I have been reading some VERY INTERESTING comments on social media regarding the “insulin sold at Walmart”. Some even using actual scare tactics that I’m not so sure should be used by anyone, nor does anyone any good. Still not so sure why THAT is even being done.

To be clear, Buying these insulins IS NOT an alternative to the dilemma of the high insulin costs. What IT IS, is an alternative to dying because one cannot afford insulin.

There are many things I have read over the years that leaves me scratching my head. But I have also learned that how one manage their diabetes, or their loved ones’ diabetes ……is……well……up to them. If you can find a way to make the insulins work that Walmart sells, more power to you. When Kaitlyn was first diagnosed, those insulins were pretty much all there was to manage the disease. In fact one was actually ‘pork insulin’. Twenty-six years later, here we are.

It will take an adjustment and a doctor should surely be involved….as always. And it will probably be a pain in the ass. These certainly are the older generation of insulins, and so they don’t provide quite the same coverage for blood sugars. They have a shorter half-life than name brand insulins and they do not come in pens. They can peak in two hours and may need a 30-60 minute lead time….like I said, a pain.

You will also be better served by finding a way to obtain the insulins that are available today. But if you cannot afford it, if the cost-reduction programs that the companies offer do not work for you, if you have tried government programs, senior centers (if applicable), and community and social programs for help and if there are no options…..and the only option is NOT TAKING insulin, well THAT is not an option at all.

Now please do not come after me with pitchforks and torches. TO BE CLEAR: NOTHING SHOULD STOP THE PRESSURE BEING MOUNTED AGAINST THESE HIGH COSTS. But I would not want it on my conscience that someone read something that I wrote and did not at least try it because of what I said…..and died because they went without. There is a difference between ‘stop-gap’ action and a substitute for.

I’m still unsure why the government cannot relax the restrictions for buying insulin abroad until such time that those who are so ‘piggy with greed’ can find a balance. Because this dilemma is bad, stupid, and inhumane. Like the air we breath when denied, will kill us; so too it is a death sentence to not have insulin affordable to those who cannot survive without it. THAT THOUGHT HAS NOT CHANGED. Why some bright lawyer has not figured out a way to sue over that, is also beyond me.

WE WILL ALL KEEP FIGHTING. YOU must find a way to stay alive. My prayers will continue and my actions will stay in full force until we find this rectified. And if there is something out there to try with your doctor’s help as oppose to doing without…..I choose trying. That is my point today,

I’m a DiabetesDad

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