[myelin]

Type 1 diabetic here. Managing T1D even with the "Gucci" insulins (I use Novolog and have tried Fiasp) is still a huge pain in the butt; you have to give yourself a dose of insulin a fairly precise amount of time before eating, and accurately judge how much you're going to need, which is half science and half wild guesswork. My per-meal dosage requirements vary randomly from month to month -- a dose that would be fine one month is either inadequate or deadly on another month, and the only way to tell if you've got it right is to obsessively monitor your blood sugar.

And that's with the $700/vial insulin... the $25/vial stuff is stone age technology by comparison; you have to take it twice a day, and then eat at two specific times afterwards, or you'll go hypoglycemic (unconscious or maybe dead hypoglycemic, not just the feeling-a-bit-tired kind that people who don't use insulin are familiar with).

The situation right now is that the best and most expensive T1D technology, even the various "artificial pancreas" solutions, still gives you nothing like the experience of a normal pancreas. It would be really nice if the Walmart insulin were a viable long term solution for the cost problem, but unfortunately the negative health effects of older insulin tech are considerable :(

[sithlord]

Have you looked into the Warsaw Calculation of calculating insulin? I did it for awhile and pretty interesting. Only real issue is its pretty inconvenient, requires breaking up doses more. But it also takes into account for fats and proteins into the insulin calcuation. I dont remember what, but say your carb ration is 1:10, you would calulate a protein as maybe 1:25 and fat as 1:30 (theres some assigned value is the point iirc - dont use these numbers )

[maxerickson]

The no-direct-cost PBMs price generic Humalog at $50-$60 now.

Generic Novolog is also ~$55 at Walgreens (more at other places).

[giles7777]

Have you tried low-carb eating? I've been doing it for years and it seems to be an easier method then insulin(type2 borderline when I started, so not exactly the same).

[pimeys]

When you eat lots of fat and protein as a T1, you just get a slowly rising glucose that needs insulin and is harder to control compared to carbs with less fat.

T1 is really complex even with a low carb diet, if you don't only eat vegetables, but meatier food.

[myelin]

Yeah, T1 is pretty much just a pain whatever you do. Low carb does make it quite a bit easier, and I imagine would pretty much be the only safe way to eat if you were using a non-rapid insulin.

Unfortunately (doctor's orders) I also have to cut back on the cholesterol, which seems to be very high in all my favorite low-carb foods :( It's a constant experiment; it may turn out to make more sense to eat more fat but take statins, but I need to wait a bit longer and see how my lipids look with the current diet.

(BTW I'm actually doing fine -- pretty decent control/A1C -- but I had to rant in response to the Walmart insulin suggestion above!)

[pimeys]

Some other things that raise your glucose and you need insulin:

- waking up, liver produces glucagon

- stress at work, hormones going wild… including glucagon

- weather changes, when it is cooler you need more insulin

- you get sick. 2-3x insulin for me

- liver just having a normal glucagon production, that needs insulin without you ever eating anything

Nice that you have your A1c in control. Mine is 5.8% without too many hypos after 26 years of having T1. The tech I need for this costs a fortune without insurance, but at least I can finally live a normal life without nasty surprises every day.

[erosenbe0]

The Regular stuff came out in '82. The Humalog variants came out in '96

The regular stuff is not really stone-age by comparison. They are both old tech.