See Expert Patients
Several of the doctor medlogs have blogged on this issue.
I consider myself an “expert patient” and I agree that it’s a misleading term, as it implies to me, that it might be derogatory.
There are two types of diabetic patients (and I am not referring to Type 1 or Type 2). They either fall under the expert patient category taking an active roll in their care. If you pump, you almost always have to be an expert patient.
The other type eat when and what their doctors tell them to. Can you imagine living a life where you eat at, say 8:00 am, 10:00 am, 12:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 4:00 pm, 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm, and they eat a precise amount of servings of carbs, protein and fat.
I actually know of a pumper that lives that way. My mother told me about her. Apparently years ago, her pump was programmed by her doctor and she has lived that way ever since.
I suppose that might work for someone who has been diabetic all of their life, but it certainly doesn’t and wouldn’t work for me! It really puts a crimp in your style if you want to socialize — which is when my mother found out about this.
I really advocate being on top and in control whenever you have a chronic illness. That CPAP go around is a prime example though, of what happens when the patient is ready to be an expert and the doctors aren’t
And of course to be effective as an expert patient, you have to research it all. Not just the advances, but the costs and the implications.
FYI: One of the good things about buying the pump last year, is that it, along with my husband’s medical bills, managed to reduce our income tax overage from $1500 to $750, and eliminated the possiblilty of a fine for the IRS for underpaying.