There has been much discussion of late regarding insulin which is available at places like Walmart for a very reasonable expense. Some are saying/reporting that people died by going on that particular insulin which they were forced to do because of the cost of the insulin usually used has skyrocketed out of control.
I’m not here to argue this point; sides are drawn and the battle to be right is occurring in many places all around us in the diabetes community. What I would like to do is make a few points for all of us to think about, while we wait.
What we are waiting for is my first point——there is absolutely no reason on earth why anyone should stand idle and not keep up the pressure of advocacy at the boneheads responsible for these out of control insulin prices. That fight needs to continue and needs to continue constantly. There is absolutely NO REASON for any individual with this disease to not be given the insulin, THE BEST INSULIN, they need to survive. That point needs to be clear.
Whether some like it or not, believe it or not, many people have survived using what is available at a lower cost. Before many of the diabetes tools in our diabetes tool box now available, there were limited resources. When the insulin ‘hit’, sometimes it was like a crashing airplane. Crashing was as much in our discussions as high and low blood sugar. It was part of what we had to deal with, and what we had to do and with proper medical professional help, we charted the best course available. Guess what? Some people died back then using this method.
Guess what? Some people also have died because of something to do with their insulin pump. Whether it malfunctioned or was not used correctly, is not always known. People also die when a car malfunctions or is used incorrectly. We cannot stop driving anymore than we (or our kids) can stop taking insulin. In the latter case, stop taking insulin is a death sentence.
Any fool can go out there and say that this is much ado about nothing because an alternative is available at Walmart. It’s a stupid statement at best. TOTALLY AGREED. But……..BUT, until such time that this can get fixed, people with diabetes need to take insulin. And to change ANY course of treatment must have, and needs to be done, under medical supervision only. There is no WAG (wild-ass-guess) here because that can cost you your life. ANY CHANGE TO YOUR TREATMENT SHOULD BE DONE UNDER MEDICAL SUPERVISION ONLY. PERIOD.
Remember the discussion how treating this disease is very personal and is different with each person? That there is no ‘one size fits all’. Even with medical inclusion, we still have to pay particular attention to everything diabetes. When you change one thing, it changes many things in one’s life. It’s the truest form of real-life-domino-impact that one will ever see. So if some people are making the lower insulin work for them, are they wrong? If some people want the fire to get turned up in Washington so people can use the insulin they want; are they wrong? What happened to one person’s treatment does not necessarily have to be the same as another’s?
I’m seeing a ton of energy from people trying to convince the world that it’s better to have nothing, than use the less expensive insulin available. That’s just not true or my daughter, and many others, would be dead already because we were using that-type- ‘cocktail’ for years.
Is it a solution? No. It’s a stop-gap measure until the folks from Washington can get their heads out of their……let’s just say, the ground. Want to argue that point, argue it with Washington folks because arguing with those who do not have the power to change anything, is wasted energy. No one should want or have the need to be right about this, what we all need is to see this resolved. The pressure needs to stay with those who can, and who must; rectify it once and for all.
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