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At present, diagnosing diabetes is a relatively simple task.Signs and symptoms are usually quite evident when established (thirst, large volume of urination, tiredness, weight loss ...) and confirm it through a blood glucose test is sewing and singing.However, centuries ago when there were no laboratory tests to quantify glucose, confirm the diagnosis was somewhat more complex, artisanal and ... disgusting.
Although practically everyone knows what this frequent disease consists of, few people know what is the peculiar origin of the term diabetes mellitus (which is the rimbombant and scientific name to refer to conventional diabetes -tipo I, II and gestational-and distinguish it from very different others such as tasteless diabetes).
Well, the Greek meaning of "diabetes mellitus" would be something like "honey sweetened siphon."The term "siphon" is a very expressive way to refer to the large amount of urine that diabetics and "honey sweeteners" eliminate refers to the characteristic sweet taste that their urine has.One of the main signs that causes a high amount of blood glucose is that a certain percentage of this sugar ends up eliminating from the urine (something that does not usually happen in normal conditions).As glucose also needs a lot of water to eliminate through the PIS, it is eliminated large volume of this which is the most typical sign of this disease: jet piss every two by three or, said finerly: diabetes;A term that was first used in the second century by the Greek doctor Areteo de Capadocia.
On the other hand, that the urine was affectionately "sweetened with honey" directly implied that someone had proven its taste previously (of course, how hard is science sometimes).The courageous discoverer of Pis Dulce (of which we have written record) was Thomas Willis in the seventeenth century.Unfortunately, Willis did not know why exactly in diabetics from time to timeposterity when describing the urine of the diabetic as "wonderfully sweet, as if they were seasoned with honey or sugar."
Years later, when it was already learned exactly that the culprit of this sweet urine was glucose, the confirmation of the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus was performed testing the patient's urine.In this way, it was distinguished from other diseases that were with an abundant urine but that did not have that characteristic sweet taste such as tasteless diabetes (which is called precisely tasteless because in the times when it was diagnosed testing urine, it had no flavorsweet).
Centuries later, when the blood glucose laboratory analyzes extended everywhere, the doctors got rid of the PIS tasting and has only remained us as remnant of this tasty practice the rimbombante name of diabetes mellitus.
