Help please

[Hopelessly Type 1]

I dont know if any one cares as much as i might need, like a parent, but i need to see that some people dont ignore me.
I was diagnosed at 8 with IDDM, just 2 years after my sister was as well. They said i shouldnt have devoloped IDDM since she had it too. My dad had full custody of us girls but let her go stay w/grandma and our uncle who is also IDDM. They helped her learn to regulate her bs and adjust to changing situations. She has 3 healthy kids and no complications after 15 years.
Thats my hero but i havent talked to her but once in over 7 years, my family has disintegrated. My dad died when i was 14, my mom has been disabled for over 30 years, as far as any family goes i am classified as a ward of the court. I had to divorce my family after dad died in fear of my other sister who became my guardian shortly after dad passed. I emancipated myself out of foster care because of the continued adminsteration of "guinea pig therapy drugs" adminstered to the foster kids. I started smoking after dad died as a comfort,he used to smoke, and now its become an addiction. I was promised medicaid coverage thru the state til 21, i was denied and just finished paying off 5,000+ in hospital bills in hope to clear my credit. I've been on medicaid two times for 3 month periods because of pregnancy, but because ive never been able to control my diabetes i cant get passed the second trimester, and it sends me through a miscarriage. The first, was nearly 5 months and i saw the fetus. I was devastated. The guy that i was living with and hoping to be engaged soon, kicked me out.

[JDRF Team SGG]

I am the person who wrote to ask you to send in a request on the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation web site. I did so because I am the person making the assignments of the requests coming in this weekend, so you can just think of me as your personal guardian angel today. I just received your request and forwarded it to the JDRF staff member who answers all questions about financial or insurance aid. He will be responding early next week, and I hope he has some suggestions for you. Many people contact us with this question, and we do try to give them some contacts for help.

I also thought you might like to be paired up with a mentor of sorts, for you seem like you could use some encouragement from someone who also lives as a diabetic. So I paired you up with another of our volunteers, a type 1 diabetic woman a few years older than you are who can certainly appreciate what you are going through, healthwise. She will be writing to you, and you are free to correspond with her as long as you like, for we really try hard to build relationships of support with our Online Diabetes Support Team. We exist to offer the support we wish we had when we were either newly diagnosed or young and seeking to find a way to live successfully with diabetes.

So keep your chin up. Some e-mails and maybe some help through them are coming your way in a few days.

[JDRF Team SGG]

My heart goes out to you! I, too, am a long-time type 1 diabetic, and I understand fully how frightened and anxious you must be. Please don't do something so drastic as not take your insulin, for that wil only make matters worse. Your sister has lived for a few more years than you without complications, and indeed may be a good role model for you. But it appears that you are frightened and feel overwhelmed because of the expense of the medications and lack of medical health coverage. While I don't know what state you life in, and therefore don't know what is available for you, I do have a suggestion. Please go to the web site for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation at www.jdrf.org and click on the link in the white box that states: "New to Diabetes? You're Not Alone -- We Can Help"

This link takes you to a web page for our Online Support Team. Even though you are not newly diagnosed, it is OK to contact our Online Support Team this way. We get lots of requests from long-time diabetics and we try hard to help each one in some way.Send us an e-mail through the form on this page, and we can direct it to the staff member who handles all requests for financial or insurance help. We may be able to put you in touch with some sort of aid for the costs of diabetic care. We can also put you in touch this way with one of our online support team members who can become a pen pal of sorts to encourage you as you try to get your numbers under better control in order to preserve your health. Please contact us, and we can try to help you.

[JDRF-Team-ES]

Dear Hopelessly Type I,
My heart goes out to you.  It certainly sounds like you have had more than your share to deal with, and diabetes too.  I am not a doctor and therefore can not really give you any medical advice.  I do know that how you take care of your diabetes can be affected by what is going on in your life and the kind of emotional support you get from the people around you.

I have had diabetes for 39 years and I personally know that just having diabetes can be stressful and that it really helps to go to a counselor or social worker or psychologist to help you work out your feelings about the diabetes. You have so many other things going on in your life as well.  When our families can't give us the kind of support we need, it really does help to find a professional who can.  

There are many resources for therapy for people with low incomes.  It may be helpful to see a social worker who has experience doing counseling and can also help you figure out how to deal with your financial issues too.  Your local United Way will have a list of community agencies that may be able to help you.  Also, don't forget the Public Health Department. They have nurses who can both educate you and provide you with the support that we all need to manage the challenge of living with diabetes every day. Your county hospital may also have nurse educators and support groups.  Of course, don't forget to check out your local JDRF chapter for support groups, also.

One of the most important things that you can do right now is to make the decision that you want to take care of yourself and that you will do everything that you can to live a full and healthy life.    Find a counselor who can help you and identify all the things you want to change and tackle them one at a time.  Give yourself lots of support for all your accomplishments and be forgiving when you have you had a bad day.  You have a lot to deal with and it has been going on for a long time, so don't expect yourself to change everything overnight.

Good Luck and let us know how things turn out.
ES

[JDRF-Team-ES]

Dear Hopelessly Type I,
After reading your reply, I would like to encourage you even more strongly to find a doctor and a Social Worker through your local county hospital or Public Health Department or United Way.  I know there are assistance programs for medication for people with low incomes.  If you go to the website, www.rxassist.org, you will find instructions to look up the meds you are on to see what kinds of assistance is available You can download the application forms and instructions.  You must have a doctor provide a prescription and sign the form, but you need to have a doctor anyway.  Talk to your boss and explain the importance of your medical care.  You will be a much better employee if you take care of yourself and get your diabetes on track.  The system is not easy to navigate so I would again encourage to find a social worker who can help you get all the resources that you may be entitled to.
ES

[Hopelessly Type 1]

I actually tried to control my sugar but nothing worked because my sugar averages 230, thats my normal, at that time when medicaid provided strips. If i go below 150 i start to blackout. I couldnt get health insurance working minium wage, so i stopped my birth control pills to get on medicaid again and provide insulin and needles for a couple extra months. That was in 2002. I buy insulin and needles and ration them since i cant afford more than $60 a month. Medicaid said since i make more than $600 a month and i was not pregnant, i was denied. I had to quit my last job on july 29,2004 as a courier because of all the blackouts and confusion while driving. I was working 45 hours a week on a split shift and did not get more than an hour to drive home and eat lunch. I worked typically 7am to 730pm. I got insurance, but after 3 months of trying to squeeze doctors appointment and availibility in on my lunch, one dentist exam was all that was accomplished. The dentist said i have a large abscess and need a root canal ASAP, but would not do it til i got doctor approval of medication. She was then shocked to learn that I dont have a doctor for my diabetes and havent tested my sugar in nearly 2 years. One of the other couriers was made supervisor and i kept telling him i need a day off to see the doctor before i end up on kidney dialysis. On the 28th he said i could take the morning off, he is denying that he did to the DOM. Well i did, i went to an urgent care center and found out i couldnt be evaluted for my diabetes until the morning. I called him and found out that he called the DOM saying i didn't show up for work and that i might be fired. So of course i freaked and decided to quit instead of having FIRED stamped on my work history. And of course my insurance was cancelled and so i never went back to urgent care, never saw a doctor, nothing. I wish i would have went to work and blackedout and then maybe something would have been done. Maybe then i would have a chance to see a doctor and get some help without being financially slapped in the face for a disease that i should not have. I am at the point of refusing to take insulin and seeing what happens. Maybe then people will take me serious, maybe then all the insurance people will read in the newspaper a little two line article that changes their opinion the next time a biochemistry student wanting to help the world or a biology student who was denied food stamps because she is in school walks in their office. Tell me is there any help that doesnt beat around the bush. Please, im reaching out.