Drug Habit

No cute kitty pictures or farm pictures today—just an update about my health, which hasn't been good lately:

Lately my drug habit has increased. Now I'm shooting up every night. With this:

The prandin I'd been taking to help with diabetes control wasn't doing its job. My blood sugar levels were too high—rarely below 150 and often over 200. So I started on 10 units of a long-acting insulin at night. Above, encased in a lavender book-like thingie, is the pre-loaded insulin pen I use. The green things in the circle are disposable needles that attach to the pen.

After my insulin pens came (surrounded by ice packs and packed in a large box), I made an appointment with Tonya, the diabetes nurse at my doctor's office. She gave me a lot of diabetes-related stuff, including a supply of needles (which, oddly, don't come with the pens) and the lavender book-like thingie that holds pens and needles. My glucometer was several years old, so she gave me two new ones to see which I liked better.

Using a model of some human flesh, she showed me how to inject. Then I practiced on the disembodied plastic flesh. Two decades ago, I'd had to inject insulin into my diabetic labradoodle—a process that started with filling a needle from a bottle of insulin—and this seemed a lot easier. I was pretty sure I could inject myself with no problem.

I was right. But even after a few days, I still have to follow directions in the manual to make sure I'm doing it right. 

I'm relieved that the injections don't hurt at all and the needles are really tiny. The best thing is that my blood glucose levels have dropped about 40 or 50 points—not as much as I would like, but enough to make me feel more energetic and less fatigued.

A diabetes drug habit is expensive. Test strips are about 50¢ each, and I test three or four times a day. My co-pay for a three-month supply of prandin is over $60, with Medicare and my supplemental insurance picking up the rest. I have no idea how much the pens and needles cost.

But I'm glad to be feeling better. Now, if I can just get the muscle pain problem resolved so that I can walk better. . . . Consequently, I have an appointment with a rheumatologist next week.

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