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Rick Reuben wrote:Good luck there, Rayj. The lesson for any sick person in America is that the costs of your illness and your treatment are counted on many people's bottom lines, and you almost definitely will not hear about all alternative treatments from those reliant on the hospital/insurance/pharm system for their income. Just like you're not going to hear a Ford dealer tell you that a Toyota is a better car.

Research research research. You might be able to get healthier more cheaply and more safely away from corporate medicine. Don't let the system treat you like a child. They're going to try and scare you away from managing your own treatment. Think for yourself.

That was my approach. Further anecdote (of which there are several, along similar lines):

Early on, I thought that I could save on my cost and needless waste of needles by combining doses of the two insulins. I did this a few times...then, I mentioned this approach to another diabetic - and watched his face turn white. According to his physician, and some 'commonplace' medical knowledge, mixing insulins can cause crystallization in the bloodstream (i.e. a stroke). This happened right after administering a whopping mixed shot. So, I stalked randomly around work for awhile, wondering if I was going to suddenly become a retard or a corpse.

Later, I talked to a decent physician...an old Chinese fellow and 'alternative medicine' advocate, who related to me that he had patients who mixed insulins all the time, and recommended the practice as a way to limit waste.

My next thought was that, in general, 'typical' doctors are fed information geared towards increasing consumption of medical supplies, for all the afore-alluded-to reasons, and to avoid culpability. I also had a similar experience with a doctor who blanched when I told her that I often reused needles, out of economic necessity. Almost all diabetics I've talked to reuse their needles from time to time...

Seriously...here is the message for anyone out there who is looking at diabetes:

Do as much research on your own as you can, and be skeptical about any information a physician gives you in regard to any aspect of medication that will cost you money. Their place is to err on the 'profitable' side, almost without exception.

Also remember that, like I said before, a doctor only needs ONE, 7-HOUR COURSE to be 'qualified' to treat you. Honestly, you can research all that information yourself, in a few hours.

Further note: I was originally absolutely bombarded with literature 'about my condition' that was eventually revealed to be merely advertising for Betty Crocker foods and whatnot. The bullshit factor in this particular case is astounding, and probably not uncommon in terms of an approach by the industry towards people with long-term health conditions. Seriously...the amount of money wasted on this kind of tripe could have solved many problems by being used for research and genuinely useful support programs. Which, by the way, really don't exist except in the form of end-user forums, as far as I can tell.

rayj wrote:

That was my approach. Further anecdote (of which there are several, along similar lines):

Early on, I thought that I could save on my cost and needless waste of needles by combining doses of the two insulins. I did this a few times...then, I mentioned this approach to another diabetic - and watched his face turn white. According to his physician, and some 'commonplace' medical knowledge, mixing insulins can cause crystallization in the bloodstream (i.e. a stroke). This happened right after administering a whopping mixed shot. So, I stalked randomly around work for awhile, wondering if I was going to suddenly become a retard or a corpse.

Later, I talked to a decent physician...an old Chinese fellow and 'alternative medicine' advocate, who related to me that he had patients who mixed insulins all the time, and recommended the practice as a way to limit waste.

My next thought was that, in general, 'typical' doctors are fed information geared towards increasing consumption of medical supplies, for all the afore-alluded-to reasons, and to avoid culpability. I also had a similar experience with a doctor who blanched when I told her that I often reused needles, out of economic necessity. Almost all diabetics I've talked to reuse their needles from time to time...

I work in biotech, although not "big pharma" There are good reasons against mixing and doing your own program like that. It wasn't tested that way.

if you don't administer medicine the way indicated on the label, you are going "off label" that *can* work and many off label treatments are spectacular. But many other off label treatments can and will kill people.

We spend millions on controlled clinical testing, if people start playing their own doctor or going by some "witchdoctor/alt medicine" guy... all bets are off.

In the USA you are absolutely within your rights to mix and dose yourself however you see fit, but if you die from doing it, don't expect a giant $$ lawsuit.

I can't disclose obviously where I work, but i have seen product complaint records. Many times the complaint is about a patient trying something that is not specifically spelled out in the instructions.. then the product fails in some way "leak/spill etc..."

IMO its a double standard, all this blame against pharma, meanwhile people don't like what they hear when they get a hard diagnosis so they decide to trust unregulated, unverified completely anecdotal advice from a n alt medicine guy?

Clearly medical testing is not perfect, but its better than no testing/QA/QC.

Hexpane wrote:Clearly medical testing is not perfect, but its better than no testing/QA/QC.

Yeah, I hear you. I don't trust 'alternative medical practitioners' any more than I trust standard physicians...the only difference I see is that the alternates tend to pay more attention to the patient's subjective input than a standard physician. Even that is on a case-by-case situation.

I did follow my standard physician's advice on administering the medication, which is determined by how high a meal is in terms of carbohydrates/sugars. As I nudged the dosage down, my pancreas took up the slack...a little slowly, but it would bring glucose levels back down after an hour or so. Now, I spike a little...or more, if I end up having to eat some cheap carbs...but if I watch my diet, well, things turn out OK. For now. I'm expecting this situation to change, as diabetes doesn't often 'just go away'.

The thing that's starting to spook me is that I can't afford test strips on my own right now. Hopefully, I get insurance soon, or start making enough money to buy the damn things myself. I can tell when I go high or low, but if this happens too often, I won't be able to...the damage will have been done. Unfortunately, finances are by far the most problematic aspect of my health issue.

For the record, while nobody would tell me as much, I'm pretty sure my past diet of cheap carbs, soda, and booze was a major contributor to my affliction. There had to be a genetic component, of course, but a lot of it was my own doing, to be sure.

The most ludicrous potential reform to the NHS I have heard in a long time. It goes against the very principles of the NHS. How can you have universal healthcare when you pick and choose who you treat?

By pulling a trick like this, if it becomes practice, the NHS will be excluding the most culturally and economically deprived people in the UK, not only one of the most at risk groups.

Fuck this.

Rick Reuben wrote:Finally, Big Brother and the Ricky Bobby are in agreement:

guardian UK 1-1-08 wrote:People could be expected to lose weight and give up smoking in exchange for rights to healthcare to be enshrined in a new NHS constitution, Gordon Brown will signal today.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/publicse ... 73,00.html

This has been the case for years (certainly for fat people), but that article does a good job of making it sound new. This won't have any significant effect on how the NHS operates. They'll still treat the crazy guy who sets himself on fire outside the main entrance, the 15 year-old pregnant junky girl who tries to stab A&E reception staff with hypodermics, the sex-pest who gropes nurses...

As I'm sure you're aware, the survival rate for operations on obese people is far lower than for people who aren't obese. A BMI of under 27 is generally fine, any higher and operative (also post-operative) complications are likely to occur. If the case arises whereby a smoker has respiratory problems caused directly and exacerbated by smoking, then asking them to give up smoking seems pretty fair.

They'll still be seen to though, even if they didn't stop smoking.

steve wrote:

galanter wrote:Does a goat herder care who controls the money in the banks he will never visit, or who writes the laws that will never reach as far as his village, or if he may vote for a head of state who cares not a whit for him?

No, but he would like to keep the use of his arms, and would like his sons to live to adulthood. Creating war around him is not to his benefit in the slightest.

these damn goat herders, they rule the fucking third world.