Here’s someone else who doesn’t like the “cure in 5 years approach”, though I have a feeling we have different reasons why.
Diabetes.Blog.com :: Are the drug companies hiding a cure?
However, the problem is not the pharmaceutical companies but the big Not-for-Profits which have methodically misled the public with their pitches for money based on the logic that the cure is five years away.
Some pills are relatively easy but some are difficult. Here’s what I’ve gone through recently on a difficult pill. I’ll put some suggestions for helping ALL patients at the end.
I was recently prescribed Requip. You take it 90 minutes before you go to bed. Also, you are not supposed to drive until you know how Requip affects you. By the way, it makes me drowsy.
Here’s the problem. I try to go to bed at 10:00 pm every night, but two nights a week I have dog class and they end about 9:00 and I have a one hour drive afterwards. I also found that Requip does make me drowsy. A good thing if I am at home.
The first problem was remember to take the pill at 8:30. The good news is that I can set my pump to remind me to do something (though it doesn’t tell me what), at a certain time. So I set my pump for 8:30.
On the nights I have to drive, I take the two pills on the exit I take to get to my house. There are enough ways to get home from there, that even if there is some type of road block I can get home before I get drowsy.
First problem — sometimes I couldn’t remember if I took my pill. Knowing that it makes me drowsy and that taking it twice would be a really bad thing — I did it once it was not good — I was skipping taking it.
Unfortunately those pill containers marked by the day of the week have a problem — one they are too big for my purse. However before my last trip, I found some lovely little plastic bags that can be marked by the day of the week and time of the day. I used some of those, but they are hard to handle and you have to work at figuring out if you took the pill.
The good news, is that I came across a smaller container that is marked by the day of the week.
So here’s how I ultimately solved the problem — first, I use an alarm that is present and with me at all times to remind me, and second was the smaller container to hold the pills.
For ALL patients:
I recommend those day of the week pill containers. I use a seperate one for morning and evening. The best thing about them is that they prevent overdoses as you can tell at a glance if you took it.
For traveling, I recommend the little plastic bags. The above pill containers do come open. Yes you should take something to indicate that they are prescription drugs. I print out the pages from the mail order pharmacy I use.
Finally for weirdly timed pills, use some type of alarm to remind you. It needs to be with you at the time you need to take the medication.
A smart pharmacutical company, pharmacy, or doctor’s office would purchase them and get their name imprinted on them and give them free to patients. This would even be a good thing for the ADA or DLife to produce.
After watching DLife, reading Ground Rounds and lots of other articles I realize that many people do not get why patient compliance is hard. Since I am your average Type 2 patient, though a bit more motiviated, I think it will help everyone understand the whole mechanism, if I write on patient compliance.
I first tried to write one big article and then got a huge major writer’s block.
So I’m going to try breaking it up.
Diabetes In Control – Insufficient Sleep Can Cause an Increase A1c by 1.9 Percentage-Points
I’m trying to come up with a post that explains my “non-compliance”.
Have I mentioned lately how much Medco makes me crazy? Here’s the latest.
Zyrtec. Along with diabetes and gastric reflux, I’m allergic to dust and also have the typical Texas seasonal allergies. Remember I teach high school. I dropped a dime yesterday morning and discovered 1/4″ layer of dust under my desk. Wonder when they last swept there?
So Zyrtec comes up as due to reorder, I reorder, and it sits there not being shipped. I finally get a message saying it needs to be authorized by my doctor, and that they aren’t shipping. Then two days later it pops up again, saying it’s due to reorder. I reorder — after I’ve had a conversation with a pharmacist to see if I should try an over the counter. And guess what — it’s on its way.
Diabetes In Control Newsletter – The Earlier You Get Diabetes, The Worse it Will Get
Especially since I was diagnosed at 42.
People who develop type 2 diabetes when they’re younger than 50 years of age are more likely to experience a worsening of their disease than those diagnosed at an older age.
Optimizing Sleep Duration and Quality Improves Glycemic Control in Diabetes
When I am having difficulty sleeping I also have difficulty with my blood sugar control.
Optimizing sleep duration and quality should be tested as an intervention to improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), according to the results of a cross-sectional study reported in the September 18 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
I’ve done two more cardio sessions than was scheduled. Managed to get every days workout in, even though it was a long tough week.
At the end of our faculty meeting today, the principal shared with us that one of our collegues had gone in for surgery to remove a blockage and a tumor was discovered. I think he said that they found that he had both stomach and liver cancer too, but not entirely sure about the liver cancer thing.
It was a rough way to start the day. Kinda of makes you wonder if all the finger sticks, knee pain, etc. is worth it all.
The good news is that the vending machine is only taking correct change and it hurt to much to walk back up to the room to get change and go back and get something to eat.
The bad news is that the PSTA put Hersey bars in our boxes, or maybe that WAS a good thing.
The good news is that I’ve eaten dinner and the TDD for the day so far is around 24.00
Though Macy says she’s happy because she’s got people who love her and plenty of toys to play with.
Diabetes Mine: Trouble in Reimbursement City
Diabetes Mine writes about it:
We’ve been asking the question, “How soon will insurance providers start covering continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices?” But it seems the more accurate inquiry would be, “Why won’t insurance providers ‘reimburse’ for CGM devices any time soon?”
And it looks to me that they don’t seem real wild about compensating for finger sticks.
So we have to decide if we want to pay.