frustrated

[Guest guest]

Yes, frustrated again. Someday my subject line is gonna be 'overjoyed " and

you'll all go in to shock!

I know there really isn't any advice for what I'm about to write but I'm writing

anyways. For the last 3 months we have been trying to get me on a depression med

or the right dose of medsso that I can feel like a human. This depression stuff

is getting old!

So, my therapist recomended a new med today to take in combination with the one

i'm currently trying that's helping the depression and increasing the anxiety.

So I looked up this med and it has a side effect of raising blood sugar. So,

probably not a good plan. It may be possible to just up my diabetes meds I don't

know and won't until I talk to my dr. on Thursday. But I'm just so frustrated

because if we do decide to give this a try I have no way to monitor my blood

sugar because the splendid medicade is fighting me over getting the prodigy. I

really really don't get this! Its less than 100 bucks. They just bought my

friend a brand new electric high power fancy wheelchair that I'm sorry but she

really didn't need. That thing was like mega money, but you can't get me a

Prodigy! And if and when I do get it I do not know if I can reliably test as I'm

still having trouble getting the blood on the strip! And I don't know what to

try if she decides that I can't take this med. I feel like I'm running out of

options.

Screw this! I'm going to eat some icecream!

Oh, but one positive bit of news. I took a little trip to the ER last week due

to chest pains which turned out to be nothing serious, thank God, but while

there I learned I've lost eight pounds since late September! Go me! Ok its not

much, but go me anyways. I need my little successes.

[Guest guest]

,

The balance between diabetic meds and antidepressants is an ongoing one and

it will probably never be completely resolved, for reasons I can't really

explain. An added wrinkle to this is that doctors often don't look at the

whole picture of what a particular medication will do before prescribing it,

which then only makes treatment worse. If your doctor were more

" diabetes-aware " he would look at all the possible side-effects of a given

medication before prescribing it and realize that there might be too much

risk for a diabetic patient for a certain med. That's nice when it happens,

but sadly it's only a rare occasion with a doctor picks up on that issue

about diabetic interactions. The sad fact is, we pretty much have to become

self-educated on the medications prescribed for us and then report our

findings back to the doctor, who should then look at alternatives to a med

that might do a diabetic more harm than good. If the doc won't work with you

on that, then time to switch docs to someone who will take your concerns to

heart. My own doc has been very good about looking at the diabetic and blood

pressure picture of anything he has prescribed and has purposely not

prescribed certain meds that he felt would not work, but again, he's been

the exception.

With respect to your friend who got the wheelchair, Medicaid and Medicare

are very inconsistent in what they will and will not pay for. You would

think that paying for a talking glucose monitor for a blind person would be

much cheaper than the alternative of a lifetime of hospital trips, but for

the most part they are the ones who are blind to the subject. I guess they

must figure if you already lost your sight it's just tough. We as a blind

group have to fight really hard to get equity with the sighted world on this

issue so that those who are totally blind can do their own sugars just like

sighted people. The wheelchair industry has a very big lobby and has thrown

lots of money in the right places so it's much easier these days to get a

wheelchair than it is to get a glucose meter. that's ludicrous since

diabetes is so very rampant and will causes a LOT of people to lose their

vision. In time, the glucose meter lobby will have a bigger base and

political pressure will probably force the issue to get appropriate

attention, but for now that is not the case. Big pharma is focused on

keeping people on pills and isn't yet concerned with making sure that blind

people have workable monitors, it's just not a priority for them until we

blind force them to make it a priority.

Don't knock yourself for losing those 8 pounds. It's a good start and

something you want to continue working on. It's a hard hand you've been

dealt, but I can only tell you to continue working on this and never give

up. You WANT to get better, and that's the biggest asset you have on your

side, your will to improve, so keep that up! Good luck!

Bill Powers