OK, today I had my quarterly check-up. It was pretty smooth, and the initial discussion revolved around a “keep on keeping on” theme. My A1c was 5.8, exactly matching my November results (August was 5.7).
When I brought up the insurance company decision to no longer cover Lantus (Caremark provides our pharmacy coverage), I mentioned that I wanted to move to Tresiba. At first, he said he’d be shocked if it was covered by my insurance. I just had to assure him I had checked, and that Tresiba was actually one of the three suggested replacements (as suggested by Caremark).
Apparently, I’ll be the first in his practice to use Tresiba since it doesn’t tend to be covered as well. This is a GP office, not an endo, so his data sample is limited. Now I just have to get the needle issue lined up (pharmacy tried running the wrong brand through insurance today) and finish this current Lantus vial.
My take-aways from today:
Next time they take my blood in the office, I’m going to lance myself. I think she had that thing set on 25, and my finger is still bruised.
I feel I could have much better control, so while the 5.8 feels successful, I know I can do better with better dietary choices throughout the three months.
Sounds really good! GOod luck with Tresiba. I haven’t used it but have heard good things about it. Your 5.8 is great!
My next endo appointment will be focused on my endo’s pending retirement. I doubt I’ll get much accomplished, other than to get a copy of my records from the office… I’ll be starting with one or another new endos sometime after that – And I’ll make a note about paying close attention to any lancing device they try and use on me!!
I think the problem is that she’s a GP nurse who doesn’t draw blood often. I hope so, anyway. Either way, I’m going to insist on doing it myself next time. The good news is, there was plenty of blood so she didn’t have to do it twice.
I dunno… first time a nurse tested my BG was in my GP’s office. She lanced my thumb with what may as well have been a razor blade! I felt sympathetic pain through ALL TEN fingers! Was terrible! And here’s the worst part: the nurse herself was a Type1!
Caremark switched to cover basaglar instead of lantus as of January 1… its generic insulin glargine and supposedly the same exact thing… I haven’t heard from anyone whose made the switch yet and reported back
Caremark does cover tresiba, I switched to it about a year ago and love it.
They also switched to BD brand pen needles as of the first of year… no big deal although I did really like the novofine plus because they had a wide bumper at the base of the needle… psychological probably but it was nice
ETA Caremark is a huge conglomerate though so it’s possible that not everyone with ‘caremark’ has exactly the same formulary options
I’ve been loving Tresiba for the past several months. My insurance is a state-HMO of Blue Cross Blue Shield, and they covered Tresiba just fine.
As to CVS/Caremark – to be accurate, they still do cover Lantus. You’ll just have to fight a bit more as it’s not as preferred as it was before. But if it comes down to medical necessity, you can still get it covered (even if it may be at a higher tier).
There is also a Tresiba coupon that can be used by people with some insurance. It only costs 15 dollars per month. My doctor gave me the coupon and it lasts for two years.
Every time I donate blood I gripe about the lancing of my finger for the iron test. They will not let me do it myself. There is no guarantee that a med tech of any kind will let YOU lancet your own finger.
It’s the equivalent of a junior high trombone player with braces teaching ME how to get a good tone. (I’m a professional trombone player).
They never test me at the doctor’s office. That might be because they know how involved I am in self management and trust what I tell them, or it might be because we do a lab draw every 90 days anyway, or a combination of both. Dunno. But if the subject ever comes up, I think I will insist on doing it myself.
As for Tresiba . . . got my hands on a sample. Going to try it as soon as my current vial of basal runs out. Looking forward with interest.
It isn’t a sample in the strictest literal sense of the word; it’s an unopened, unexpired pen that someone had no use for. My open vial has a ways to go so it’ll be a little while before I get to it. The first thing that surprised me was that it’s U200.
I have a u200 sample pen that I haven’t used yet… but I’m pretty interested in trying it. U200 comes with 3 pens / box – 1800 units instead of 5 u100 pens (1500 units) and they’re the same price / copay generally so if nothing else the u200 is cheaper, and I’m interested in the discussion as to whether it might be better for the tissue to be injecting lesss volume into it… don’t really know if that’s the case.
My doc says he’s moving more and more toward the u200 with all of his patients except super sensitive ones who truly need to be able to adjust 1 unit at a time --with the u200 you only get even numbered doses-- e.g. 22u, 24u
Well, if you absolutely MUST have finer granularity than that, you can always use a syringe to draw directly from the reservoir. Just remember not to inject any air.
The fact that it’s U200 doesn’t bother me at all, I just didn’t expect it. U200 does have the advantage of smaller doses which, á lá Bernstein, means more even and consistent absorption.
Just realize the markings on your syringe wouldnt be accurate as they’re for u100…
The pens are so convenient, have you ever used them? I can’t imagine using a vial and syringe… I can’t imagine anyone voluntarily going back to vial and syringe short of zombie apocalypse
True, but with care and attention you can get awfully close. The delta should be too tiny to matter unless the doses themselves are very tiny, i.e., a child’s. And being a mechanical device, there’s no reason to expect the pen to be significantly more precise.
not any more precise, but certainly more convenient… and seeing as how, frankly, a lot of people aren’t Informed and aware enough to pull of a u100/u200 unit conversion and I do think there’s probably something to be said for keeping the number of times the insulin is handled / transferred etc to a minimum before injecting it into ones body…
I’d generally not recommend pulling insulin out of a pen into a syringe for those reasons… that’s why they make the u100 tresiba also
I doubt I’ll get much accomplished, other than to get a copy of my records from the office… I’ll be starting with one or another new endos sometime after that – And I’ll make a note about paying close attention to any lancing device they try and use on me!!