Living with Diabetes

Author: kathleen

  • Oh man….

    I saw this name, and KNEW I knew it.

    The surviving widow is the partner of one of my absolutely favorite doctors. I think I saw her once and she got involved in my case at least in a consulting way.

    Before diabetes and before sleep apnea, I saw a Dr. Fitzgerald who was an allergist. He was treating me for allergies when I started having problems with asthma. He helped a lot, tried to get me to a sleep study, but I wasn’t ready.

    My insurance changed and he didn’t take that insurance, but his daughter, Dr. Marie Fritzgerald did take my insurance. She was absolutely terrific, DID get me to do the sleep study but was absolutely convinced that the asthma as GERD related. Her partner got involved as they couldn’t resolve the asthma until my GERD was treated.

    Oh, and one of the reasons I didn’t do the sleep study the first time around was the primary care physician. He was VERY resistant, but the insurance change was a blessing and that doctor signed off for it.

    DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Local News

  • Cigna problems

    Found a “free” link.

    At Cigna, conflicts of interest surface in appeals: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

    I’m very intrigued by the Apria references, I was wondering about them as I got absolutely NO customer service out of them. I had to go to their office to be fitted, and they mailed the humidifier to me, and provided absolutely no training.

    I have had my durable medical needs meet by Lincare and my Sleep-Med, and in both cases have always had personal care by a respirator therapist at every stage. They have always offered to come to me, though I often go to Sleep-Med since they are on my way home to work and I can get there before they can get to me.

  • Dana is in trouble again

    Two unforunates on this — you need a WSJ subscription to read the article.

    Second, this went on before my denial. But sounds a lot like the denial that was made.

    WSJ.com – U.S. Home

    Conflicts of Interest in Appeals at Cigna

    When a little-known supplier offered a big discount on a device for diabetics, Cigna thought it sounded like a great deal. But Cigna’s deal on insulin pumps became a prime example of cost-cutting gone wrong, doctors and patients say

  • Food Pet Peeves

    Servings radically different than package size. They should do the math not us.

    What brought this on?

    Bought lunch meat with different flavors in the package and serving si1 shows 3 slices but 4 slices in package.
    —
    From my Treo

  • The “polititics of diabetes”

    November 9, 2004

  • Vaguely related to diabetes…

    I have dust allergies and my mom is always trying to get me to vacuum daily — yeah, right, but finally I'm going to make her happy.

    I finally broke down and bought a Roomba vacuum.  Both my husband and I have been skeptical that it could handle the dog hair, but it appears it does it fine.

    Amazing piece of technology.  I got the "Discovery" edition and so far, I've got my living room clean.  Probably going to leave it in the gym and front hallway tomorrow because I have it picked up and the major wads of hair are gone.

  • Glucowatch – Tech support

    For some reason, I decided to try the self test — I DID use it when I first got the watch, and well, I have had it for a month.

    Got "FAIL" every time.

    So I called tech support today and while I'm on the phone … you guessed it … got a PASS both tries. 

    I figured they would say hang onto it, but they said we'll send you another one anyway.  So it's on the way.

  • At least some of the problem IS genetics

    November 3, 2004

  • Of course, I’m always interested

    Of course, I’m always interested in anything like this.

    I’m STILL not sure I want to do gastric surgery, though if I do, I need to start getting things together now, if I want to do it, as I would want to do it sometime after the AP Computer Science test.

    Bariatric Surgery use in Type 2 Diabetes

    Non-randomised observational studies show that bariatric surgery has a highly beneficial impact on diabetes. Bariatric surgery leads to remission of diabetes in at least two thirds of patients, and reductions in drug therapy for many others. Those with more recent onset diabetes, fewer treatment requirements, and able to achieve most weight loss are more likely to achieve remission. Therefore, bariatric surgery is an attractive treatment option to consider for selected more severely obese patients with favourable characteristics. Although data on bariatric surgery in subjects with diabetes are provocative, all recent clinical studies have been uncontrolled or otherwise flawed. Moreover, bariatric surgery has yet to be compared either with medical treatment for weight loss, or against standard medical treatment for diabetes in any randomised controlled trial with diabetes-specific end points. There remains a need for long-term randomised controlled trials before bariatric surgery is used more widely as a first-line treatment for obese patients with type 2 diabetes.

  • Insets

    I've used my first box of insets and man or man do I love them.  I've only yanked out two accidently which isn't too bad, especially for me.

    I'm able to move my sites better with them, because the inserter lets me put the site where I can't see it.  I also have fewer failed sites, because of the inserter. 

    And I love not having to see a needle!