The cost of diabetes
diabetes.org
The cost of diabetes
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Re: The cost of diabetes
#2Almost $1 billion per day in the United States.
Re: The cost of diabetes
#3This 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 cost of diabetes care for many because of all the difficulties of responding to the monitor's data with beneficial changes, which might range from immediate doses of food or medication to long-term changes in diet, exercise, lifestyle, etc.
Re: The cost of diabetes
#4It is a horrible disease - my sister was born with Type 1, and was lucky enough to be offered a pancreas transplantation some 10 years ago. Unfortunately her body rejected it after a year or two, and she was on immune depressants ever since, while waiting for a new one.
She works in fitness, and lives a very active and healthy lifestyle - but still the diabetes was progressing, slowly but surely. Those new automatic pumps turned out to be a lifesaver, and she opted to get off the immune depressants due to likelihood of other nasty stuff that those bring (cancers, infections, decreased fertility, etc.). Hopefully these pumps will work so precisely, that the damage from inconsistent insulin levels will be a thing of the past.
But she obviously still needs insulin. Luckily we live in a country where that is more or less free, and always in stock. I honestly can't remember the last time she suffered from bouts of low blood sugar - which was unfortunately a very regular thing back when we were teens.
Unfortunately that was not the case for my old HS gym teacher. He, too, led a very active and healthy lifestyle, but the disease progressed in a very insidious way for him. He developed a foot sore that wouldn't heal, and after some time they decided to amputate said foot from ankle.
Then he had a heart-attack some months later, and was bound to the wheelchair. Which was followed by two more amputations, the other leg and one arm. He lived like that for some years before ending up blind, and doing longer stays at the hospital. Finally a massive stroke got him, and that was it.
I think he spent some like 5 years from amputating the first leg, to passing away. And as you can guess, that included tons of hospital visits / stays, medication, physical therapy, becoming dependent on your friends and family, and what not.
It is truly insidious, because it can completely wreck your body in so many ways, and pretty slowly too. I can't imagine having diabetes w/complications, and living underinsured (or without insurance) in a country without universal healthcare. It seems like to have a fighting chance, you need consistent insulin supply, and modern delivery systems.
I shudder when I hear about poor people in the US rationing insulin, and still being dependent on those antiquated measurement/delivery devices. Seems like you're just entering a negative feedback loop, which will eventually catch up with you.
Re: The cost of diabetes
#5u can cure type 2 if u have it quite easy. i recomend books by jason fung, diabetes code and obesity code.
Re: The cost of diabetes
#6You can reverse type 2 diabetes. Doctors in Australia, the UK and the US have done that for decades by recommending low carb diets.
Re: The cost of diabetes
#7It is a horrible disease - my sister was born with Type 1, and was lucky enough to be offered a pancreas transplantation some 10 years ago. Unfortunately her body rejected it after a year or two, and she was on immune depressants ever since, while waiting for a new one. She works in fitness, and lives a very active and healthy lifestyle - but still the diabetes was progressing, slowly but surely. Those new automatic…
> 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 able to know what your blood sugar is with no effort at all, and being alerted when it's high or low... is just life changing.
Re: The cost of diabetes
#8u can cure type 2 if u have it quite easy. i recomend books by jason fung, diabetes code and obesity code.
You can mitigate the effects of Type 2 diabetes. That's not the same thing as curing it. The effects will almost certainly re-occur if you stop the behavior you are using to mitigate it (which is generally low carbs, low calories, exercise, etc).
Re: The cost of diabetes
#9My wife has type 1 the Eli Lilly executives are some of the most evil people to ever live. They keep a monopoly on the insulin market, use patents and regulatory capture of the FDA to prevent competition and hurt millions of people.
Re: The cost of diabetes
#10My wife has type 1 the Eli Lilly executives are some of the most evil people to ever live. They keep a monopoly on the insulin market, use patents and regulatory capture of the FDA to prevent competition and hurt millions of people.
Eli Lilly doesn't have a monopoly on the insulin market, there are a few big makers like Novo Nordisk and Sanofi.
Generic Novolog is $57/vial at Walgreens according to GoodRx.