Iport & Insuflon, HSE expence, the cost of wasted Insulin

#Iport #Insuflon #InjectingInsulin #Type1Diabetics #Type2Diabetics #HSEcost 

Ok so personal little exercise for a various reasons.

#IportCost #InsulinCost #HSEexpense @HSElive @OB_Recuitment

Just 1 #NovoRapid #InsulinPen is aprx €10 @ cost price

In the picture attached You'l see, that all too familiar drip we have on the end of our insulin pen needle after injecting our insulin. ( even after the 10 second rule )  If we inject 5 times daily ( 3 meals, 1 snack & a possible correction ) that's at least 5 units of insulin wasted........

A Novo Rapid insulin pen has 60 units of insulin, costing €0.17 per unit.

So that's €0.85 cent per day, €5.95 per week, €25.78 per month of wasted insulin.

#Iport costs €160 @ cost per month. It comes as a pack of 10 each lasting 3 days, so 30 day supply. €16.00 each for 3 days, €5.35 per day. This would save on lipohypertrophy complications and treatment, it would save on even more insulin as injecting to a lipohypertrophy area would mean using even more insulin than should be required to cover the carbs in a meal or snack.

#Insuflon costs aprx €60 @ cost, comes as a pack of 10, each lasting 3-5 days. If we say 3 days each box would last a month. €6.00 each, €2 per day.

For a 5 day period a box of insuflon would last for 7 weeks, and the daily cost to the HSE would be €1.20 per day & €36.00 per month. 

Now as the definite waste of insulin per month is aprx €26.00 and maybe more in some cases, I would have thought covering both the iport and Insuflon on our LTI scheme would be a cost effective measure even the HSE can't ignore. Using one of these devices would reduce the cost of insulin to the HSE and in some cases & circumstances it might even balance out.

However we are still awaiting a decision from the HSE as to whether they will cover the iport on our long term illness ( LTI ) scheme. Wouldn't it be nice if both the Iport & the Insuflon were included ? Then we could choose which one we would prefer to use. 

I do think the iport is possibly a little more suitable to children. However the Insuflon has a potentially important role to play for people / adults with type 1 diabetes And adults with type 2 diabetes injecting insulin.

Iv used both and I'm happy with how effective both devices are when used correctly. There are advantages with both devices, and very few disadvantages, however at the end of the day it is down to personal choice, age, circumstances, and lifestyle.

At the end of the day, when using either of these devices, the insulin we are injecting is more effective and with no waste because the little rubber seal we inject into catches every single drip of insulin we inject. If we inject 6 units, we get the effect of 6 units instead of 5 units with a 1 unit drip wasted.

Davina "T1"

Not professional but experienced

Diabetes T1 Ireland

Type 1 Diabetes & The Golden Prick Award

Type 1 Diabetes & The Golden Prick award !

Living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in isolation from others who live the same mathematical, clock watching, tightrope as we do, it's easy to just let things slip, and before you realise whats going on your sitting in your endo's office explaining how your HBA1C is so high, to someone with their head slightly tipped to one side and trying to wear their best sympathetic smile while nodding in acknowledgement of what we are saying, as they listen to the endless supply of lies we feed them. The chest infection we had, the steroids that our stupid GP prescribed, the dog eat my meter and I didn't have a spare ( yes Iv heard that one ), the flu shot made me as high as a kite ...... For weeks ! ( Iv used this one ). 

The truth is that sometimes we just get sick of it all. Sometimes when your the only one in a group of non diabetics it's hard to do what we're supposed to do. We all need to fit in, however,  constantly fitting in, will leave us "long term" in trouble because of the diabetes complications that lifestyle can lead to. 

Sitting with non type1 friends, and whipping out the meter, the strips, and the finger pricker as we proceed to do a blood test there and then, so we know what insulin is needed for the food we'r about to eat, can be met with gasps, awkward silences or disapproving looks. It's not like we can do it all under the table. It's a fiddley business.

For this very reason it's good to mix with others who have the same lifestyle as you, TOTAL understanding, comfort, support, information and help, all serve to make living with any type of diabetes just a bit more bearable.

There's not a week goes by without someone in one group or another, either totally excited with a HBA1C result, or in other cases totally floored by their result. No matter what the BG meter result says on the many occasions through the day that we test, it's the big exam that's all important and a decent result feels like recognition of a job well done. I seriously think a little trophy or reward should be standard at a diabetes clinic. 

I actually stood in my garden one day in spring, after cutting myself on a Rose thorn, to save myself from yet another finger prick I grabbed my meter and tested my BG. I hear you, I hear you, relax, hygiene etc, but at that moment i was going low, I saw an opportunity not to have to prick my finger and I took it.

Most people would wash it, disinfect it and plaster it, all I could think of was "free & effortless blood" all ready for use. In my world any blood is a potential test.

My well pricked fingers don't always donate and a good squeeze is sometimes necessary. One day there I was wearing very pale pink, all dressed up and ready to leave the house, one quick check I thought. What I got was a shower or blood that shot across the kitchen and all down my clothes.

So it's off with the dress, and out with the disinfectant to clean the floor, the counter top, the tiles and anything else that got it. Quick check ? Ye right ! The joys of well used fingers.....

Lick or wipe ? Are you kidding me ? Think of this. Your out, all dressed up and you need to check your BG because you don't feel right. 

Your low, now honestly do you fiddle around looking for tissue, getting blood on clothes ? 

Or do you lick and desperately search for something sugary before it's too late ? 

Remember when you answer the above questions "low & thought" rarely happens, unlike "low, instinct & automatic" when survival is all that matters.

That was life before my CGM so now it's testing every 12 hours to calibrate my medtronic guardian, finally my finger tips are beginning to feel a bit more like normal, and the alarm goes before I get to the brain dead stage.

For all that my poor fingers have been through Id like to win or at least be nominated for the "golden prick" award. 

Davina 

Introduction to Dia Newsdrop

Introduction to
Dia Newsdrop with a side order of insulin.

Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes, do you remember the day you first heard these words as a diagnosis after feeling sick for a while ? Well I can remember it well ..........

My head went straight into overdrive, so many questions, so much confusion in my mind that day. How ? Why ? No ...... Check again ! NO I can't do this, followed by silence, because I just couldn't think of what to say, and then came the tears, lots and lots of tears, no tissues used, this called for a tea towel !.

No this was not depression, it was grieving, and boy did I grieve, in every sense of the word. But in my usual fashion I picked myself up and decided to grab this vicious beast and do what I could to house train it.

I look back now and smile to myself when I think of how confident I felt as I joined the many groups and forums related to all types of diabetes and the appliances and medications used to manage the condition, but no one ever told me that Diabetes was also a language and not a language I spoke.

Terms like MDI, BG, subcutaneous, infusion sites, CGM, hypo, ratios, bolus, basel, trends, exchanges, tubing, meters, ketones, corrections, calibration, hba1c, carb counting, and then there were the needles 4mm 5mm 6mm, the appliances, on any given day these terms were just part of an average conversation between people and I had no idea what they were talking about.
With Googles help I wasn't long taking a crash course, so I could ask relatively intelligent questions in order to learn a bit more than just basic information.

It was then that I learned our online community is vast, with information and support that is second to none.
I somehow thought our hospital teams would have every single bit of up to the minute information. I now can't even figure out why or how I could have thought up this Gem, when it clearly takes lots of time online, and on social media daily to hear all about what's new, what's available in Ireland in reality, and what's only in our dreams.

Enter Dia Newsdrop where we will publish a news blog, monthly with any new information we have,

that our diabetes community might be interested in.

Follow or Subscribe Free of course and you should receive this by email,

and let's face it nowadays everyone has an email address, haven't they ?

31st March is our first issue.

Davina