Diabetes & Chronic Issues Support Group

[DimesDan]

But I'm not so sure I'd like National Health Care either - as if you don't put in enough money to fund it, bad things happen.

Yes, that may be so, but it's functioning and I have never had to worry (either here (which has a half way house of Welfare State and Insurance) nor in the UK) about actually getting medication which if I didn't, I would die a long slow death.

And to be frank, the NHS (and the Welfare State) was created just after the Second World War when Britain was arguably at it's poorest point in modern history (and Doctors hated the idea of it) but this year, it's 70 years old and it has survived underfunding in the past and it will survive this period too.

The question is, why is the most affluent country in the world so uncaring and not able to implement a similar system.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I agree. From an European pov the American system (or lack thereof, compared to what we have over here) is hard to imagine and utterly scary.
Over here in Bavaria, I ring up my doc at 15:55, shortly before I leave work, collect the prescription on my way home at 16:05, go on to the pharmacy and get my meds at 16:15. If coincidentially they don't have them in store, the pharmacy orders them and delivers them to my place free of charge within a maximum of 4 hours. I pay 5 Euros per prescrition and the rest is fully covered by my insurance (which costs 8.4% of my brutto income).

If in the US it's forseeable (e.g. based on previous experiences) that there might be a delay in getting a new supply of prescribed medicine, wouldn't it be possible to start the whole process sooner?? I mean, not asking for more when you're on the verge of running out of meds but, say, a fortnight before that?

 

[Nakita Akita]

I agree. From an European pov the American system (or lack thereof, compared to what we have over here) is hard to imagine and utterly scary.
Over here in Bavaria, I ring up my doc at 15:55, shortly before I leave work, collect the prescription on my way home at 16:05, go on to the pharmacy and get my meds at 16:15. If coincidentially they don't have them in store, the pharmacy orders them and delivers them to my place free of charge within a maximum of 4 hours. I pay 5 Euros per prescrition and the rest is fully covered by my insurance (which costs 8.4% of my brutto income).

If in the US it's forseeable (e.g. based on previous experiences) that there might be a delay in getting a new supply of prescribed medicine, wouldn't it be possible to start the whole process sooner?? I mean, not asking for more when you're on the verge of running out of meds but, say, a fortnight before that?

I don't take any prescriptions currently but my dog has asthma. A couple of years ago it was impossible to get her prescription filled.
It's like the USA was out of the medication.
Seriously I called a pharmacy and spoke to the pharmacist and he said he had a human patient and couldn't even fill her prescription. (Dogs don't rate as high as people )
But the medication is available now and my pharmacy does a system of automatic refill.
So if the Rx says for example 1 pill a day and you get 30 pills, about a week or so before you are scheduled to run out, the pharmacy refills it and calls or texts you that it's ready to be picked up.

As far as insurance paying for prescriptions, it seems to vary with the medication.
Some of them it's just a couple of dollars others can be a lot. (I don't mean the dog medication, I have to pay for that myself)

 

[Velocity]

Well, I was able to get the Farxiga this afternoon. The doctor's office finally did their part and the insurance company relented (for this year). I'm pretty sure this will happen again next year because my husband had the same thing happen yearly with Celebrex for his arthritis pain. The insurance company finally told him he had to use something cheaper. No Celebrex for YOU!

 

[Amaris]

Well, I was able to get the Farxiga this afternoon. The doctor's office finally did their part and the insurance company relented (for this year). I'm pretty sure this will happen again next year because my husband had the same thing happen yearly with Celebrex for his arthritis pain. The insurance company finally told him he had to use something cheaper. No Celebrex for YOU!

*hugs* I'm glad you got your Farxiga. I hate that we live in a world where profiting off of the pain and medical need of others is not only acceptable, but encouraged.

 

[T'Bonz]

After fighting for 2 weeks to get an appointment (50 zillion phone calls), I was denied an appointment with a new rheumatology practice. Why? According to my pulmonologist, who gave me the news, they're all affiliated with hospitals now and the hospitals don't want them to take fibro patients.

I assume it's because we don't generate much income for them. You either suffer with fibro or take inexpensive meds so it's not good for the for profit hospitals. May those making those decisions die in a fire.

Lucky for me my primary's husband, also in the same practice and my husband's doctor to boot, did a specialty in rheumatology and I had seen him this morning, before the other guy called. The other guys says rheumatologist appointments now take MONTHS due to them being affiliated with the big hospitals.

Yeah, let's bring on national insurance. More interference by bean counters with no medical expertise.

Didn't have this problem in FL, but I've been away for 5 years and it's always possible they're doing that there now too.

I guess we should just die, in an expensive, hospital bedridden manner. [/grump]

 

[DimesDan]

I hate that I live in a Country where profiting off of the pain and medical need of others is not only acceptable, but encouraged.

Are you still using hypodermic syringes for your injections?

I only ask, as, being diabetic for 19 years with thousands (if not tens of thousands) of injections, I have injected myself twice using that medieval for of injections and that was my first and second injections. Every other injection I have had until two and bit years ago was through my injector pen(s) and then, two and a bit years ago, I was put on an infusion pump, a rather expensive (give or take $5000) piece of tech which has enabled me to get a far better grip on my control and not spending a single penny on the device, nor all the gubbings that come with it all because of the brilliance of the NHS - Admittedly, there was a waiting list (of six months or so) and I had to have gone on a DAFNE course, but that, to me is only fair.

I also have, in those two and bit years used two GGMS Monitors the (admittedly self-funding) Libre Freestyle (which is now available on the NHS) which I used to monitor my glucose levels and then, over the summer, the HSE allowed me to be prescribed a Dexicom 5 CGMS (which connects directly to my infusion pump) to better allow me to attain better control and because my Hypo awareness (my only real side effect) was next to nothing.

So in nearly two-decades, living in two countries that have similar health care systems, tens of thousands of pounds worth of medical needs (two types of insulin cartridges, needles, pens, testers, test strips, the pump, insulin vials, insertion kits, reservoirs, the Dexicom 5 battery and sensors plus all the out patient appointments and two stays in hospital) I have never ever worried about my medical needs or if I can afford anything and at no point have I had medical insurance. (it's adviced we have it here)

Or, when my step-dad and dad both died of Cancer (bowl and a rare form of genital Cancer respectively) neither of them died knowing that they would owe hundreds of thousands of pounds in medical bills.

 

[Amaris]

Are you still using hypodermic syringes for your injections?

I only ask, as, being diabetic for 19 years with thousands (if not tens of thousands) of injections, I have injected myself twice using that medieval for of injections and that was my first and second injections. Every other injection I have had until two and bit years ago was through my injector pen(s) and then, two and a bit years ago, I was put on an infusion pump, a rather expensive (give or take $5000) piece of tech which has enabled me to get a far better grip on my control and not spending a single penny on the device, nor all the gubbings that come with it all because of the brilliance of the NHS - Admittedly, there was a waiting list (of six months or so) and I had to have gone on a DAFNE course, but that, to me is only fair.

I also have, in those two and bit years used two GGMS Monitors the (admittedly self-funding) Libre Freestyle (which is now available on the NHS) which I used to monitor my glucose levels and then, over the summer, the HSE allowed me to be prescribed a Dexicom 5 CGMS (which connects directly to my infusion pump) to better allow me to attain better control and because my Hypo awareness (my only real side effect) was next to nothing.

So in nearly two-decades, living in two countries that have similar health care systems, tens of thousands of pounds worth of medical needs (two types of insulin cartridges, needles, pens, testers, test strips, the pump, insulin vials, insertion kits, reservoirs, the Dexicom 5 battery and sensors plus all the out patient appointments and two stays in hospital) I have never ever worried about my medical needs or if I can afford anything and at no point have I had medical insurance. (it's adviced we have it here)

Or, when my step-dad and dad both died of Cancer (bowl and a rare form of genital Cancer respectively) neither of them died knowing that they would owe hundreds of thousands of pounds in medical bills.

I used hypodermic needles a few times before I started on the pens. I have two pens I use daily, four injections a day. It's more convenient than hypodermic injection, but you still have to use an ass load of pen needles every month. I have a blood glucose monitor, as well as the test strips, along with all the fun things like alcohol swabs, and so forth. Medicaid covers the pens, the pen needles, and the glucose monitor test strips. Everything else I pay for myself. Sometimes I have to pay for needles, because while I need 4 pen needles per day (four injections), Medicaid only seems willing to cover a box of 100 pen needles a month, which leaves me 20 short. They're not too expensive, but it can get annoying when you send in a refill request, and are told you have to a week to get your pen needles, and you've only got enough for two days. I've had to reuse pen needles a few times as a result.

It's also frustrating because Medicaid waits until the last possible second to approve my insulins, so I'll send in a refill request a week in advance, and the day before I run out, I can go pick them up. It can make one feel a bit frazzled because if there's any kind of delay, and that delay lasts longer than one or two days, it means I have no insulin. There are plenty of other people who have been in much worse situations. We have a sorry ass system in the U.S.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

This is slightly off topic as far as the ongoing discussion is concerned, but I need some advice with my insulin resistence and Metformin.
I am supposed atm to take 3 Metformin (500 mg each) per day and on the product leaflet it says one is supposed to take Metformin with a meal.
However, I am usually not hungry enough to have 3 meals a day and so I keep forgetting a meal plus a pill.
Does Metformin only work in immediate connection with a meal or would a pill's effect last a few hours till I get hungry and eat something? (In that case I could simply take my 3 at regular intervals, independently of when I eat, else I must alter my eating habits and have meals by the clock.)
Or would it be possible to split the daily dosis of 1500 mg into two portions of 750 mg each?

 

[DimesDan]

This is slightly off topic as far as the ongoing discussion is concerned, but I need some advice with my insulin resistence and Metformin.
I am supposed atm to take 3 Metformin (500 mg each) per day and on the product leaflet it says one is supposed to take Metformin with a meal.
However, I am usually not hungry enough to have 3 meals a day and so I keep forgetting a meal plus a pill.
Does Metformin only work in immediate connection with a meal or would a pill's effect last a few hours till I get hungry and eat something? (In that case I could simply take my 3 at regular intervals, independently of when I eat, else I must alter my eating habits and have meals by the clock.)
Or would it be possible to split the daily dosis of 1500 mg into two portions of 750 mg each?

Either talk to your Doctor or a Pharmacist.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Yes, sorry, I agree with @Dimesdan here. I don't think we should be getting into giving specific drug advice, such as splitting/changing your dosages, on the board, just in case there are any liability issues. Sorry.

 

[Velocity]

This is slightly off topic as far as the ongoing discussion is concerned, but I need some advice with my insulin resistence and Metformin.
I am supposed atm to take 3 Metformin (500 mg each) per day and on the product leaflet it says one is supposed to take Metformin with a meal.
However, I am usually not hungry enough to have 3 meals a day and so I keep forgetting a meal plus a pill.
Does Metformin only work in immediate connection with a meal or would a pill's effect last a few hours till I get hungry and eat something? (In that case I could simply take my 3 at regular intervals, independently of when I eat, else I must alter my eating habits and have meals by the clock.)
Or would it be possible to split the daily dosis of 1500 mg into two portions of 750 mg each?

I think taking Metformin with a meal is recommended to avoid stomach irritation when you first start taking it. I don't think a full meal is necessary, maybe just a glass of milk or something like a granola bar should suffice.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

{{{{{Dimesdan & Avro}}}}}, thanks for caring and sorry about the misunderstanding. I was so busy formulating my question in proper English that I completely overlooked I hadn't made it clear enough that I was asking for people's personal experience.
It went for me without saying that I'd always ask my doc before changing current treatment (is it ok to say "regime" in this context?); I just meant to ascertain whether it was possible at all to change either the dosage or take the pill without a meal, for if neither is permitted, I wouldn't have to waste my doc's time.

 

[T'Bonz]

I think the word for which you're looking is "regimen," not "regime."

 

[rhubarbodendron]

ah! Once again I fell prey to the dreaded "false friends"! Thank you, {{{{{Bonzie}}}}}!!

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

In the dark again
With my sunglasses on
Running away from the light again
Don't know how long I can carry on.
Without mercy, here comes the pain...

 

[Avro Arrow]

^ Sorry to hear that, @TauCygna

I don't know if this would help, but has your ophthalmomogist considered referring you to a specialist who just deals with issues of the cornea? Maybe a second opinion would be beneficial?

Best wishes to you. I hope there is some improvement soon.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

{{{{{TauCygna}}}}} I hope it'll heal really quick

 

[Twilight Phoenix]

Thank you guys...

 

[MadMan1701A]

Hey guys. I don't venture out of the Art or Discovery sections much, but I just read through this whole thread.

Which is interesting, because I just got out of the ICU from having pretty bad Diabetic Ketoacidosis. I've had type two since I was about 24, with mixed results with different type 2 meds. Been on metformin, glipizide, byetta, victoza, januvia, invokana, actos, etc. over the years.

After I had my last doctor appointment on Tuesday, my numbers still weren't great, A1c around 8.3. So, doc decided he wanted to change up the combo, and do Invokana and Actos. I started that on Wednesday. By Thursday night I had a lot of nausea, by Friday I was having trouble getting out of bed. My wife finally convinced me to go to the hospital on Sunday morning.

So, after every test they could think of, they decided that I needed to stop taking all the oral diabetes meds and they started me on Novolog and Levemir. So far, things are way better! I'm going to keep seeing the new docs from the hospital, and keep going on from there.

Just wanted to share, I've never had an experience quite like this one.

Thanks for listening.