Type 1 - Present and accounted for!

Type 1 and LADA
1

I'm usually pretty matter of fact about being Type 1. Some days there's even a sense of pride in it. (Doing well at managing and living life with it, feeling connected to the "in group"..lol). Then some days...

I've spent the last two days popping up to 400 and struggling my way back down. How fast that can happen if insulin delivery is cut or even just erratic really drives it all home.

I've had a month long fight with Medicare and the powers that be getting my insurance switched over and getting my supplies at the proper cost (as in none!). I've come damn close to running out of strips and insulin. Got the strips today and hopefully the insulin tomorrow. It's scary not to have sufficient supplies and for the path to getting them be littered with obstacles.

I had to get a c-peptide done for Medicare - the first I've done since I started insulin in 2009. The result was .1 - not a surprise but it kind of brings it all home. My pancreas has left the building.

2

I don't know if I've ever had one of those. I'm glad you passed the test, if only for the sake of getting what you need, or more of it than if there was some sort of anomaly therein...

3

Thanks, AR. I wasn't worried about it but that would have been a cruel twist if Medicare said I was making too much insulin to keep my pump!

4

Glad you "passed" the test! I've never had one, but would find it interesting, even though I'm positive my result would be 0.

5

I'm so sorry you're going through all this Zoe :( I hate that they can even do all of this. It would be cheaper for them to give you a supply of insulin than to do the c peptide probably at least at the full price rate. How can they force someone who has been type 1 for a number of years to do that? I don't even see how that is legal. I'm scared of eventually having to go through the same things too. I hope you get everything you need asap. I worry about that too, lack of insulin for one reason or another.

6

Glad you passed their test, Zoe and have proven worthy of insulin. Well, I'm not really "glad" for you, because this shouldn't have to happen to anyone at all, but you know what I mean--glad the hasssles will be behind you, and you do have a great attitude about everything!

7

Thanks, Denise. You can say I have a great attitude because you didn't see me marching back and forth from CVS to doctor's office, saying, "here is what I need and I need it NOW." I try not to be like that but it actually feels good to do once in a great while..lol

I agree, meee, but as for how it is legal - Medicare is the government, they make the laws, we just have to follow them, rational or not. It makes me long for Guatemala where I could just walk in the pharmacy and ask for what I want. On the other hand I just got 900 test strips at no charge and will get 4 insulin vials also at no cost tomorrow. I think it's a rite of passage and I'm hoping once you go through it you're good to go, and I do have very excellent insurance so I guess it's worth the hassle. Ok, now I have a great attitude Denise...takes some work sometimes.

So how heavy does your T1 weigh on all of your shoulders?

8

You're right Zoe, it is worth it if you got all that for free too! I think you have need to have that attitude to get what you need, good for you! A feisty attitude is often much more helpful than a great attitude, lol.

Type 1 weighs heavy on me, more each time I have a dangerous low or go high and see how stress and everything affects me. All the things we need to deal with on a daily basis is overwhelming… in addition to all the other things like infections etc.