Letters to the Editor
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Also...
Can we not argue about feminism/liberalism on this thread? Seriously. Focus people. Focus.
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ER is so right
My husband has been a type 1 diabetic since he was 8 (about 35 years), he lost the front of his left foot and his right leg below the knee to diabetes complicated by a heart problem (the heart problem was unrelated to the diabetes, but no one detected it as everyone was just focused on the diabetes, stereotyping [if you are a diabetic with a problem, it must be related to the diabetes] in doctors' thinking can lead to this.)
But, I write because ER is so right. This is a huge industry, the treatment of diabetes. It is expensive, the test strips are hugely costly, and this makes it difficult to for many to test as often as necessary. Big Pharma, I believe, has no interest in curing this disease, not when they can make huge money on erection pills.
I am afraid there may be only one solution to the lack of good diabetes care in this country: single payer health care. Imagine if as a diabetic, or anyone with a chronic disease, can get the medications and supplies needed to keep themselves healthy? At one point, we were uninsured, and that was when he got into real trouble with his health, as test strips and doctor's visits were too costly (we lost our health insurance when he became unemployed.)
Of course, single payer health care will not stop teenage girls from messing with their insulin to manipulate their weight, but maybe if fewer people had to fight their insurance companies for insulin pumps and testing supplies were reasonably priced, it seems like it would be more difficult for these ladies to play with their lives. At least, one would hope, they would get better care because they would have access to it.
Oh, and don't listen to the creeps who say a single payer system will lead to long Emergency Room waits and long waits for doctor visits. How much worse could it be? Longest wait for a doctor's appointment: 5 months, the surgeon, 3 months. Longest wait in the emergency room before admittance: 12 hours. And we paid premium prices for these deluxe wait times.
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I'm glad I'm not diabetic.
Because I would die. I know there is absolutely no way I would be able to resist this temptation. Sad, I know.
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Apologies
My first letter was convoluted and not as well thought out as it could have been. I agree with some of Pandora83's points and some of Country girl's points. But I'm going to voice my own story because that's what I know the best. Sure, for some people the pump might not work. But I find it aggravating to hear this type of treatment minimized as something that might be "not worth it". And yeah it should be mandatory - if it doesn't work for the diabetic then fine, but every diabetic should be able to try it because pumping can make such a difference. Yet thousands of diabetics across the world aren't afforded the option. Pump technology has been around for decades. For such a long time, however, it wasn't available to any but the very rich or very lucky...or those with really good health care insurance. I grew up in Australia (National Health Care) and the UK (National Health Care) and now I live in Canada (National Health Care). For so long (11 of my 19 diabetic years) there was no pump option for me. Now I have the pump, and I see all these other people who now have pumping made available to them (through National Health care, although it's still co-payment for the most part) and I see pump therapy transforming their lives.
What I think is that pump therapy should be the go-to treatment, not the try-if-nothing-else-works-because-it's-too-expensive treatment that it is right now. Those studies that have been done bear this out. The cost of the pump is far less than the cost of treatment (and loss through death) of long term complications (heart disease, renal failure, blindness, amputation, etc. etc.). But this goes to the Health Care argument and is probably better suited to a different thread.
I think the best thing about pump therapy - once the initial weirdness of having a medical device attached to you at all times wears off - is that your life can be made so much more normal. Eating is normalized (you can eat as much as you like, the power goes back to you). Exercising is normalized (you can drop basal rates so that your workout doesn't cause your blood sugar levels to plummet). Sleeping is normalized (risk of nypos can be dramatically reduced as the pump can minutely tailor infusion to overnight insulin requirements...much better than the crapshoot that is suspended insulin). And I am a freakshow that wears the thing during sex. Sometimes. And sometimes I don't.
There are downsides: the tubing gets caught on doorknobs. The every-three-days injection of the infusion set is a pain. The injection sites can get infected. I don't like getting my sites too wet so I don't swim as much as I used to and I shower more than I take baths. But the upside has been so marked for me, and for a lot of the type ones who I know, or who I read about (thank you blogosphere), that I think pump therapy should be made available to every type one diabetic. Type twos as well. Halle Berry style 1.5s. All of us.
But then I know I don't live in an ideal world full of benevolent health-care providers, insurers and governments. That's why I want people to wear the ribbon for me and people like me. Not because I want some fucking pity party. Hey, I've lead a pretty full and complete life with my diabetes in tow - I don't need anybody to feel sorry for me. But I do want other people to have and be given the same opportunities that I have been given. And that costs money, and money comes from awareness and that's where we in the diabetic community let ourselves down. It's not about pity, any more than wearing a pink ribbon for breast cancer or a red poppy for Remembrance Day (Canada's day to remember veterans) is about pity. It's about making the rest of the world aware of what this is and how it affects us.