Health Problems

Kuriin said:

I think if all of our patients had continuous glucose monitors, most of our patients who come in with diabetic ketoacidosis would not actually be coming in. Are they expensive?

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Not cheap. My insurance paid for mine. I think a lot of insurances cover them now to save problems with diabetics that never know their blood sugar. It's hard to find an actual price. I think very few pay for them. It's 3 parts, the sensor that last 10 days, the transmitter that last a couple of months, and the receiver. I think I saw the receiver was $400 give or take. You can buy expired sensors on ebay still not cheap.

When I got my the doctor pretty much said the same thing, medicaid covers it all where I first got it according to the doctor. She said one patient had a dog bite the sensor off more than once, and they only give you 3 a month that last 10 days each.

I joined the Dexcom (they make the CGM I have) group on facebook. OMG just reading it makes you realize why so many people make fun of diabetics. They show their average for however long and are happy they have a blood sugar average over many days of 300. People are afraid to eat anything and everything and act like they've never been told exercise is good for you. I dropped that group, too depressing. After a while you should get to where you have a good idea of where your sugar is at. It even has a button you hit to guess, feels low, feels high to help train yourself. One parent said their teen son was into sports but it was hard to tell him to stop practicing when he reached so many minutes of time because he had to eat the same thing every day, same amount of insulin, so many minutes of exercise and then done. This is the type of doctors I had early in before I went to Tulane and the childrens hospital in Houston.

Kuriin said:

I think if all of our patients had continuous glucose monitors, most of our patients who come in with diabetic ketoacidosis would not actually be coming in. Are they expensive?

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They have cheaper ones out now. The one I just started using this week is called the FreeStyle Libre. The reader part is just a little handheld thingy that you recharge via USB. The sensors are pretty cheap and last 2 weeks each. Just wave the sensor at it every 5-6 hours and it'll make like excel and graph it out for you.

Most of it makes you feel like shit. Or shit your pants. Chop of my legs please

Grabbit Allworth Small update I switched to 1 ML syringes with high hydraulic pressure capability and am successfully using 30g 1/2" pins for TRT. The grip I can get on the nipro 1ML fixed the exertion shaking hand thing I had with the 27g. I was surprised how easy the oil flows when you change the conditions. I was getting stuck using a 3ML syringe 27g and just exhausting barely able to finish a shot. These 1ML I'm sending oil at almost a breakneck speed comparatively, and 3 gauges smaller to boot. I'm a little annoyed I accumulated so much scar tissue with the 25g when the 30g seems good to go so far.

jayrebb said:

Grabbit Allworth Small update I switched to 1 ML syringes with high hydraulic pressure capability and am successfully using 30g 1/2" pins for TRT. The grip I can get on the nipro 1ML fixed the exertion shaking hand thing I had with the 27g. I was surprised how easy the oil flows when you change the conditions. I was getting stuck using a 3ML syringe 27g and just exhausting barely able to finish a shot. These 1ML I'm sending oil at almost a breakneck speed comparatively, and 3 gauges smaller to boot. I'm a little annoyed I accumulated so much scar tissue with the 25g when the 30g seems good to go so far.

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jayrebb , I haven't ever used 30g syringes, but I'd be happy to trade them for my 27g. That said, I'm actually going to switch to diabetic syringes because there's no serum waste in the reservoir. I use 1 ML syringes now, but I inject .3 ML (200mg per 1 ML) E3D and I always end up wasting ~.1 ML. It doesn't seem like much, but with the frequency of my injections, it adds up.

More to your post, I inject very, very slowly so that I never have PIP (post injection pain). I also massage the area pretty heavily for a minute or two after I inject to help diffuse the oil into the muscle. I always inject into my right quad and I've never had a single issue. Granted, I've only been doing it 9 months.

Dom said:

Is it OK to take a Tylenol or naproxen within a few hours of taking my daily low-dose aspirin?

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Yes to Tylenol (acetaminophen) + ASA.
No to naproxen (nsaid) + ASA - risk of ulcus ventriculi and duodeni increases from 1,6 % for ASA alone to 25,3 % for the combo with naproxen. Numbers from my national drug interaction database.

Check here to be safe: Drug Interaction Checker – Check for Interactions Between Prescription Medications

Best to avoid it. Habitual use would for sure lead to problems.

If you forget and take one sometimes, you won't die.

Dom said:

So, should I not take naproxen at all then if I take a low dose aspirin each day?

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A priori I would advise against the combination. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) and ASA is completely fine, no interactions.

The risk of the combo of ASA and NSAID can be necessary, prescribed, if you have other comorbidities that can only be coped with nsaid / cannot tolerate opiods or paracetamol. In that case I'd advise you to talk to your GP / specialist - the ones who have the complete picture of your health and medical history.

Duodeni is a gut ulcer. With what I know of your history, I'd bear that in mind.

Yeah, exactly what izo said. And I have the exact same reaction with naproxen. It is best for muscle pain.

Tylenol and heat is probably your path forward.

Always wondered, iannis are you a doctor or just know a lot?

Be interesting to see how accurate the CGM is for estimating A1C before I have it done. It took two weeks before it started estimating it. I'm 0.2 away from going down to pre diabtic as opposed to diabetic. I'm guessing it's going to be a fair amount off.

I know a little about a lot. Not a doctor, wouldn't want to be a doctor. It's just not my personality. It does take a personality type... there's nothing wrong with that type, it's just not mine. For one, I don't manage stress well enough. Nursing is more my speed. I find some contentment in cleaning shit off the walls.

I probably should keep my mouth shut because I am speaking out of turn. But for the majority of this stuff it's relatively straightforward and when it's not I try to be clear that it's not. And if i'm out of my depth this is basically the one place where I just won't comment on it besides for maybe mentioning someone that wouldn't be out of theirs. There's a lot of posts in here that make me wish I knew more than I do.