There are a lot of side effects of diabetes that no one ever seems to talk about… Today, I’d like to discuss one of them.
Diabetes is a 24/7 health condition that never lets up and requires a lot of attention. My type 1 diabetes is like a needy monster that needs checked, fed, exercised, watered and medicated. Aside from those things and exponentially more doctors and medical appointments than a regular, healthy-pancreas person (known as “normal” for the rest of this post) has, it requires one more thing. Countless hours of my life spent on the phone.
Do you know what normal people do on their lunch breaks?
They eat lunch.
Sometimes they go for a walk, exercise, run errands and maybe make a quick personal call.
Do you know what I do on my lunch break?
I make phone calls (and attempt to eat my lunch during hold times or quietly while the person on the other side pulls up my information).
Who am I calling you ask?
Well yesterday I wasted my entire lunch break on the phone with my ophthalmologist’s office, Dexcom, my medical supply company, my pharmacy and my car dealership (I’ve got normal people responsibilities too!). My lunch got cold.
But on any given day, I might really need to have a phone call with:
- my doctor
- my endocrinologist
- my insurance company
- my local pharmacy
- my mail-order pharmacy
- my eye doctor (because my ophthalmologist doesn’t do contacts)
- OmniPod
- my various other specialists and medical team members
- a family member
I really wish there were a more hassle-free way to manage diabetes. If it were just the carb counting and insulin dosing (“just” the day-in-day out of standing in for an organ) it might not be as bad, but the never-ending lists of paperwork, prescriptions, tests, approvals, etc. are so tedious. It seems like when I finally get it done, I have to start the cycle over again.
I know that my diabetes isn’t going anywhere for the rest of my life (I hope for but I expect a cure, call me cynical), so I wish that some of the things I need in order to manage it didn’t have to be renewed each year… like insurance approvals for my Dexcom (pieces and parts… I’m approved for sensors but have to be approved to get a new transmitter? What?).
I didn’t sign up for this.
Make mine a double! I’m doing all that for myself as well as my elderly mother.
This is so true. I HATE any time my diabetes requires me to make a phone call. Especially since they are rarely quick.
Ah, these are the parts we so often forget about because they’re not DIRECTLY related to our day-to-day health…but are equal in terms of the frustration they produce!
I couldn’t imagine what that is like but I do know a few people with Type 1 Diabetes. Whenever I go to gatherings, I like to make sure that I bring certain kinds of food that they can eat since not everyone always remembers that little detail.