Insulin
Delivery Devices
Go directly to the index of types of delivery devices at the end of this page.
Next to the blood glucose meter these are probably the most used piece of equipment. In fact they pre-date the meter by a considerable number of years, as you will discover when you read the history of syringes.
Since becoming a diabetic I have often been told how lucky we are that there are now insulin tablets we can take, eliminating the need for injections. That just goes to show how ignorant the world out there is about this very common disease!
I patiently explain that insulin is a protein and cannot be taken in pill form as it would never reach it's place of operation - the stomach would see to that! I have to point out that though insulin dependant diabetics would love to have such an option they are unfortunately still reliant on injections - which are always inconvenient, frequently inaccurate and generally downright painful.
Though this may seem a strange thing to say, it is fortunate that diabetes is such an escalating disease - fortunate for us diabetics that is. It means that there is a large market out there for any form of equipment and thus companies are prepared to put money into research and development.
I am not knocking the companies here, they have to make a profit or they would go out of business. There may be a few altruistic philanthropists out there who would do this sort of research for love but they are few and far between. Better they put their efforts and money into research on those diseases that effect a tiny minority of the population and thus go unnoticed by the large corporations. While there is a huge and ever expanding market, as is the case in diabetes, the large corporations will continue to pour money into the 'better mousetrap' to gain an edge in the market and increased profits.
I say this is fortunate because it has led to the constant upgrading of present systems of insulin delivery and the development of alternative methods that help deal with the aforementioned inconvenience, inaccuracy and pain. Hey, if we have to have this d___ disease we might as well reap some benefits from it's escalation!
So besides syringes we now have Insulin pens, Jet injectors, External insulin pumps, Implantable insulin pumps, Insulin inhalers - to name a few, and more are appearing all the time.
As usual, the links below will take you to the article of your choice:-
History of Syringes.
Syringes.
Insulin Infusers.
Insulin Jet Injectors.
Insulin Jet Injector Manufacturers.
Insulin Pumps.
Insulin Pump Infusion Sets.
Insulin Pump Manufacturers.
Implantable Insulin Pumps.