Tag: insulin

I have been reading some VERY INTERESTING comments on social media regarding the “insulin sold at Walmart”.  Some even using actual scare tactics that I’m not so sure should be used by anyone, nor does anyone any good.  Still not so sure why THAT is even being done.

To be clear,  Buying these insulins IS NOT an alternative to the dilemma of the high insulin costs.  What IT IS, is an alternative to dying because one cannot afford insulin. 

There are many things I have read over the years that leaves me scratching my head.  But I have also learned that how one manage their diabetes, or their loved ones’ diabetes ……is……well……up to them. If you can find a way to make the insulins work that Walmart sells, more power to you.  When Kaitlyn was first diagnosed, those insulins were pretty much all there was to manage the disease.  In fact one was actually ‘pork insulin’.  Twenty-six years later, here we are.

It will take an adjustment and a doctor should surely be involved….as always.  And it will probably be a pain in the ass. These certainly are the older generation of insulins, and so they don’t provide quite the same coverage for blood sugars. They have a shorter half-life than name brand insulins and they do not come in pens. They can peak in two hours and may need a 30-60 minute lead time….like I said, a pain.

You will also be better served by finding a way to obtain the insulins that are available today.  But if you cannot afford it, if the cost-reduction programs that the companies offer do not work for you, if you have tried government programs, senior centers (if applicable), and community and social programs for help and if there are no options…..and the only option is NOT TAKING insulin, well THAT is not an option at all.

Now please do not come after me with pitchforks and torches.  TO BE CLEAR: NOTHING SHOULD STOP THE PRESSURE BEING MOUNTED AGAINST THESE HIGH COSTS.  But I would not want it on my conscience that someone read something that I wrote and did not at least try it because of what I said…..and died because they went without.  There is a difference between ‘stop-gap’ action and a substitute for.

I’m still unsure why the government cannot relax the restrictions for buying insulin abroad until such time that those who are so ‘piggy with greed’ can find a balance.  Because this dilemma is bad, stupid, and inhumane.  Like the air we breath when denied, will kill us; so too it is a death sentence to not have insulin affordable to those who cannot survive without it.  THAT THOUGHT HAS NOT CHANGED. Why some bright lawyer has not figured out a way to sue over that, is also beyond me.

WE WILL ALL KEEP FIGHTING.  YOU must find a way to stay alive.  My prayers will continue and my actions will stay in full force until we find this rectified.  And if there is something out there to try with your doctor’s help as oppose to doing without…..I choose trying.  That is my point today,
I’m a DiabetesDad
Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’.

There was a movie with Tom Hanks making the rounds a years ago entitled,
That Thing You Do.  Wikipedia describes the movie; A small-time rock band rides a big wave of success with the help of a savvy record-executive and a catchy single.

You? You’re the small time rock band.  The savvy record executive are the voices who started this outcry.  And the catchy single is the unfairness of insulin prices.

The movie is about this small town group, with just a small voice keeps pushing and riding and yelling from the mountain tops that they have a good song.  Finally, a company called PlayTone (starting out as fictitious record company for the movie and actually established in 1998 by Mr. Hank and friends) signs them and pushes them to the top.  Had the voices not been there early on, the success would not have occurred.

Now read this first line from a Reuters article two days ago, and read it carefully.
Powerful committees in the U.S. Congress held hearings on Tuesday on insulin affordability and high prescription drug prices, an issue both chambers have said is a top priority for the year.

You did that.   Yes, you!

Before all of the many large organized diabetes groups jumped on board; and just as in the movie, you need big time to take you to the big time and they are a welcome site, there was just you.  You who have diabetes or have a child with diabetes first said, This is unfair, the current costs are going to be hurtful.   You wrote letters, you protested (even by yourself), you posted on social media…..you…..the voices in the diabetes community….before anything that occurred, became organized, or became unified……it was just you….that one voice who cared enough to “just not do nothing”.

So there is surely much work to happen yet.  But before all the big guns jump out and send press releases telling you of their wonderful efforts…….and they surely were and are wonderful efforts……..I just want to add a word of thanks to all those who one will not read bout, see, or hear about.   But know this, with no uncertainty, without those voices to tell the stories of rationing, cutting insulin doses, and simply doing without when no one else thought it cool enough or news worthy enough; we would not be here today.

Like I said…….more to do…….but thank you diabetes community, your voices are about to turn into a roar.  A number one hit no matter how you look at it.

I’m a DiabetesDad
Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’.