Bittersweet: Diabetes, Insulin, and the Transformation of Illness: Diabetes, Insulin, and the Transformation of Illness PDF

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Download for free medical books PRETITLE Bittersweet: Diabetes, Insulin, and the Transformation of Illness: Diabetes, Insulin, and the Transformation of Illness (Studies in Social Medicine) [Kindle Edition] POSTTITLE from mediafire, rapishare, and mirror link One of medicine's most remarkable therapeutic triumphs was the discovery of insulin in 1921. The drug produced astonishing results, rescuing children and adults from the deadly grip of diabetes. But as Chris Feudtner demonstrates, the subsequent transformation of the disease from a fatal condition into a chronic illness is a story of success tinged with irony, a revealing saga that illuminates the complex human consequences of medical intervention.

Bittersweet chronicles this history of diabetes through the compelling perspectives of people who lived with this disease. Drawing on a remarkable body of letters exchanged between patients or their parents and Dr. Elliot P. Joslin and the staff of physicians at his famed Boston clinic, Feudtner examines the experience of living with diabetes across the twentieth century, highlighting changes in treatment and their profound effects on patients' lives. Although focused on juvenile-onset, or Type 1, diabetes, the themes explored in Bittersweet have implications for our understanding of adult-onset, or Type 2, diabetes, as well as a host of other diseases that, thanks to drugs or medical advances, are being transformed from acute to chronic conditions. Indeed, the tale of diabetes in the post-insulin era provides an ideal opportunity for exploring the larger questions of how medicine changes our lives.
Direct download links available for PRETITLE Bittersweet: Diabetes, Insulin, and the Transformation of Illness: Diabetes, Insulin, and the Transformation of Illness (Studies in Social Medicine) [Kindle Edition] POSTTITLE

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• File Size: 2344 KB
• Print Length: 312 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press; 1 edition (May 26, 2003)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00GJQHOBW
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray:
  Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled

Bittersweet: Diabetes, Insulin, and the Transformation of Illness: Diabetes, Insulin, and the Transformation of Illness PDF

This book describes the transformation of diabetes from a rapidly-fatal illness to a chronic one with a host of new associated problems. Though written by a physician, the book focuses on this transformation from patients' perspectives. In addition, it emphasizes the impact of diabetes on not just the health of individuals but also on their day-to-day lives.

The highlight of this book is the collection of stories of individual patients and families. Drawing from letters and other patient records at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Feudtner vividly details the lives of diabetic patients in the 20th century. Of particular interest is a patient who corresponds with his physicians using self-drawn cartoons, a number of which are included in the book.

While this book will be of special interest to diabetic patients and physicians, I recommend it to any reader intersted in the interplay between modern medicine and the people it aims to serve.

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