New diabetic along with dp
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New diabetic along with dp
| Sun, 02-29-2004 - 7:11pm |
I have a few questions, but here is where my many problems lie. I am a Canadian living in the USA. My b/f is American. He only makes enough money to support us, ie rent, food and very little else. I am not complaining, he is worth what I have left behind. I am not use to not having free health care. I have been a hypoglycemic since I was 32 and now 45 and my sugar levels are climbing. Not a huge degree for me, but enough that I feel the symptoms. As for me I can probably manage with diet and exercise. It is my b/f that I am worried about. Throughout his life he has never had a problem and no one in his family has diabetes. His sugar levels are high. Fasting or not. The highest was 320 by the US system and 22.5 by the metric system. I have put him on a diet as well and exercise and shall see how it goes. We cannot afford health insurance down here. I don't know how anyone can for that matter. He will not go to the Dr as I am sure he needs medication to lower the blood sugar levels. I will also monitor him daily. Hoping it won't go too high.
He is under a lot of stress, and it doesn't help any either.
We met online 2 yrs ago. We did live in Canada for awhile and have moved down to the states since. We both have previous marriages and grown children. He is 51 and works at home doing webpages.
I am wondering is there any Dr's or clinics or societies that help those who need it? I am still learning about the USA. Some of it I do not like, but for the most part it is not much different than Canada.
I may further down the line ask questions about diet and other forms of treatment.
He is accepting being a diabetic although not diagnosed by a physcian as of yet. I also think his B/P is up.
I have some knowledge on diabetes as I was a RPN and worked in a long term care facility, with many diabetics in my care.
Thanks for any advice in advance. If you have any questions let me know please.
Thankyou
Chrissy
We now live in PA
email is chrissy44@zoominternet.net
He is under a lot of stress, and it doesn't help any either.
We met online 2 yrs ago. We did live in Canada for awhile and have moved down to the states since. We both have previous marriages and grown children. He is 51 and works at home doing webpages.
I am wondering is there any Dr's or clinics or societies that help those who need it? I am still learning about the USA. Some of it I do not like, but for the most part it is not much different than Canada.
I may further down the line ask questions about diet and other forms of treatment.
He is accepting being a diabetic although not diagnosed by a physcian as of yet. I also think his B/P is up.
I have some knowledge on diabetes as I was a RPN and worked in a long term care facility, with many diabetics in my care.
Thanks for any advice in advance. If you have any questions let me know please.
Thankyou
Chrissy
We now live in PA
email is chrissy44@zoominternet.net

Chrissy,
Hi and welcome to the board. My name is Mary Frances and I am one of the community leaders for this board. I am a type 2 diabetic and a registered nurse. Any advise I may give is not a subsitute for seeking medical advise from a health care practitioner of your choice.
While we don't a form of universal health care like you do in Canada, we do have health care available for people who can't afford it. This is through your local public health department and the Medicaid system. Look in the phone book for the family practice clinic or similar name in the county that you live. It may be just listed as being part of the county health department. Call them and ask what they have available. I know in my county on the west of the US we have such a clinic and I have sent people to it who had no insulin or other diabetic meds. He really needs to get moving on this and so do you if your sugars are elevating. Many folks who are diagnosed with hypoglycemia go on to becoming frankly diabetic. We also have a health insurance system through the government which has a share of cost for uninsured folks. You would find out about this also from the county health department. Also if there is a county hospital where you live you can go there also for health care but it is pretty expensive.
I hope this is helpful and please let us know how you did. I hope both of you are feeling better in time.
Mary Frances
cl-maryfrances40
Hi Chrissy, welcome to the board. I am one of the community leaders for this board who has been a type 1 diabetic for over 28 years and on a insulin pump for 6 years plus. I can only say that we do not have the medical coverage as you did in Canada, but we do have medicaid offered to those who qualify for the program through a local Social Health Services Department in your area. I would start by calling information to get a phone number for the nearest Social Health Services office, because to me it sounds like you both need to get yourselves checked right away. You both really don't want to put it off, because the consequences of doing so can be deadly as you most likely already now. It is so vital to get started with treatment due to the complications that can hit either of you by putting seing a doctor off, which if you get in sooner you have a much better chance of keeping the complications from being a part of your daily life.
Please know even if you have to make small monthly payments it is well worth it if it means preventing something badly from happening to either of you. So see what you can find out with Social Health Services right away to get that ball rolling. I know they use to have another program going that those who did make more, but not enough to qualify for medicaid could use it and the people paid a small monthly fee for the insurance. I am sad to say that the program was stopped and is no longer available to us now. It is so sad to see so many of us not able to affored the insurance let alone the percentage of what we must pay to see a physician. There must be a better way to take care of the people than to simply allow citizens to go without any coverage at all. At least they do keep children covered very well, but still need to do something for us adults. Well, enough of that for now and do let us know if you have any other questions that you might need help with. Do take care, let us know what happens or how your both doing. Have a fabulous day!
Denise ^..^
Mom to