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GenXer

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Everything posted by GenXer

  1. Trigger warning - oregon / ou onside kick 2006
  2. As a Sooner, that call is bullshit. Passer wasn’t even down. Fuck those refs. * bullshit call I’m referring to was the original roughing/targeting call. Texas got fucked on that whole play. Should’ve been a safety.
  3. Thanks for turning me onto this. Just ordered it on vinyl. My submission to the thread is Drugstore. A few songs got some airplay on the edge back in the day. The album is solid all the way through.
  4. Forecast: mostly cloudy with a chance of contact high
  5. I caught Trippin Daisy at the Kessler last night. They blew the roof off. Tim has an outstanding stage presence. Great show.
  6. Saw the Toadies tonight at Lava Cantina in Frisco. Pretty good way to spend a Thurs night. Good turnout. They played the great stuff from Rubberneck.
  7. I probably could but we dropped about $1k per ticket. We got the tix because she’s never seen PJ. I saw them with the ramones as the opening act around ‘95 in a field south of austin. That was the tour when vedder was taking a stance against ticketmaster. Anyway, I could go but I’m an old in Dallas so I really don’t have anyone to go with and it’s on a weekday in okc. It would be a $1k loss. My other option is to resell them on ticketmaster. I’m leaning towards reselling.
  8. I’ve had tix for the PJ okc show since 2000. Alas, my wife has work this time and we can’t make it to the sept 20 show. This is the view from row K in section 106. Our tix are in row A.
  9. GenXer

    Insulin

    I’ve read the anecdote in your link before; it always breaks my heart. Some people are also rationing their insulin by either splitting or skipping doses. Both have serious health consequences. After aging out of his mother’s health insurance, one 26-year-old manwas informed by his pharmacist that his insulin and supplies would be $1,300 per month. It was more than he could afford on his restaurant manager’s salary. Less than a month after losing his insurance, he died. His family believes he started rationing his insulin, and that is what killed him. I know what this young man was feeling physically. The best way I can describe is that it feels like a rotting fruit. Your body feels disconnected; muscles and joints are oddly disconnected. Running feels like you’re doing it for the first time. Walking up a flight of stairs takes away your breath away. You’re constantly parched and drinking water but you’re never satisfied. You’re constantly urinating to get the sugar out of you. I had no idea what was happening to me as I was yet undiagnosed. This young man knew he was dying but couldn’t afford the fix. Breaks my heart.
  10. GenXer

    Insulin

    Manufactured by a canadian company. $140 for 30 day supply in canada. $550 in the states. Geez.
  11. GenXer

    Insulin

    And I thought type 1’s had it bad. How long does 60 tablets last? One month?
  12. GenXer

    Insulin

    I’ve always considered health insurance similar to a discount card to buy insulin at a reasonable price. The insurance part came into play when I got appendicitis and got an appendectomy.
  13. GenXer

    Insulin

    I’ve never transitioned to pens. I’ve tried using them but it’s awkward in my opinion. Feels like hitting a nail with a sledgehammer. I’m picky about injections and like to squeeze just the right amount of skin so that I can get just the tip in (yeah, that was intentional). This technique allows for a pain free injection. You can’t even feel it go in (yep - also intentional). I don’t have that control with the pen. And, the hard click of the pen shakes the pen so I might prick something inside (damn - this reads badly). The button to inject the insulin is awkward to click and hold the pen in the same place while injecting. One of the tricks to injecting is to avoid any blood vessels. Otherwise, you get a spot of blood on your shirt. I hate that. The pen doesn’t let me get a good look at the injection site so I don’t notice quickly if I hit a blood vessel. Hence, more blood spotted shirts. Pens are the norm so I have to specifically ask for a vial when the doc fills out my prescription. I don’t believe you can fill a pen from a vial. The pens are pre-packaged with a set amount of insulin; there doesn’t seem to be a way to refill them. There are also insulin pumps. You wear these on the outside of your body. I don’t have one but my understanding is that you refill these from vials. You still have to manually click the pump to inject the desired amount of insulin. The pumps are an alternative if you don’t like sticking yourself with a needle several times per day. That’s never bothered me so I don’t see the advantage yet of a pump. Once someone develops the tech to pair my blood sugar device with a pump and the app tells the pump when and how insulin to inject to keep my blood sugar in range, I will likely adopt that tech. This will act as close to a pancreas as possible. I suspect that tech may already be available as all the component tech is already developed.
  14. GenXer

    Insulin

    Good question. Every type 1 diabetic reacts differently to insulin. Here’s what I’ve seen with myself. I can speak with more detail since I began using the freestyle libre device that lets me check my blood sugar with my phone. That app plots a graph of my blood sugar so I can see my level at any point over time. This helped me discover that I have the “dawn effect.” This is effect causes my blood sugar to spike overnight when I’m asleep and haven’t eaten anything for hours. Very cool tech. There’s other makers of this tech too. My endocrinologist says I’m on the “walmart” brand of the tech snd there’s a better maker out there. Back to your question. The old version of the short-acting humulin insulin (humulin R) caused me to go into insulin shock much too regularly after age 30. It became a real problem. When I described the problem to my endocrinologist, he prescribed humalog. This was before its patent expired around 2013. I found immediate improvement. Until age 30, I never got severe insulin shock with humulin R. But age takes its toll. When he switched me to humalog, he also switched me to lantus (long acting). Previously, I took Humulin NPH for long acting. I never noticed a significant difference between lantus or humulin NPH. At some point, my employer health insurance dropped lantus from its covered meds and my endocrinologist switched me to levemir for long acting. In a pinch, I can buy some Humulin NPH (now it’s just Humulin N) without a prescription and still use it. Now that I have the device and app, I’ve discovered I have the dawn effect and adjust my long acting insulin to try to counteract it.
  15. GenXer

    Insulin

    I can’t explain the chemical differences between the old and new stuff. It’s not my field, and I didn’t stay at a holiday inn last night. I can speak to the cost difference between the brand name and generic. In my experience, I was surprised that the cost of insulin once the patent expired didn’t have an appreciable difference. I was using lantus as my long lasting insulin when its patent expired. Lantus’ generic is glargine. My endocrinologist wrote me a prescription for glargine at my request. I expected a lower cost but didn’t notice any to speak of. I’ve found the main difference in cost is the which health insurance you have. As a corporate drone, I’m affected by the annual decisions of HR. A quick google search shows walgreens charges the same amount for lantus and glargine ($72 for a vial). With my insurance, I pay $50 for a vial of levemir and $30 for a vial of lispro. $80 a month is very reasonable for me but if I’m uninsured (meaning I’m between gigs), retail is $80 for lispro and $300 for levemir). I just checked goodrx and here’s the retail price for one vial of levemir.
  16. GenXer

    Insulin

    The human variants patented way back were what I started taking in the 80’s. It went by the names Humulin R and NPH. I considered myself a pretty durable type 1. Other type 1’s aren’t so fortunate. Two high school classmates of mine died before age of 30 due to complications from type 1 diabetes. One of them went blind around age 25. My physiology changed around age 30, I became more brittle. Humulin R sent me into insulin shock several times, and I wound up in the ER to revive me. Basically the brain powers down in insulin shock. I now take levemir (long lasting) once per day and lispro (short acting) 5 or so times per day. No episodes of insulin shock for years. The biggest breakthrough in type 1 treatment I’ve seen in recent years is a device you attach to your arm that pairs with your phone. The device has probes that go just under the skin. You use an app to get your blood sugar reading. People normally do like 20 readings per day. No more finger sticks. Game changer. The device lasts 14 days and it’s quirky at times. There’s opportunity for improvement but it’s a huge improvement over finger sticks. It is expensive though.
  17. GenXer

    Insulin

    This is great news for Cali residents. Bravo, Cali. Taking care of its people.
  18. GenXer

    Insulin

    Thanks for the link. Fucking republicans.
  19. GenXer

    Insulin

    I consider myself progressive so if I critique progressives, I’m also critiquing myself. Self reflection is a good thing in my opinion. No one is perfect. I was taken back somewhat by the immediate backlash. I was hoping for some healthy discussion on the bill. Good feedback on my presentation and phrasing. I re-read my OP. I understand why it could be interpreted as incendiary as I launched directly into criticism without giving credit to the Dems where credit’s due. I don’t have any cred in this forum so it’s impossible to know my angle. I look forward to what the senate can pass next to reduce insulin costs for everyone regardless of their health insurance (or lack thereof). Peace.
  20. GenXer

    Insulin

    I’m not talking about progressives in the larger sense. I’m talking about progressives in this forum.
  21. GenXer

    Insulin

    You are wrong to take my position that nothing should pass. ACA wasn’t ideal but upthread I said it was the most important and impactful healthcare legislation in my lifetime. That’s a damn good endorsement on my part. I get the babysteps part of legislation, and agree that’s the only way to get stuff past the republicans. No need to bold. We’re all aware they’re irredeemable pieces of shit. I still believe Dems could be creative and allow for everyone to purchase prescription meds from international online sources. That’s my critique of Dems. There are international providers that do that now. But, customs might snatch it. Or, is the online provider a good faith actor. I’d like the FDA to approve them before I inject the stuff in my body. I don’t know if this would even require a change in legislation. You’re correct that I didn’t know the details of the bill. I don’t read legislation for a hobby, and I’m not an attorney. This community is full of attorneys. That’s why I posted questions. You’re just conditioned to see a question as a trolling effort.
  22. GenXer

    Insulin

    No. Fucking. Way. I’ve taken a lot of vitriol in this thread. Js1 immediately labeled me a troll and has clung to that. Penelope gave my OP a “fuck you” then retracted it. Someone else called me a concern troll as well. All this for pointing out how the bill that passed doesn’t help many less-fortunate people. Even though I recently joined surly, I’ve lurked for a long time and have a lot of respect for many posters. I’m a ledge guy. The reaction I’ve gotten for my critique of the bill leads me to believe us progressives also lack empathy as the examples of vulnerable people I’ve described have been disregarded in favor of a touchdown dance for the bill.
  23. GenXer

    Insulin

    We are looking around. I posted as such in the thread where everyone discussed moving. We’re considering Maine. Our kid is out of college, and we both work remotely in tech. My critique of the bill isn’t for my own financial considerations. At this point in my life, insulin costing $35 or $200 per vial doesn’t move the needle much for me. We do quite well. What upsets me about the cost of insulin stems from my empathy for the less fortunate. I guess I just shouldn’t give a shit about others.
  24. GenXer

    Insulin

    The Venn diagram of universal healthcare and elimination of extortionary insulin prices isn’t a perfect circle. I’m just looking for all type 1 diabetics to be able to purchase insulin at a reasonable cost. That doesn’t seem to be too far fetched. My endocrinologist has told me some of her patients ration their insulin because of its cost. This issue is literally life or death.
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