
Before insulin, the treatment for diabetes was a diet that was low on sugar and carbohydrates and high in proteins and fat. This would buy about 2 years of life. Might do in a pinch though if you had to go a couple of months without insulin.
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