[moon]

This must be so heartbreaking for you, and I'm truly sorry for the reason you have to be here.

With numbers in the high 9's her blood sugar is already out of control. I wouldn't stop buying her insulin, but I would find another doc, an endocrinologist, and suggest if you are going to help her with her insulin that you be at the appointment with her to learn what she needs so to help her.

It sounds as though the doc isn't knowledgeable enough to be able to help her - and that she needs guidance in which insulin to take when, how to bolus, etc. There are people here on insulin who are brilliant with it and hopefully they'll be along shortly.

Saying she's 'resistant to insulin' and the doc washing his/her hands is shameful (if that's what happened.) Was your daughter prescribed metformin, for example, to help with this resistance?

Would your daughter be open to joining an online forum where she could talk to other T1s her age? I do get that motivating her to take care of herself is the challenge ...

My heart goes out to you, and her.

 

[moon]

She is seeing another doctor now and he's doing the same thing. Not prescribing enough insulin. We can't afford to see a specialist--so we have to do what we can afford.

The problem, however, could be that you can't afford =not= to see a specialist. If your daughter won't engage enough to seek out information to help herself, and her doc isn't knowledgeable enough, then you can buy all the insulin in the world and unless she's using it properly she's going to remain sick, and get sicker.

If her blood sugar doesn't get in control, the cost of complications will make a specialist visit look like pennies. Diabetes is complicit in my advancing loss of sight, and if that's all that happens to me I'll be getting off easy. Retinologists are expensive. Surgery is expensive. I have a friend right now going to dialysis 3x/week - hooked up for hours every day. The list of complications, including heart disease, loss of feet, is long. Someone once said to imagine little shards of glass in your bloodstream - that high blood sugar is that destructive.

I'm not trying to scare you more, honestly, only inviting you to look at where you might need to prioritize the few resources you have. There are ways to get lab tests done very cheaply, at a fraction of the cost, so you wouldn't have to pay retail via a specialist.

Without knowing your financial situation (except that it's not good) or where you are geographically, it's hard to make suggestions beyond calling major clinics/hospitals (also in any major metro areas in driving distance) and inquiring about specialists for those who are uninsured/low-no income, etc.

It's infuriating that medical care is so expensive - if I ever go postal it will be on this issue!

In the end though, once your daughter has good information, it's going to be up to her to use it. Nobody else can manage her diabetes for her.

 

[moon]

For lab tests, I can recommend Online Medical Lab Tests | Blood Tests I gave this link to a friend who uses them and is finally able to get some lab work done that she couldn't afford before. One orders the tests online, then goes to a lab closeby (there are several in St Petersburg), and it's much cheaper than having it done at the doc's. I was just with a friend today at her doc, and we found out what lab work he wanted, and she'll go this route because she's not insured either.

They have prices of all tests on the site so you can compare to what she has been paying.

 

[moon]

Great. See - we'll put our heads together and get this worked out

 

[moon]

No, quite the contrary. Metformin has an anorectic effect.

The biggest issue w/ metformin is to start out slowly with the extended release version. It can be rugged on the intestinal system. It has taken me 5 months to be able to tolerate it - going from the regular to the extended release formulation. They started me right away on 2,000 mg because my blood sugar was so high, but had it been possible, it would've been better to start me on less and graduate up.

If your daughter has insulin resistance, she really does need to restrict her carbs, not just bolus for them ...