Bitter~Sweet ™: The Cost of a Chronic Illness

It’s the second day of  Diabetes Blog Week and we’re off to a great start so far with 105 bloggers signed up.  Please take a look at the Participant’s List and make sure I’ve listed your information correctly.  I double checked every entry but I’m far from perfect so if I’ve made an error please email me and I will fix it right away.  If you’re blogging along with us but haven’t signed up, please do take a quick minute to do so over here.  It helps me keep tabs on how many bloggers are still interested in DBlogWeek and also helps other bloggers find you.

Today’s topic is The Cost of a Chronic Illness. Insulin and other diabetes medications and supplies can be costly. Here in the US, insurance status and age (as in Medicare eligibility) can impact both the cost and coverage. So today, let’s discuss how cost impacts our diabetes care. Do you have advice to share? For those outside the US, is cost a concern? Are there other factors such as accessibility or education that cause barriers to your diabetes care? (This topic was inspired by suggestions from Rick and Jen.)

The financial cost of life with diabetes has been a very hot topic lately.  Here in the U.S., costs are rising and the political climate has a lot of us feeling fearful about the future.  I don’t know what will happen and I’m honestly scared.  But on the same token, I know I’ve been very lucky.  I’ve never had to go without my medications.  I’ve always had good insurance.  Things certainly aren’t cheap, but we’ve never had to choose between paying bills or buying food or purchasing diabetes supplies.  I know how lucky and privileged I’ve been so far.

So when I think about the cost of my chronic illness, it isn’t always the dollars I’m thinking of.  Instead, it’s less tangible things.  Diabetes costs me countless hours of sleep treating middle of the night lows or correcting stubborn overnight highs.  I’ve paid with so many tears of frustration when I’ve tried my hardest and things still don’t go well.  It costs me guilt when I see the worry in my husband’s eye or hear the panic in his voice when he’s leaving me a second voicemail and I haven’t answered the phone.  Diabetes charges a lot in energy and brain power just to  keep myself alive.  It has repossessed my nights when plans are cancelled because out of range blood sugars have left me too exhausted to go out.

I know there will be many powerful posts shared today and in the future about the huge financial cost of diabetes.   But life with a chronic illness costs so much more than dollars and cents.

You can find more Cost of  a Chronic Illness posts listed here.

What is Diabetes Blog Week? Click here for an explanation and to sign up. You can also check out the Participant’s List here. And don’t forget to check out the DBlogWeek Facebook page here.