'Nuff said
Hey Steve! You might find some helpful tips in this discussion. We all know that diabetes is no fun, but without insurance it can be much harder! You might also check out ipump.org. Hope these help!
thanks, i’m mainly scared to death of running out of insulin so I will be checking out the ReliOn…we all know what happens to a type1 with no insulin…and i have quite the brittle case, my life expectancy would not be good…realisticallly i could die in a very short period of time.
Yes, I can understand why this is really scary… please make sure you always have enough insulin!! Many of the insulin companies have programs…
Take care of yourself and keep us posted on how you are doing!
why do you have to practically die before you can get assistance
Bless you Steve! I don’t know the answer but dosen’t that seem like what they want you to do? In the “they” I mean those insurance company’s out there! Also when you almost die here in the good old US then they stick you on Medicade and they won’t do what is needed to keep us ticking . I’m on that and Medicare!!! Discusting!! I’ve always said that they wanted me dead so I wouldn’t have to spend money on me!!!
yeah i would like to see some medicaid statistics, i’m going to search them out just out of curiosity. Pregnant women are shoe-ins. Type 1 diabetics should be too. No matter what you do, if you have type 1 you can’t make it go away by eating right and reaching your target heart rate for twenty minutes three times a week. In fact, the exercise bit is misleading because type 1 cripples the body’s ability to recover and manage energy. It’s ***ked up man, and nobody really knows except the few that have it. Face it type1 is harder the manage than type2, I would trade ANY DAY. I’m almost 6’3" and weigh between 200 adn 210 (it fluctuates weekly according to my diet and insulin intake. I can lose ten pounds in a matter of two or three days and it’s muscle and stored fat weight so I’m weaker too.) I appear to be a strapping young lad. My weight is good and I have a very athletic frame. I wouldn’t have type 2. Type 1 beats you down and you cant’ tell me otherwise. Don’t try either.
That’s true Steve! Everything you just said! I’ve always wanted to trade with the Type 2’s for years!!! My dad really got me a few years back when he was diagnosed with Type 2 at the hearty age of 59 (he’s 69 now) He told me that Type 2 was worse than Tpe 1 and I HAD to argue him back that he got Type 2 after he was able to work and live his life and only had to start watching what he ate at that age, but after my mom died and he got with this new woman he decided that he didn’t have Type2 and started eating what he wanted when he wanted!! He was only managing it by diet and as far as I know still is in total denial!
Check out www.pparx.org. When I was unemployed and had no insurance I was able to get a year of my Lantus (I was still on MDIs) for free. They have all kinds of assistance that you can apply for. The worst they would do is say no.
Yes I know about that no insurance thing. I had insurance but my Husband died and now im up a creek. I agree with you about the preg. women being able to get medicaid and we cant. I was told I could if i have a child under 18 living in my home. At 43 Im not going to have a Child just to treat my diabetes
Hi Steve,
Sorry to hear of your dilemma, but know EXACTLY where you are at! I’ve not had insurance since LONG before I was Dx’ed. ReliOn is the way to go!! If you’ve previously been on Lantus and Humalog (or whatever, that’s just what I’ve known most people to be on) , you’ll have to learn how to re-adjust your dosages, but, it’s workable!
As for the T1 and T2 thing, I’ve got an issue about that. There ARE some of us that have been Dx’ed T2, and no amount of “diet” and pills worked in keeping our BG’s down! I know, I’m one of them! I MAY be a T1.5, but yanno, I don’t have insurance, and I can’t afford the testing to determine that!
Not that my treatment would change at this point, it would only be for “knowings” sake. But, as it is, my “regular” tests every 3 or 4 months or so, cost me about $350 alone, not including any “extra” tests! As it is, I can’t go to see my Endo unless my previous tests have been paid off! (the lab won’t do the “new” set of tests, if my previous ones aren’t paid off yet!) Sometimes that takes me longer than the usual 3 or 4 months between Doc visits. If only money grew on trees, I’d be a VERY rich woman!! giggles (I gots lots of trees in my yard!)
There always seems to be this issue between T1’s and T2’s and it comes across as T1’s being “superior” in some stupid way, to T2’s. We each have our own issues. Not to mention the different “levels”, for lack of a better term (pre-D, T2, T1.5, LADA, MODY, etc) . Again, as I stated above, NO amount of “dieting” was going to help me, short of eating NO carbs. Which, I was well on my way to! I don’t think consuming 30 to 50 carbs a DAY is healthy, at all! Sometimes even less than that! IF that would of even helped! So I was put on insulin, and it was a tremendous benefit, for me! I went from spiraling way out of control, straight to in control in a matter of a week! But, because my diagnosis is “Type 2”, I’m looked “down” upon by the Type 1 community. That’s just not fair!
I remember MANY times, with my BG sitting at close to or above 300 (this is after Dx and yes, I KNOW that T1’s deal with MUCH higher BG’s than that, on a regular basis, for random unknown reasons), just having to sit and wait it out. Then, once I was started on insulin, I realized that there were many times I could have fixed that situation immediately, and not risked my health for an extended period of time (retinopathy, neuropathy, etc), if only I had insulin to take!
Now, I DO realize that there are T1’s who have issues, no matter what they do! The BG rises for no apparent reason, and it seems that nothing you do brings it down! The body just seems to go absolutely CRAZY for some unknown reason.
But, to take the stance that “I’m T1, and I have it SO much harder than you do” (referring to T2’s), just isn’t right, at all! As a T2, especially ones who CAN control it with diet alone, do you realize what we/they give up?? A LOT!!! A whole hell of a lot!! Those of us taking insulin (Diabetics of ANY kind), have a MAJOR advantage over those Diabetics who do not!! I’ve been on BOTH sides of the fence! Having insulin was a GOD send to me! We (those of us who take insulin), can pretty much eat what we want, as long as we dose our fast acting correctly!
Even though I now take insulin, I STILL watch my carbs (I don’t like taking LOTS of shots, nor taking LOTS of insulin). I guess it’s (restricted carbs) instilled into me now? Oh yea, I “splurge” on occasion, but at least now I know I can take some insulin to counteract it! Either before, or after! Before insulin, I had NO recourse! I just had to sit and wait it out. And, that was with OUT the splurging part!! And, that was severely limiting those carbs!!
So, please think before you belittle us T2’s! No, we may not die in a matter of weeks, like a T1 would, but, we WILL die eventually! It would just be a slower, more torturous death.
Now, go to Walmart, and be healthy! wink Remember the ReliOn brand!!! It is SUCH a help, for those of us who are uninsured!!!
The insurance situation in this country (USA) is a disgrace. Our “leaders” still refuse to address this dilemna. Meanwhile, Presidents of HMO’s “earn” 30 million dollars a year. I am a fan of capitalism but this is sickening. I am fortunate enough to have insurance but pay 500.00 a month for my personal coverage. And yes, it is a stretch some months to make that payment. I do not have the answers but something has to be done. When you vote in November think of the question “who is going to address this issue with intent to provide a solution”. The richest country in the world can do better for its own citizens.
Melissa,
I’ve NEVER thought that I was “superior” to a Type 2 diabetic. If you thought about what I said here is I would love to chance with a Type 2 who has not had all the complications I’ve had! Life get really hard sometimes! I have went into the hospital more than once thinking I would not live to see the next minunte little long the next day!!Even with the insulin I’ve had to “sit and wait some of this crap out” I really just want one day of being “normal” I mean you and other Type 2’s have had that. Me and alot of other Type 1’s around here can’t remember our last day of being “normal” I got this at 10 and am 45 now I don’t remember those years before. The one thing I do remember is my mom’s Mississippi Mud Cakes and after I took Type 1 that and alot of other foods my mom cooked were gone forever! The one thing that stands out in my mind were the little white scales that she would use to weigh out my food (at that time back in the 70’s there were no bs machines no thought about carbs, etc) You got your food by the weight ! I loved brown beans and could only get one serving b/c that was what was allowed in my diet! You counted calories then not carbs!!! Sorry if I made you mad but the really and truley last 2 weeks have had more than a big strain on me and I guess I went off without thinking here! My dad is dying in the hospital right now and my husband went in last night for an accidental overdose!! Life!!! BAD RIGHT NOW!!!
i stand corrected, either type can be very difficult to manage. sorry to anybody i offended
Melissa…i’m sorry if I upset you, I’m guilty of making a blanket assumption. I can admit when I’m wrong. I get frustrated and carried away, I try to think about what I’m going to say before i say it and avoid being that way, but I guess I slipped.
I in no way feel a strange superiority in seriousnesss of the syndrome… how’s that for alliteration…the superior ones have no health problems and get to abuse their bodies with no ill effects.
Everybody is different, I’m just so stuck in my condition and it’s peculiarities that I get overwhelmed with frustration and worry.
…no voting rights, i was a bad boy. Besides, i’ll mess myself the day this country has universal coverage program. We can’t even get welfare reform. I’m worried I won’t get accepted on the county health care program. Give me one good reason a type one diabetic who can’t get insured other than some big group plan at a job shouldn’t have assistance.
I’m sorry Doris, I guess my message came across wrongly, as well! I wasn’t singling you out, or Steve either. Nobody in particular, at all! It’s just some thing that I’ve run across often, from T1’s. I completely understand where you are coming from! Especially, those T1’s who have had Diabetes since long before the 90’s and carb counting!
I went to elementary school with a girl named Lisa, who was a T1, I guess she had it since she was a baby? I remember this one day in particular, when we were in 5th or 6th grade (age 10 or 11 - I’m 44 now!). We had been in classes together on and off from Kindergarten! So, we were waiting on the bench for our turn on the bars, or rings, or some play ground apparatus, and some other child was talking about either an Uno Bar or a 3 Musketeers (shiny silver wrapper comes to my mind! LOL), and Lisa asked this other child if that was a candy bar? This other child proceeded to make fun of her, because she didn’t know what a candy bar was! It upset Lisa, and it made me really mad, that they had made fun of her! She explained that had NEVER had any candy, or any sweets, in her life, because she was Diabetic -which is what makes me think she’d had it since she was VERY young. Of course, way back then, I didn’t know what Diabetes was. All I knew was that she took “shots”. I have always remembered that day, and had always thought how awful it was that she had never experienced sweets before! It made me sad! I’ve long since lost contact with her (I had moved away when I was 15), but have thought of her often, and since I’ve been Dx’ed, and know what I now know about Diabetes, wonder if she’s finally gotten to have herself some sweets!
And good Lord, yes I do know all about the measuring of food! WHAT A DRAG IT WAS!!! Even though it was carbs, and not calories. It’s still measuring food! UGH! Thankfully now, I can pretty much “guesstimate” how many carbs are in any given portion! I’m not always right, but am pretty close, most of the time! :0)
I went MANY years undiagnosed/untreated! A good 14 of them! I am VERY lucky that I did not have any complications. At least nothing serious. When I was Dx’ed they said that I was in the beginning stages of DKA. I didn’t even know what that was! Later, once I started researching Diabetes, is when I learned of what COULD have been for me! I thank the Lord every day for the health that I do have! :0)
Anyway, I just wanted to point out, that no one kind is better or worse, they each have their own issues as well as some common issues. And, I could see where the conversation could get way out of hand, at how easy we T2’s have it (I’ve seen it on other Diabetes forums). I guess I just wanted “our” voice (T2’s) heard. That is all! I’m not mad at all!! I’m a VERY easy going person, and don’t get offended too easily. Every once in a while though, something pushes a button in me, and I’ll speak up! wink
I’m SO sorry to hear about your father and your husband!! I will keep y’all in my thoughts and prayers!! Nobody needs all that stress!!! hugz
Steve, read my reply to Doris.
I’m not mad or upset, at all. Was just making a statement on the other side of things. :0)
I do completely understand the frustrations. Even if mine may be different. I do understand it! ;0)
I completely agree!! Though universal care, in general, doesn’t work! It’s an EXCELLENT plan! It’s just never implemented correctly! But, something does need to be done!! What? I don’t know! I wish I had the answer!
Melissa,
THeir both back now and we’re just waiting around here! You talking about that girl brought a memory or 2 to me. Way back I think I was in 5th grade I had to keep a candybar in my purse at school for those lovely lows (called weak spells then) anyway I was having one one day and went to in purse for my Babyruth! (yes loved them) it was gone so I got to go to the lunchroom at school and got a “realcoke” for it. Anyway When school got out my great uncle was there to pick me up (according to my family that only excisted of my mom, dad, grandpartnes and great uncle and great aunt I was too sick to ride a bus home…I HAD to eat before 3:30 and the bus would drop me off at like 3:45) anyway I got in the car and told him what had happened…The next day my great aunt fixed a candybar for who ever got mine…she made some bread and covered it in unsweetened chocalate, put it in a Babyruth wrapper and told me not to touch it! I still don’t know who it was that stole it too but I never had that problem again! HA! Another time right after I took Type 1 my dad was upset that he had to pay the full price for my lunch since I only got like 2 things (please remember a really small school that had 350 ppl in grades 1-12 at that time) proceeded to go to my school and you could hear him on the elementry side of the school ( yes big building that seperated elementry from highschool by an enormas autitorium) yelling and cussing out the principle! Funny now but I felt like someone had slapped me in the face then! HA!! Thanks for the hugs and caring. Life I said life is just bad right now!