Re: Recently diagones, Q about test strips

PDX-Stan wrote:
Hi, I was recently diagnosed with Type II.

At the top of the list of questions is test strips for cheap or free.

Background: 55, living in Oregon USA, low income (actually no income
since the foot surgery, restricted to what I can do because of the
edema), no health insurance, would qualify for state health plan,
except they're way under-funded and there is now a 4 year period to
get on.

Meds: Metformin & Glyburide, and Lisinopil for blood pressure.
Nothing for the edema ??

All of these are available cheaply from any pharmacy with a Generic program. I like KMart because they giver you 3 months at a time. Others are slightly cheaper but are one month.
I can get you in touch with a good Italian pharmacy if you need anything not available on the cheap list.
Cheapest test strips seems to be Wakgreens at $28 / 50 strips, which
will be about $50 a month for blood glucose testing.

KMart has the same . WalMart has a slightly cheaper set, but not much
$50 that I don't have.

So, what's cheap, free or assistance available for the financially
needy.

I have never found a decent cheap plan, but before I went on Medicare, I used eBay.. Be sure you know what you are buying. I have gotten strips for less than half price, but I have seen strips offered for MORE than they cost in the store

Don't be afraid to buy expired strips. You can sometimes get them for as low as $10 for 500. If they are just expired - don't worry. If they are a year old, double test
Any institutions, grants, funds or programs out there?
Check on line for clinical testis. They won;t pay for your strips nut they WILL often get you testing you otherwise wouldn't afford.

I applied for a test at the Wilmer on an eye drug. They found a bleed in my eye which would have destroyed my sight and fixed it. They also provided me with years of expensive testing and visits to a top Eye specialist, better than one I probably could haves gotten to see if I HAD insurance.. Eventually they d treated my progressive retinopathy, and my subsequent Glaucoma.
Any ripoffs to watch out for?

ANYTHING which says "TCM", "cure" , "natural" or "Supplement" or promises a rapid drop in A1c.. Also anything which tells you about a "secret" ot something "ignored" or " hidden". Also anything which tries to promote their produce by blasting the FDA, Big Pharna, the Medical Establishment" etc. While there are lots og good reasons to take some of these pot shots, anyone who is using them to sell something is almost always a fraud.

A word about "Supplements". Most people think that a "Supplement" means a "supplement", ie, something you take in addition to something else.
NOT SO, "supplement" in advertising is a precise legal term under the Pure Food and Drug Act which means "neither a food nor a drug",. It is exempt from the Act, and so does not need to be either pure or effective. I can take a box of pure sugar and sell it as a "Special Diabetic Supplement" LEGALLY, and some people do.. If you buy celery at the store, it needs to actually be celry, and have a lable which acuratly tells carbs, fats, and other thongs. Not so a Supplement. If you buy a drug, you have to ger an accurately measured dose of the drug specified on the label. and, it can be ordered off the market if it is shown to he harmful, or not to work - not so a supplement.


More Qs later.

Thanx,

Stan.

You can emeail me direct if you wish to ask any detailed questions which I can.

Good luck - I have been there
Ted
.

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