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The cost of diabetes

diabetes.org

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Re: The cost of diabetes

#21

Post by RHSeeger »

davidthewatson wrote: post #13
RHSeeger wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and modern delivery systems. While I'd agree with most of what you say, I disagree with this. Using a syringe and manually taking insulin is perfectly workable. Personally, I have chosen to go with manual insulin injections over a pump. That being said, the invention of the CGM (continuous glucose monitor) is, in my opinion, the single best thing to happen for diabetics since the advent of synthetic insulin. Being…

I can understand your perspective since I've lived with Type 1 diabetes for most of my life. However, CGM is a technology which may have serious, life-threatening side effects when its data is inaccurate and used in concert with a hybrid closed loop insulin pump. In patients like me, the frequency of bad data is daily. "Being able to know what your blood sugar is with no effort at all, and being alerted when it's hig…

While I agree that CGMs may not be perfect, and they are worse for some people than for others, I still stand firm on the opinion that they are life changing.

- My understanding of how my blood reacts to various foods has increase by orders of magnitude

- My level of comfort with my blood sugar getting too low, especially when I'm sleeping, has vastly increase

- The number of times I've gone into a low blood sugar reaction and had to have an ambulance called has dropped from once a year (sometimes more) to never.

Sure, it's wrong sometimes. I don't use a pump. I do manually test my blood sugar (finger prick) wheneven it feels "off" compared to what the CGM says. But overall, my life is so much better with the CGM than before it that I just can't say enough good things.

Re: The cost of diabetes

#22

Post by RappingBoomer »

most type 2 diabetics can eliminate high blood sugar by simply eating less than 50 grams per day of carbs and exercising every day....do that and blood sugar returns to safe levels...but the establishment taught for decades that grains & carbs are the base of the food pyramid...and if we have learned anything over the last decade, it is that once the establishment settles on a particular narrative, it will defend that narrative with any and all necessary means...thus, the low carb cure for type 2 diabetes has been attacked by establishment forces and their many minions

Re: The cost of diabetes

#23

Post by lucas_membrane »

heisenzombie wrote: post #18
lucas_membrane wrote: post #3

This updated cost estimate for U.S. diabetics is for 2017, not now. Insulin prices in the U.S. are up substantially since 2017. Another expensive change since then is the increasing availability of the (so-called) continuous glucose monitors, now costing around $100/week for each diabetic using one. My opinion (I use one) is that mine is well worth it, but that the monitors are unlikely to reduce the total medical co…

Are CGMs recommended or funded for people with type 2 diabetes in the US?

Mine is paid for by Medicare, but Medicare will only pay for a CGM for type 1 diabetics who actively manage their diabetes based on the CGM data as directed by a physician. For people not covered by Medicare (almost everyone under age 65), I don't know, but I suppose it depends on their insurance company and/or employer, etc, etc, like just about everything. I talk with someone who provides services to diabetics in a low cost clinic funded as a charity for persons with very low income, and they never mention any possibility of getting CGMs for their patients.

Based on my experience with a couple of different CGMs, I guess that the target market of the CGM makers includes many more type 2 diabetics than type 1, both because there are many more type 2 diabetics than type 1, and because the larger number would would yield much more profit; and I also expect that the CGM would generally work better for a type 2 diabetic than my CGMs have worked for me, because my problems with the devices have been caused by fluctuations in blood glucose levels resulting from the sometimes large doses of fast-acting insulin that I take.

What is your take on this situation?

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