Meet Alex Vickers

Today I’m talking with Alex Vickers, a registered nurse and certified diabetes educator. She works in an endocrine clinic and has a lot of knowledge to share about her experience with type 1 diabetes, especially about insulin and hormones.

We talk about how stress affects blood sugars, mispronounced words, and touch a little on the importance of mental health. I took advantage of having a nurse on the show to ask all sorts of specific medical questions, like the honeymoon period and dawn phenomenon. It turns out insulin and hormones have a lot more impact on our bodies than we realize.

Wins & Fails

Colleen’s Fail: Dexcom started sending out the new G6 transmitters starting with “81XXXX” which do not allow restarts as easily as the “80XXXX” transmitters. The restart steps in episode 5 still work for the older transmitters, but I have not had luck restarting my sensors since I changed transmitters.

Tip of the Week

Are you allergic to sensor adhesives? Adam Brown of diaTribe has this tip:

“If you get adhesive allergies, try spraying Flonase on the skin before inserting the sensor. Others recommend applying a Band-Aid Tough Pad to the skin first, then inserting the sensor right through it.”

Diabetes Spotlight

2020 Health Plans Give People Access to as Much Insulin as They Need

“Beginning in 2020, nation-wide Cigna (and Express Scripts) and three Minnesota insurance companies (Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Medica, and UCare) will cap total monthly insulin payments for some health plans. The state of Colorado is also limiting monthly insulin costs for residents.”

In a win for insulin affordability, insurance companies are launching policies that cap monthly out-of-pocket expenses to make sure that people can afford as much insulin as they need.

Now It's Your Turn...

For our type 1 diabetic listeners, what kind of support system do you have? If you don’t feel like you have one, what kind of support do you need?

Mentioned in This Episode

  • Reach out to Alex Vickers if you want to ask questions or chat with her! Her email is ay********@ya***.com.

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Credits

Our music is by Joseph McDade. Check out his website here!

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