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by Val Wilson (Author)
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Diabetes Ancient and Modern: The Evolution of Diabetes as a Metabolic Disease is written for patients, families, carers, and health professionals to provide a historical understanding of advances in the treatment of this serious disease. Dr Val Wilson is a diabetes expert, who also has almost 50 years' experience of managing her own type 1 diabetes.
This book charts every medical milestone in the understanding of diabetes, exploring and examining available literature from the first recognition of diabetes symptoms in ancient civilizations. As scientific methods established and progressed, we investigate the growth of diabetes-based knowledge, leading to modern treatment options and medical advances in the search for a cure. The discovery of insulin in 1921 was a major breakthrough, but living longer with unmanaged glucose levels meant the onset of secondary complications, such as heart and kidney disease. The race was on to further the scientific and medical understanding of diabetes as a serious health condition.
Cutting-edge technology to treat and manage type 1 diabetes is examined objectively and subjectively - from the author's own experience of using these therapies and devices, as is the ever-increasing obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemic worldwide. Many cases of type 2 can be reversed with weight loss so the individual is diabetes-free. We examine the recent introduction of weight loss injections, such as Ozempic - a game changer for type 2 diabetes and weight management. Currently, 6% of the NHS budget is spent on diabetes care annually, making it important that patients understand the treatment options available, and that health professionals can explore these options.
Author Biography
Dr Val Wilson is an academic with a PhD in diabetes health education from the University of Kent, UK. As a specialist in the field, over the past 25 years, she has conducted various research studies about how people self-manage their diabetes, also carrying out more than ten years of voluntary work with the INPUT (Insulin Pump Therapy) national diabetes organisation.
Dr Wilson has published widely in nursing and healthcare journals, having written over 30 articles and seven books, most recently, How To Live Well with Diabetes, and How To Reduce Your Child's Sugar Intake, both published by Robinson. She has sat on various Government working parties aiming to improve care for patients with type 1 diabetes. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health; a member of The Society for Medical Writers, and a member of the Non-Fiction Authors Association. In 2023, Val won The British Psychological Society best text book award for her book, Psychology in Diabetes Care and Practice.
In April, 2019, Val was awarded a Pride in Medway Award in recognition of an outstanding contribution to Medway health and hospitals. This recognises Dr Wilson's research regarding effective diabetes self-management with essential information, education and support to prevent and/or stabilise diabetes complications and improve quality of life. In December, 2018, Val was made a Diabetes Ambassador by Medtronic Diabetes for her example of living well with diabetes while using insulin pump therapy. Val has written, lectured and published widely on this subject of insulin pump therapy to educate health professionals and individuals who may benefit from this diabetes technology.
Having had brittle type 1 diabetes for 48 years, Val has used insulin pump therapy instead of injections for the past 25 years. She also uses a combined insulin pump and Continuous Glucose Monitoring System.
