I thought I'd share a bit of my endo visit today. It was pretty typical, but with one good bit of news and one bad bit.
I'll start with the bad haha.
My levels after lunch through until the morning aren't great. They never really have been and part of the problem is my recent "break" from excerise while I was dealing with an internal stomach issue (still am and still feeling totally exhausted/ill) but the other part of the problem is that we can never find a dose that works. we've changed my dosing so many times without any positive results. The pump caused more problems than it solved, so that's still on the back burner until the technology improves drastically (such as when the artificial pancreas is available!).
my overall numbers aren't great either of course, but after lunch are the worst. So we've pumped my ratio to 2:15 still for breakfast, 3:15 for lunch and dinner. But....
So I asked him about Symlin and how I've heard T1's can use it not just T2's, having not really done any research as to where it's available or if it's covered by Canada's Pharmacare..and thinking it could be a possible fix or at least help....well it turns out none of that matters because it's a US only product! He said it's a good product, but because it's not available he couldn't prescribe it obviously.
He told me about a similar Canadian product, but it's slightly different in that it also tries to trigger the beta cells into producing more insulin. It also comes with the weight loss and the reduction in insulin needs...but the kicker is that it's NOT on the market as a T2 drug that a T1 can take. Not only that, but Pharmacare does not cover it for any diabetic taking insulin, meaning that if I were to take it anyways (there isn't any reason why I couldn't, the beta cell trigger wouldn't work anyways for me) it would cost me $6/a day, so around $180 a month. UGH.
I told him my woes with dealing with Medtronic to get CGM info and dealing with the local clinic to get an iPro (they still haven't been able to get any from Medtronic..and I started calling about it last August!)..and he said he'd have to light a fire under someone's ass to get the iPro in the clinic..so hopefully I'll get that call soon and can take that route vs no symlin and no cgm.
Now for the good news:
My end was talking to me about the pump, because he had received another letter in regards to it. He didn't say, but I believe it was from Medtronic as they were DESPERATELY trying to get me to buy the pump with the built in CGM..and just not hook the pump up. (If you're interested in that whole bullshit, I can link you to my conversation about it haha).
So he asked if I was thinking about it again. I said I wasn't until the technology approved, which we had agreed upon over two Christmas' ago when I disconnected.
Well, he informed me the Omnipod is coming to Canada! The other end in his office (I'm lucky enough to have the two top endo's in BC in the same office! haha) has a sample one and confirmed it's weeks away from being available!
I've been looking for this information forever, a date or even an idea as to when it will arrive!
Now I'm not planning on getting it, the pump is still the pump and still wasn't for me..but I'm SO happy to know that if I decide to try again, I can try one WITHOUT TUBES!!
Hopefully the "matter of weeks" isn't too long, but I trust when they say only a few weeks because they both know their stuff and keep their tabs on new technology and research.
I know a lot of Canadians on here will probably be as happy as I was to hear the news. It's been a long wait. Now we just need Dexcom to get their butts here with their CGM!!