Say a disaster happened (economic, natural, terrorism)... how long would you be able to last without any access to pharmacy or hospital supplies?
I ask this because a local church in my area is encouraging all of its members to have a 90 day food supply. I thought about it and... shouldn't I have a 90 day insulin supply in case disaster strikes?
Anyone else out there not think about emergencies much until recently? Maybe I'm just behind the rest of the crowd since I live in sunny, predictable Arizona.
The emergency is always in the back of my mind, but I really don't think about it. I would probably panic at first, but pull myself together as is needed.
Realistically though, to get a 90 day supply of anything would cost a lot of money, considering the fact that most of our insurance companies wouldn't pay for that many supplies at once. If you think about, whether you are on a pump, pens or syringes, you need insulin and any form of how you take it I.E. enough syringes or enough insets or whatever. You would also need enough test strips to last you long enough. I just looked at my onetouch strips box yesterday and saw that without my insurance a supply of 100 strips is $187. I don't think I would ever pay that ever to get test strips.
I put together a 30 day supply. The above thread got me thinking about it, and I decided that if the world as we know it is not enough back to normal in 30 days that we can't then go get insulin for our son, I'm not holding my breath that it will be better in 60 more days. This is not a fun thing to think about, but agree that the chances of this kind of catastrophe that would distrupt insulin production/supply for 30 days is very low. I think it is most critical to have at least a 1 week supply, so that you can live thru the aftermath of a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, etc. because in most cases, medical help would be available by then.
Realistically though, to get a 90 day supply of anything would cost a lot of money, considering the fact that most of our insurance companies wouldn't pay for that many supplies at once. If you think about, whether you are on a pump, pens or syringes, you need insulin and any form of how you take it I.E. enough syringes or enough insets or whatever. You would also need enough test strips to last you long enough. I just looked at my onetouch strips box yesterday and saw that without my insurance a supply of 100 strips is $187. I don't think I would ever pay that ever to get test strips.
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actually my insurance company provides a discount if we order a 90 supply of prescriptions. Basically we're only paying for 2 months and they give us 1 month free. Obviously that 90 day supply diminishes as the 90 days go by, but with my pump supplies i'm given 4 boxes of infusion sets and 4 boxes of reseviors every 3 months. I never use that. So I think I would have enough if I needed to get by for any reason.
The insulin, I would just use what I have conservatively. For example, if I knew I didn't have enough novolog to cover meals and basal. I have a back of vial of lantus so I'd use that for basal and use the novolog (still via pump) for meals.
I have always done well in panic and emergency situations. I don't feel I would have a problem.
Realistically though, to get a 90 day supply of anything would cost a lot of money, considering the fact that most of our insurance companies wouldn't pay for that many supplies at once. If you think about, whether you are on a pump, pens or syringes, you need insulin and any form of how you take it I.E. enough syringes or enough insets or whatever. You would also need enough test strips to last you long enough. I just looked at my onetouch strips box yesterday and saw that without my insurance a supply of 100 strips is $187. I don't think I would ever pay that ever to get test strips.
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actually my insurance company provides a discount if we order a 90 supply of prescriptions. Basically we're only paying for 2 months and they give us 1 month free. Obviously that 90 day supply diminishes as the 90 days go by, but with my pump supplies i'm given 4 boxes of infusion sets and 4 boxes of reseviors every 3 months. I never use that. So I think I would have enough if I needed to get by for any reason.
The insulin, I would just use what I have conservatively. For example, if I knew I didn't have enough novolog to cover meals and basal. I have a back of vial of lantus so I'd use that for basal and use the novolog (still via pump) for meals.
I have always done well in panic and emergency situations. I don't feel I would have a problem.
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I had a problem last month with my medicine. My endo wrote out the wrong prescription and I didn't think to look at it before I gave it to the pharmacy because I've never had a problem like this before! And so when I went to pick it up, it was the wrong thing! I had a hell of a time trying to get what I needed. They needed my endo to write out a new prescription, and I had to pay $80 for something I get for $10. I've also had problems with getting things like test strips. You can't order more until about 1-2 weeks before you run out. Annoying insurance companies!
I use allot of insulin.. I get 4 bottles of rapid acting every month for my pump.. I have a few back up insulin bottles but mostly I would say I have a 25 day insulin back up.. Not too back but for a disaster so bring down the pharmacies and hospitals.. somethings tells my its going to be more than 25 day.. maybe even more that 90 in my opinion..
I had a problem last month with my medicine. My endo wrote out the wrong prescription and I didn't think to look at it before I gave it to the pharmacy because I've never had a problem like this before! And so when I went to pick it up, it was the wrong thing! I had a hell of a time trying to get what I needed. They needed my endo to write out a new prescription, and I had to pay $80 for something I get for $10. I've also had problems with getting things like test strips. You can't order more until about 1-2 weeks before you run out. Annoying insurance companies!
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You have to tell your doctor you need more than you really do. Then they'll write you a bigger prescription. If you test 6 times a day tell them you test 10. Same with insulin. That's what I do and I have enough testing supplies on hand to last for well over a month. 6 months of insulin. Doctor's don't care. Doesn't hurt them any.
um well, u kinda wanna keep emergency stuff at all times like i have enough insulin for 90 days along with syringes and pens and I keep like 5 syringes and 2 pens with me at all time plus 10-20 spare needles and 100 strips. SO, incase of emergency, you want everything always but you also wanna keep so with you at all times too
I had a problem last month with my medicine. My endo wrote out the wrong prescription and I didn't think to look at it before I gave it to the pharmacy because I've never had a problem like this before! And so when I went to pick it up, it was the wrong thing! I had a hell of a time trying to get what I needed. They needed my endo to write out a new prescription, and I had to pay $80 for something I get for $10. I've also had problems with getting things like test strips. You can't order more until about 1-2 weeks before you run out. Annoying insurance companies!
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You have to tell your doctor you need more than you really do. Then they'll write you a bigger prescription. If you test 6 times a day tell them you test 10. Same with insulin. That's what I do and I have enough testing supplies on hand to last for well over a month. 6 months of insulin. Doctor's don't care. Doesn't hurt them any.
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I guess I'm just not used to lying to my doctor. haha sounds like a good idea though.
I actually just had a weird experience about 2 weeks ago. I had a defective insulin vile. If you look at your viles of insulin, the cap is crimped down around the bottle so that the cap is secured to the bottle. Well I had a vile that the cap was not crimped down and if you turned the vile upside down the cap would fall off and all the insulin goes onto the floor. Needless to say they replaced my vile, that was stressful since it was my last vile!!!!