I have found the Fountain of Youth, or so the news tells me.
For the last three or so years, I was trying desperately to get a medication removed from my brother-in-law’s med list. The medication was called Metformin.
Larry was put on the medication to keep his blood sugar under control. One time…ONE TIME…when he was in the hospital or was having a particularly difficult medical time, he had a blood sugar test that was way out of line.
His doctor decided that he would put him on Metformin and keep an eye on his blood sugar just to make sure it wasn’t an aberration.
It was an aberration.
Every time he was admitted to the hospital in the last years of his life, which was at least a dozen times and because he was on Metformin, a drug used for diabetics to keep blood sugar under control, he had to eat a diabetic diet.
Larry hated a diabetic diet. Diabetics hate a diabetic diet. But Larry wasn’t a diabetic and about the only thing he enjoyed besides smoking and honey or sugar in his tea, was eating. None of which were permitted on a diabetic regimen.
He also had to have his blood sugar tested. This they did by pricking his finger before every meal. He despised that too. He couldn’t do it himself because MS robbed him of dexterity. Poking and prodding had become a daily occurrence in so many ways. Adding one more prick to the pile just…well pissed him off.
With each hospital admission, I would request that they review the medication list and his daily blood sugar and try to get him off the Metformin. In the meantime, he had to stay on that god awful diet and be prick insulted.
I won’t lie. I’d bring contraband into the hospital. I’d bring sugar for his tea. I’d bring hoagies and Peppermint Patties. Yeah, I did it. Sue me. If I could find one less thing to make his life miserable, I would do it. Because, by the way, he was NOT diabetic. Oh that.
I lobbied for that damn Metformin to go away with doctors in hospitals, doctors in nursing homes, doctors in rehab centers, and doctors’ offices. I even got some doctors to agree.
But here’s the rub.
Once a drug is on your list of meds at a hospital and you go back to the same hospital again and again, they never change that drug list. I’m pretty sure it takes an Act of Congress to make that change. Pretty sure Congress hasn’t agreed on anything since the 1800’s.
I went so far as to change hospitals and was successful for a few days, until they decided he needed a heart healthy diet. It stopped the pricks (in so many ways) but he still couldn’t have sugar in his tea.
Yesterday, on a long drive to the airport during rush hour, I heard Robin on the Howard Stern show (yes, you now know one of my dirty little secrets….I love Howard) report that a new drug may help us to live to 120 years old!! Howard loved that idea, if you are lucky to be healthy and enjoy another 50 or 60 years.
This miracle drug is…………..you guessed it…………….Metformin. If you can navigate your healthcare or you want to live in a world of pricks.
“You Just have to Laugh…..”
© 2015 Cathy Sikorski
The world is filled with enough pricks already, for sure! I give you so much credit for finding the humor in all of this – I can’t believe you had to change hospitals! – and for providing us with some really solid information in the process.
I miss listening to Howard! I need to get SiriusXM again!
Yes, Mary. It’s like chocolate to me.. love a world where humor is the order of the day!
I just didn’t see that ending coming…. Good one! I get a kick out of Howard Stern. He’s a funny, screwed up guy and very entertaining. And his medical news is probably as accurate as most peoples… plus it comes with a laugh.
HaHa thanks, Roz. So you share my dirty little secret!!!
Sounds like a nightmare to me. I do not look forward to ever having to deal with this.
Wendy, I truly wish for you and everyone that you never have to deal with this. Unfortunately, it seems rampant.
Ugh, just this year I had to deal with the nightmare known as hospitalization when my Mom came down with colitis. You don’t know your limits until you’ve had to go toe-to-toe with a nurse at 3 am!
Indeed, Kimberly!!! I feel your pain. It’s kind of amazing what inner strength you can pull out of yourself for a loved one when dealing with the medical community!
Metformin isn’t a good drug. My husband is on it. It has some really dire side effects and may even affect cognition. I think it’s best to be on no drug at all if you can help it. Some people do need it, but this stuff is’t for the faint of heart.
I so agree Carol. It certainly didn’t have an anti-aging effects that I could see. Hope your husband may be able to get off of it someday. Thanks for commenting!
I did recently hear about that drug too. Amazing. It’s so good of you to help out like you did. I would have snuck some goodies in to him too!
Yes, Carolann, it may get me on the naughty list…but so worth it! Thanks for your comments!
I must say I live in a world with enough pricks let along work with a few…. no thanks to the medicine “Metformin”. yes I do have to laugh. you made my morning (smiles!!!!!!!)
(you listen to Howard Stern. cool!!!)
OMG! Jerome…this is hilarious. I may have to get you to be a guest blogger!!! And yes, I’m super cool.
Dear Cathy,
That makes me laugh….drug companies and Howard Stern!!
Luv ya,
Beth Ann
Thanks, Beth. So good to see you last week!