Hello, Trulicity; So long, Victoza!
So, yesterday I took my first dose of Trulicity. It’s a once a week medication, taken via injection, to help with the insulin resistance with which I struggle. This change comes due to my insurance company stopping coverage for the Victoza that I’ve used successfully for a number of years. I’ve been putting this change off for a while. Mostly because I’m stubborn and angry about having to give up a medication that works for me because some clueless jerk at the insurance company wants to play god with my health. And also because I had a stockpile of Victoza that I acquired from friends who no longer use it, samples from my doctor, and out of pocket purchases that…
The Costs of a Chronic Illness
It’s day two of Diabetes Blog Week, and today we talk about the costs of living with a chronic illness. Today’s prompt: The Cost of a Chronic Illness Insulin and other diabetes medications and supplies can be costly. Here in the US, insurance status and age (as in Medicare eligibility) can impact both the cost and coverage. So today, let’s discuss how cost impacts our diabetes care. Do you have advice to share? For those outside the US, is cost a concern? Are there other factors such as accessibility or education that cause barriers to your diabetes care? Today’s prompt is timely, as the costs of living with diabetes have been a hot button issue as of late. The costs of…
Changing my diabetes label
“No one today is purely one thing.” ~ Edward W. Said So, back in February, I shared that I was feeling caught Between Two Fields. I shared about the discovery that I had been misdiagnosed with type 2 diabetes when what I was actually dealing with was more than likely LADA, or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults. I also mentioned that my new endocrinologist wanted to do a few tests to get fresh data to confirm what we were suspecting. Well, that’s happened. And I got the results and new label during my office visit on April 21st. The new C-Peptide test and GAD65 autoantibody tests confirmed that there are both insulin resistance and autoimmune components to my diabetes. My pancreas…
More than a little discomfort
My appointment at the urologist’s office this morning was interesting to say the least. Down right painful and unsettling if I’m being honest. I’m not going to share any great details, but I’ll say that prostate exams and catheters are not pleasant experiences at all. The problem, it appears, is my bladder is not emptying completely. The organ itself is functioning but not optimally. The NP doesn’t seem to think the problem is severe and wants me to try a medication for a couple of months to see if that will resolve the issue. I’m hopeful that it will. I’ll follow up with the office in a few months. As if the experience of that appointment wasn’t painful enough to…
Sorry Doc, Quitting isn’t an Option!
Have you ever sat in a meeting hall and listened to a presentation and suddenly realized that the hypothetical person the speaker was talking about could very easily be YOU? Most of us have that sort of experience at some point or another. I had one of them during a session at AADE12 in Indianapolis a few weeks ago. The session was titled “The Other 8 Hours: How Sleep Affects Achieving Glycemic Goals.” As someone who doesn’t get a whole lot of sleep for various reasons, I was interested in hearing what the speaker had to say about the impact that a lack of sleep has on things. I mean, I know from experience what the impact can be, but…