Having just finished reading One Second After, I'm wondering are there any viable natural alternatives for insulin. Potentially will have a Type 1 family member in our group and would like to have viable back-up Meds available if possible. We are currently looking at a 6 month supply that will be rotated but hope to build supply up to at least 1 year if possible. Shelf life seems to be an issue. We have a secure, safe, sustainable, and constant 55F storage area for the insulin. One other issue is getting a large quantity 'scrip to start with. Not to mention buying the extra supply at full cost since the insurance won't help with a "stockpile." Doctors and Insurance companies are both royal PITA.
My sister is diabetic, and has had no problems with her doctor understanding the need for scrips well in advance of need. Dunno 'bout the ins co, but I think she paid for the initial stocking, after that it's been a matter of rotating stock on an as used basis. Can't help with the substitute. Best of luck getting set up.
Apparently, it is technically possible to home brew insulin, however it is not likely to be as pure, as stable, and as consistent in its potency as insulin produced in a high tech pharmaceutical laboratory. Because the only practical way of making it outside of a high tech laboratory without ingredients and materials highly unlikely to be available in a TEOTWAWKI scenario, you will be limited to crude manufacture techniques using the pancreas of domestic animals. Using animal organs has its own set of risks and hazards. The risk of dying without insulin would have to be dire and greater than the risk of dying as a result of complications from unpredictable dosages, anaphylactic shock and allergic reactions etc. The following links are informational only...I make no recommendations as to their reliability, or usefulness as a successful medical intervention for people with diabetes. If you were to consider this as an option, you would need to prep the necessary apparatus and consumable materials, and DILIGENTLY MASTER the necessary technical skills for the manufacture and refinement of home brewed insulin WELL IN ADVANCE OF NEEDING TO USE IT. If you do this when medical and patholgy resources are available to evaluate the efficacy of what you have produced, then that may give you some degree of confidence when SHTF............. PERHAPS...and I say perhaps with a capital P. Having re-discovereed the DIY manufacture techniques pioneered by Banting & Best et al, it would be prudent to train others in how to produce it, in the event that you, due to your illness may not be in a fit state to manufacture yoiur own...should you do this, your life will be in the hands of others...so train them well. http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=33479 <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comhttp://www.healthexpertadvice.org/forum/Diabetes/Is-it-possible-to-make-home-made-insulin-How-do-you-do-it-58130.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Banting
