The Gap and My Diet

This month I have fallen into the “Gap.” No, I didn’t trip in the clothing store. The Gap to which I am referring is the Medicare Gap {{shudder}}. For the rest of the year, I have to pay 70% of the total cost of my medicine. I have one prescription (insulin) that is more than our mortgage payment was. It’s going to be a tough few months financially. I don’t know why this happened because my total drug costs this year were less than last year.

I decided that I would try to cut back on my insulin so that I could stretch the monthly outlay. I tried the low carb diet (meaning less than 20 grams of carbs a day), but I had a problem. The first few days my glucose levels were in the 90’s which is very low for me. It usually in the 120’s to 140’s which is not that bad. It’s not good, but not that bad. A few days into the diet my blood sugar jumped up to 145 when I cut back 5 units on the insulin.

I decided to go back to my regular amount of insulin and just try a under 100 carbs a day. Yesterday was my first day. This morning my levels dropped back to 97.

That no-carb thing is so hard for me. That’s one piece of low carb bread with an egg for breakfast. That’s a no-no for me because of my LDL count. The other meals consisted of meat and a green salad.

Now that I am eating a few carbs I don’t feel so deprived. Maybe after a while I’ll be able to cut back back on the insulin and reduce my cost. We’ll see.