Rubel's January 2021 Blog Post

    This month has been full of learning and growing experiences. This second semester started off quickly and with very little room to not be on top of things. In medical pharmacology we began looking into diabetic medications as well as different contraceptive plans of action. I really enjoyed learning about the different mechanisms of action that diabetic medications take. It helped me broaden my understanding of the condition as a whole. I always thought of insulin as a sort of transporter that allows certain things to be taken into the cell for further action, I now know that is not the case. Insulin works more like a transport signaler, in that it signals for more GLUT 4 transporters to come and take in glucose. Understanding more about the ways in which diabetes works to affect our bodies has given me a new light of appreciation for how hard my late uncle, as well as the millions of Americans affected by diabetes, work on a day to day basis to maintain a homeostatic state. In a way, learning more about the condition that afflicted my late uncle has brought me closer to him. My uncle was a kind man who loved to take me out for some “gelato”, a type of ice cream seen a lot in Eritrea, which is where he lived. He would often check his blood to make sure his blood glucose levels weren't too high. He had type 1 diabetes. One time while he was checking his levels while we were at the gelato shop, I heard people whispering that he was a drug addict because they did not understand the condition of diabetes and how you have to check your blood glucose levels to make sure they aren’t out of whack. They thought he was just taking drugs because they didn’t understand he needed to take insulin because of his condition. Instead of being upset with the individuals, like I wanted to be, he calmly explained that he wasn’t a drug addict, just a diabetic. I knew my late uncle was great but being able to understand the condition better has given me an even higher appreciation for him.