Treatment Of Diabetes

Northern Advocate, 2 October 1943, Page 4

Treatment Of Diabetes

Surgical advances in operating on diabetics were explained by Dr Howard Gaudin, an Auckland neurologist, in addressing the New Zealand Diabetic Welfare Association.

Dr Gaudin said that, unlike conditions in the pre-insulin era, when preparation methods always led to coma, the present day use of spinal anaesthetics, freezing and new drugs, which placed no strain on the liver for detoxitising, had madediabetics a lesser surgical risk than people who were not so carefully controlled or understood.

Present-day methods, said Dr Gaudin, meant no pain, no shock and better healing, and patients were fit for a hearty dinner immediately afterwards. He covered the subject of testing for surplus sugar in the body, which was essential in the case of diabetics caring for themselves, and explained the implications of the presence of . sugar. He mentioned the question of the employment of diabetics, and said that there was no reason to exclude diabetics from any employment, as tests made over a long period had shown that fewer than 23 per cent had been absent from work because of diabetes.