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Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

blog.lauramichet.com

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Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#41

Post by testaccount28 »

bonyt wrote: post #32
antasvara wrote: post #28

Reading this, my takeaway was less about the pump and more about how every part of the medical system is disconnected from every other part. There were some mistakes made but they were all pretty reasonable decisions. But the situation that caused this in order: 1. The support line for the pump won't suggest sending it to where you are because you say you have a backup plan. 2. The support line also isn't a doctor; t…

> Each issue is reasonable by itself... The problem of many hands - when responsibilities in a group that collectively does harm are divided between many people, who can be held accountable when each person individually acted reasonably? I think organizations are, more and more, siloing roles in this way intentionally (or at least emergently), such that blame can only ever be collective if they do harm. Since it's so…

the correct answer here is that they are all accountable. there is not some fixed quantity of blame to divvy up: each malfunctioning leg is responsible for the outcome.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#44

Post by asyx »

bluesounddirect wrote: post #12

My wife is a t1d and has the same pump. It sucks their support staff has no idea how the thing works or what its failure modes are. My wife once had her x2 tell her it gave here a 40 unit bolis out of the blue . This would have killed her. While in the er support from x2 said something like "there is no way for it to do this .. you must be wrong.. are you reading the display correctly .." All in all the x2 plus dexco…

That’s kinda why I don’t want a pump. I’d rather deal with it myself than have some garbage corporation cut every corner and save every cent they can on a device that is keeping me alive.

I’d rather have a glucose pump to be honest. I don’t need long lasting insulin so I don’t really need to care about dying in my sleep but lows scare me more than highs.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#45

Post by thomascountz »

petesergeant wrote: post #34

> I know that going to an emergency room would have cost me an insane amount of money I just don’t understand how Americans put up with this shit. I live in a country that only has private healthcare, and the idea that you can be insured and also that an emergency room visit can be expensive rather than specifically what the insurance is meant to cover is nuts.

If vulnerable individuals don't "...put up with this shit," they get sick and die. To understand this, you have to understand that there isn't usually an alternative.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#46

Post by elric »

indrora wrote: post #26
1123581321 wrote: post #4

I’m diabetic and found this strange for a few reasons. There’s a postscript in the blog post wishing death from diabetes on any diabetic who tries to point any of it out—so I’ll leave it at that.

The author isn't talking about you. The author is talking about the people who will inevitably email with explanations about how she's doing something wrong or things are not as bad as they seem or any number of other options. I have asthma in a particular form, and when people hear that I get triggered by extensive exercise and hill climbs and that I have to take things slow (it's gotten progressively worse in the l…

Sounds familiar. I was often told "just use your inhaler, you'll be fine!". How I wish it were that simple.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#47

Post by toast0 »

petesergeant wrote: post #34

> I know that going to an emergency room would have cost me an insane amount of money I just don’t understand how Americans put up with this shit. I live in a country that only has private healthcare, and the idea that you can be insured and also that an emergency room visit can be expensive rather than specifically what the insurance is meant to cover is nuts.

> also that an emergency room visit can be expensive rather than specifically what the insurance is meant to cover is nuts.

This part is basically a matter of degree. If I have full coverage on my car and total it in a single car accident, insurance will replace it, but I have to cover the deductable ($500-$2000 usually).

If I go to the emergency room, health insurance will cover it, but there's a deductable of like $50-$500 depending on the plan. That's a lot of money if you could have dealt with your issue at urgent care (usually half the deductable) or later at a GP. It's not a lot of money compared to what the ER bills your insurance for most things. Having doctors, nurses, pharmacy, and support staff onsite 24/7 with backups on call in order to handle 'anything', proof of ability to pay not required, is exensive and the costs get placed on the users that can pay.

That's not to say it's not shit. My favorite is when you go to urgent care, but they can't do whatever it is you need done, so they send you to the ER, and you get to pay the deductable for urgent care, then the deductable for the ER, then get the mailer for your insurance 'did you know, you can go to urgent care instead of the ER?' ... My next favorite is when you show up to urgent care at 10 am and they tell you they're all booked for the day.

But, I don't know what we're supposed to do if we don't like it. Refusing to participate doesn't make the system better. Half of the country votes for a party that's unwilling to make things better; the other half votes for a party that's might try once a generation. The only hope we have is to qualify for Medicare and make it to Medicare age, and live somewhere where there's enough Medicare accepting doctors to take care of things at that age.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#48

Post by asyx »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #18
kbcohhcoh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I will probably also be meaner to everyone who gets me on the phone in the future during an emergency. I was trying specifically to not do that, but I suppose it's helpful to be mean when your medical equipment is failing." advocating for yourself is not being mean

No, but it feels that way if you're an agreeable people-pleaser. (This is, of course, a bad habit, but it's a common one, and it's not one that merely acknowledging will divest you of.)

Lots of mean things she writes in her blog post for a people pleaser though.

Like, I get it, but the blog should then be about how being a people pleaser almost killed her and not how bad support was at reading her mind.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#49

Post by MengerSponge »

tronicdude wrote: post #39

I’m also a type 1 and I force myself to use pens every few months so I don’t get jumped like this. We need implantable insulin pumps again so bad. Also fuck tandem, I’ve moved to Omnipod (which has its own issues, but better than tandem).

Pro tip: get a Rx for your pens sent to a national pharmacy that your insurance supports, but don't fill it. That way, if you have this issue while traveling, you can just walk into a pharmacy and walk out in half an hour with what you need

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#50

Post by senordevnyc »

indrora wrote: post #26
1123581321 wrote: post #4

I’m diabetic and found this strange for a few reasons. There’s a postscript in the blog post wishing death from diabetes on any diabetic who tries to point any of it out—so I’ll leave it at that.

The author isn't talking about you. The author is talking about the people who will inevitably email with explanations about how she's doing something wrong or things are not as bad as they seem or any number of other options. I have asthma in a particular form, and when people hear that I get triggered by extensive exercise and hill climbs and that I have to take things slow (it's gotten progressively worse in the l…

Sounds like the author is talking exactly about them, a diabetic who could offer some useful feedback.

And sure, I guess you can wish painful death on anyone who shares your form of asthma and has suggestions, but it definitely says a lot more about you than them.

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