Miracle…Really?

I was diagnosed with type II diabetes several years ago. Since then I have had medical exams and blood work about every six months. I have been on a variety of meds which have generally kept my disease under control. I would occasionally watch what I ate and rarely tested my blood. The medicine seemed to be working, so I was cool, no need to struggle with a diet or finally get on an exercise program. I remember a doctor (yes an actual doctor) saying regarding diet and exercise, why bother if there’s a drug for it. 

In the last few months  my blood sugar readings rose. My doc recommended a new medication, a weekly injection. He told me that Trulicity was a once a week self-injection. It had good success reducing A1C and I “might” even lose some weight. Science had come up with the latest miracle. The sound of “injection” wasn’t pleasant, but I knew something had to be done. The drug is incredibly expensive. $700 a month for 4 injections, but “what the heck” Medicare pays for all but $100. Six weeks later my fasting blood glucose is normal. I’ve lost over 10 pounds and I feel great and the “miracles” just keep on coming. 

Trulicity might be a miracle drug but maybe not. You see at the same time I started the injections. I finally studied up on what, as a diabetic,  I really should be eating. I started following a strict low carb diet and got serious about daily exercise.   Ads for diabetic medication always have tag lines like “along with diet and exercise.” How much is the drug…how much is diet and exercise? Some say diet and exercise can replace the drugs completely. 

Type II diabetes is epidemic. Check it out.  The cause is obvious. Too many of us are fat and lazy. We eat “crap” and our most vigorous exercise is getting out of the recliner and struggling to the refrigerator, while complaining about the high cost of health care and insurance. Some of us also grip about the “irresponsibles” who live on welfare, don’t have jobs and just need to “take some responsibility.” Irresponsibility is ugly, especially in a mirror. 

Maybe the high cost of medical care and insurance is due, at least in part, to each of us failing to take good care of ourselves and relying on miracle drugs to replace individual responsibility. 

Some of us think the latest election is a “miracle”, but I strongly suspect that if that “miracle” isn’t accompanied by some getting off the couch and personal effort to doing something to make America Great Again, the “miracle” will be short lived.

In all the battles of life, health, finances, and politics, personal responsibility is first line of defense as well as the best offense.