“Back in the old days, I had to inject myself with a sharp stick…”

I read an interesting article in The Providence Journal about the history of diabetes. Well, it was interesting to me, anyway, in that “it’s time to go home but there’s no food in the fridge and I’m too lazy to go to the store so hey, let’s read about the Beedies before I go” sort of way. You’d be surprised at how many of my posts are born that way.

Ancient Egyptians around 1550 BC mentioned a rare disease characterized by frequent urination and weight loss. Famed Greek physician Aretaus (30-90 AD) described a disorder causing constant thirst, excessive pee time and weight loss, which he described as a “melting of the flesh”. He actually gave it the name diabetes, from the Greek meaning “a flowing through” because, well, they peed a lot.

The article goes on to follow the medical science that developed through the centuries, and it’s pretty interesting. One part jumped out at me, though.

Some anonymous practitioner, more curious — or perhaps more bold — than his colleagues, took to tasting the urine specimens of his patients. And sooner or later he encountered a urine that had a very sweet taste (representing the excess sugar flowing into the urine of the diabetic). Thus the disease came to be known as diabetes mellitus, from the Latin word meaning honey.

See, that’s just wrong, people.

(via The Providence Journal.)