Off insulin!

[dvandom]

Just got a call back from my doctor, he thinks I can stop taking insulin now and see how I do! Next target...cut back to one a day of my expensive pills. :)

Comments

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Here's how my "consumables" expenses work out, after insurance covers about 2/3 of the cost:

• Insulin Pens - Pack of 5, 1500 units total, about $50. At my worst, a 5-pack of pens lasted me about 6 weeks. At the rate I'd been going lately, closer to 4-5 months.
  
• Needles for insulin pens - box of 100, about $10. At my worst, lasted about 7 weeks, and lately twice that long. So not a huge drain.
  
• Actoplusmet - A pill combining Actos with Metformin. I currently take two a day, and they run to about a dollar a pill after insurance.
  
• Metformin - Because I need more Met than I can get from Actoplusmet, also two a day. These run to pennies a pill, because they're on Wal-Mart's $4 prescription deal. Obviously, I don't mind staying on this longer.
  
• Test strips for glucose meter - $26 for a 25 day supply at my current rate of use (4 tests a day). Once I stabilize, I can reduce the number of tests each day...my mom no longer even tests at all, she just gets her blood drawn at the doctor's office twice a year for more thorough testing.
  
• Lancets for glucose meter - $10 for a 100-pack. I get a whole day out of one lancet (4-8 stabs, sometimes I need to try twice to get enough blood) before it starts to dull. So again, not a huge expense.
  

My sharps bottle will fill more slowly now that I don't have needles to dispose of, just the lancets.

[grant-p.livejournal.com]

Not bad, actually. Your stuff cost less then what my father's did...of course, he was also on a disability thing due to a head injury combined with something the VA put out, so the insurance was probably different.

By the way, I think the test may have been ok, though I don't know yet. Thanks for your help, I'll let you knwo what happened when I get it back!