Sorry I unloaded a bit so feel compelled to explain what precipitated my post.

At about 11 AM one of my T2 co-workers who is aware that I work with an education group asked I could give her an opinion.

She is in her early 50's, diagnosed 3 or 4 years ago and has been uncontrolled for most of that time, minimally quite over weight and I have observed poor eating habits (at least at lunch time when we are working together).

Three months back her Doc got upset with her poor progress and prescribed Ozempic on top of whatever else she was taking and she just had a 3 month follow-up this past Monday.

(Her blood sugar was worse and she had gained a few more pounds)

She stated that "her doctor is not giving her enough credit for how hard she is working to try and manage this and he prescribed this Ozempic which I can barely afford" (she has our company drug plan which "sucks as bad as diabetes" - only covers 50%, so 50% co-pay) and she just wants "credit" for how much she is trying.

She went on to say that the drug was neither improving her test results (doesn't use a home meter so no regular results) and she is gaining weight on the stuff and how doctors and the drug companies were just paying each other off and doing nothing for her.

Now normally I would ask some questions, maybe give some advice or suggest a few thing to discuss with her Doctor at the next visit.

But she was sitting (her lunch break), eating while this discussion was going on and the meal she was eating to try and "help her cause"?

A Big Mac, Large Fries and a Large Lemonade (regular strength stuff) - a meal that contains no less than 1360 calories and 186 carbs and she is wondering why the Ozempic is not working on either her blood sugar or weight.

She is a "typical" Type 2 who has zero understanding of the condition and how to manage it - doesn't want to hear anything about it unless "someone else" can fix it for them and rallies against drug companies and doctors who are essentially doing nothing more then trying to keep her alive and functioning despite her total lack of personal responsibility in the matter.

She was more upset that the Doctor didn't give her credit for "trying hard" then hearing the news that "you are totally out of control" AND she didn't even ask for a small piece of advice as to how SHE could try and improve things for herself.

I didn't unload on her (but was really inclined to do so), instead I simply suggested that she should talk to the dietitian that we have on (retainer) - our company funds a wellness program and picks up 100% of the cost for most services - and start a "new plan" because obviously regardless of how hard she was working, either she was doing something wrong or not well enough (she doesn't know enough about this disease and is not interested in finding out so certainly had no appreciation as to how much sarcasm was in my advice).

@A DiabetesTeam Member Vent all you need. Being a caregiver is not easy (I was a nurse for over 30yrs) so I know how hard it gets. I myself have a hard time accepting that Arm has to help me shower, or with other stuff around here due to my autoimmune diseases. For me I feel like I am a burden to him at times. But seeing it from your eyes and point of view makes me understand why Arm does what he does for me. I in return takes care of Nathan. I wake him up but he dresses himself, I prepare meals but he eats it himself (some foods such as meat we cut for him as he has a hard time with certain tasks), I make sure he brushes his teeth before bedtime and washes his hands and so on. For me caring for Nathan is simple and keeps me going, but on bad days sometimes just having foods in a can or frozen I prepared on good days helps so much. So I invent meals at times, the other day a can of mushroom soup, beef I had frozen after cooking it and added a can of corn, made a meal. Winter months are the worse, sometimes Arm has had to get me up and out of bed. Sometimes I drop things such as glasses and cups or dishes and they break and Arm picks them up for me, never gives me heck for it either, he just gets up and does it without me asking. There are things I cannot do for myself anymore either, but Arm is so understanding when it happens. He is not picky with food, he is more then happy when I open canned veggies and make a mix of whatever is easier for me to make. Sometimes on bad days he wakes up Nathan and makes breakfast as mornings for abour 2 hrs I am quite stiff from Arthritis. We always leave a bowl, a cup, a glass, a dish and utensils in the dish rack to make it easier for me to make breakfast for Nathan, not having to reach up in the cupboard. We adapted to what I can or cannot do over the past few years.

So from someone who is heading towards what you are going through with your wife, requiring help for simple things such as a shower that others take for granted. I know what you feel like. If I managed to get off diabetic medications, it is because of the frequent posts and answers you gave me and many others. You have given us hope when it comes to Diabetes care and management. You are always there for us all, glad you feel you can vent here also. Your the big brother everyone needs in their lives. The good old expression, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink it, it has to want to drink to do so. Your coworker obviously has high hopes in Big Pharma without helping herself. Living with 18 diseases with no cure, some since birth, Big Pharma has not helped me much but to get side effects and allergic reactions, nor finding a cure for JRA (42 yrs ago). I had to learn about all my diseases and Diabetes is the easiest to manage for me thanks to you and many others in this group, as I can control what I ingest, that is the only thing I have a say in which has helped so much.

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There is a place for big pharma but overall I chose not to take prescription meds. I have no choice when it comes to synthroid since I had thyroid cancer and it was removed. Other than allergy meds zyrtec and singular and a very low dose of estradiol which I want to replace with black cohosh, I choose herbal remedies to deal with my health concerns such as blood pressure and hopefully with my dietary changes my cholesterol dropped but even if it hasn’t I will not take a statin. To many side effects I don’t want. I have found herbal teas, tinctures and supplements have had a positive effect on me so I’ll stick with them. In reality most drugs are derived from plants but big pharma has either isolated one component and forgot that it’s the whole plant working together that provides the medicinal qualities or they have tried to create synthetic copies. This is obviously my opinion and I totally understand those who chose big pharma and it may come to pass that I’ll have to use big pharma for my diabetes but I’m hoping that day is a long way off.

GrahamLamb; God bless you. Prayers are with you and your family as you try to fight the two diseases. And yet you still have time to give us such wonderful information. You can vent all you want; I will listen always. Take care; both of you

@A DiabetesTeam Member you have your hands full and are an angel. I think about all my hubby has done for me over the years. How blessed are wives who have hubbies who take on so much. Also, you need to let down from time to time. When it builds up it isn't good for your health. Glad to be an ear.hugz my friend.

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