Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 3, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 84 Winnipeg free press wednesday june 3. 1981 soaring teen suicide rate half the Story doctor says Montreal up Jessie 17, Marc 16. And Ralph. 14. Have two things in common their adolescence and the fact they have All attempted suicide. They Are what or. John Unwin a Montreal psychiatrist who specializes in treating adolescents Calls the smiling these and other teenagers who want to die often mask their pain with smiles loud music and frenetic behaviour. Usually their families Are unaware of their inner torment until the first suicide attempt. The reported suicide rate among adolescents is rising steadily in can Ada. Next to automobile accidents it is the biggest killer of males aged is to 24 years. In Canada during 1973, 441 males and 108 females Between the Ages of 10 and 24 years committed suicide. By 1979, according to statistics Canada the toll Rose to 699 males and 160 females. The figures show that three times As Many girls As boys attempt Sui cide but that boys succeed four times As often. But Unwin dismisses the figures As almost meaningless and Points out that at least 50 per cent of actual suicides Are never reported to the authorities. Adolescent suicide is a taboo says Unwin. Doctors will report deaths As accidents when the evidence leans overwhelmingly to suicide to protect the parents from the guilt and misery that a suicide involves. Often it s not possible to prove a suicide. But you can be sure that Many of those kids who drive at 90 Miles an hour into a Cement Wall did t do it by youngsters May attempt suicide three or four times before they succeed. Peter 17, appears handsome and clean Cut As he opens the door at the Montreal children s Hospital adolescent treatment Centre. Feb. 2, 1980 March 13, 1980 March 23, 1981. Those Are the three times i tried to kill he says reeling off the dates with the detachment of a newscaster. The first time he says he used a chisel but inflicted Only surface wounds. Three weeks later he stood in front of a train but jumped Clear just before it reached him. Peter locked himself i the base ment of his Home with a loaded Rifle recently but could t persuade him self to squeeze the trigger. He called the Montreal children s Hospital for help. Peter cannot explain what drives him toward suicide but says it s like an urge for a cigarette that gets stronger and stronger. I get More depressed and then i Don t want to live anymore. Why bother there s no a student at a Large Montreal High school Peter says he gets along Well with his parents and is never Short of girlfriends. After his first suicide at tempt he spent 17 Days in a general Hospital where he was the youngest patient on the psychiatric Ward and hated every minute of it. They kept me heavily drugged and i Only saw a psychiatrist for is minutes every two Days. The rest of the time i spent making a Belt. When they released me i knew i d have to do the Job right the next time or i d end up in there after the train incident he spent 44 Days at the children s and received Day treatment for several months. But last september Peter told his psychiatrist he could go it alone. By Christmas the depression returned and led to the third attempt. When any member of a family at tempts or commits suicide the effect on the whole family is traumatic the Structure of relationships can shift says Unwin. Unwin says the primary cause of teenage suicide attempts is die Adole scent s inability to balance the Vari Ous kinds of growth biological intellectual and social that Are going on in his body and his life. Some teenagers can t handle such an explosion of change. They develop a kind of Tunnel vision where there seems to be no alternative but adds Unwin. They Lack any kind of Normal per children of divorced or separated parents Are High risk and so Are those teens i families where a Parent or sibling has committed suicide or where there is says Unwin. Human insulin copied Chicago Sun times a dramatic feat in genetic engineering Carbon copies of human insulin May soon offer scores of diabetics an improved form of treat ment. The new Biosynthetic drug developed by researchers at Eli Lilly co. And Gene tech inc., involves Gene splicing. This form of human insulin was created by transplant ing an insulin producing Gene into bacteria and cultivating it so it replicates the natural hormone. Bacterially produced human insulin will offer an alternative to diabetics who Are allergic to currently available insulin derived from beef and pork. About five per cent of the insulin users among the 10 million diabetics in the United states Are allergic to Ani Mal insulin. Replicates the Biosynthetic human insulin would not Only eliminate a problem for allergic patients it could also prove to be a Superior therapeutic agent for All insulin users because it replicates the body s own chemicals in Stead of introducing a for eign substance into the sys tem. Diabetes is a condition that occurs when the pancreas is unable to manufacture sufficient insulin or when it can not make use of the hormone in a Normal Way. Insulin is a hormone made i pancreatic cells called islets of Langer Hans. It is secreted to the blood and influences the metabolism of carbohydrates. Complications from diabetes can be severe. Blindness it is a leading cause of blindness and a major contributor to kidney failure heart disease and stroke. As Many As 50 per cent of those with some degree of diabetes can keep it under control through diet keep ing their intake of sugars and starches at a minimum. But the other half need Oral medication or insulin injections to manage the disease. Scientists at the University of Tennessee clinical re search Centre Are planning tests to compare human in Sulin with animal derivatives in conjunction with Eli Lilly co. Medical experts consider the bacterially produced in Sulin a major breakthrough because there is no Way to obtain the hormone from humans. Breaks Down or. Abbas Kitabchi pro Gram director of the Centre explained that human insulin Breaks Down quickly after death. Only those samples where patients have died and the pancreas was immediately removed could be used. And we Only got a Small amount additional advances have been made in the treatment of diabetes and research of the disease in the last couple of years. These include the Success Ful transplant of islet cells in animals by or. Paul Lacy of Washington University school of Medicine St. Louis. The Langerhans islet cells that produce insulin were transplanted Between rats As Well As from rat to mouse. 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