Diabetes awareness month: Cost of insulin, diabetes symptoms and impact of COVID-19

Editor’s note: November is National Diabetes Month, and Nov. 9 was National Diabetes Day.

Imagine this: you wake up multiple times in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, then drink an entire glass of water before lying back down. You wake up the next day, tired but still very thirsty. Throughout the day you drink more than you eat, and go to sleep early.

What do these events have to do with each other, one might ask? These events are all symptoms of type one diabetes. Extreme thirst, fatigue, headaches, frequent urination, and weight loss are all warning signs of this illness.

So, what exactly is type one diabetes? According to the Mayo Clinic, diabetes is a group of diseases that affect how your body uses blood sugar, or glucose. There is no known cause of type one diabetes. The type of diabetes depends on the body’s ability to break down the sugar in the blood system. Breaking down this sugar depends on the pancreas.

“I would say I see more type two patients than type one,” Lisa Hichkad, physician assistant-certified at the Jones Center in Macon, said. “It’s about 70/30, but I have had some patients misdiagnosed as type two but are actually type one.”

A type one diabetic cannot break down sugar in the blood on their own due to a lack of beta cells in their pancreas. The pancreas is the organ in the body which produces the insulin hormone, a hormone everyone needs in order to regulate sugar levels in our body. A type two diabetic may be able to produce insulin, but not enough to completely break down sugar in their bloodstream.

According to the Jones Center, a medical practice group specializing in endocrinology and diabetes in Macon, insulin is used to transport the energy from glucose to your body’s cells. Diabetics, however, cannot do this on their own, forcing them to take medicine or use other means of controlling blood glucose levels.

One common way type one diabetics control blood sugar levels is by wearing an insulin pump. Insulin pumps use a tube inserted into the body to deliver the medicine as a drip, much like an IV one gets in the hospital. However, some diabetics still prefer to give themselves injections, which come in a pen-shaped casing with screw-on disposable needles.

Cost of insulin

The cost of diabetes supplies has risen dramatically in the past decade. In 2009, one pen or vial of insulin — that’s 10mL of insulin — was $90. Today, in 2020, the average price of a vial of insulin is $300. On average, a diabetic will spend almost $17,000 a year on supplies, which is an increase that is 2.3 times higher than it was five years ago, according to the American Diabetes Association.

In 2018, diabetics paid more $327 billion for insulin, according to estimates from the ADA.

These are not the only numbers related to diabetes that are skyrocketing. From 2008 to 2018, there were a reported number of 307 deaths in Macon-Bibb county from diabetes ar complications from diabetes. In 2015, diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.

So now this brings the question: Why are these numbers important?

Due to rising prices of insulin and other supplies, many diabetics have cut down or rationed their use of insulin to make the medicine last longer. The stories of Josh Wilkerson, Jesimya David Scherer-Radcliff, and Alec Smith are just a few out of the large group of diabetics rationing insulin to save money, or because they can’t afford the prices on their own.

“It’s scary to think that one day my family might not be able to pay for my insulin,” Justyna Zabinski, a student at Georgia Baptist College of Nursing, said. “Diabetics shouldn’t have to live in that fear.”

COVID-19 and diabetes

Now, in 2020, diabetics also have to worry about the risk of COVID-19. Although type two diabetics are at a higher risk of severe illness from the COVID virus, type one diabetics are at risk also. According to the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetics are advised to continue taking their medicines as usual and to keep at least a 30-day supply of insulin or other medicines. Diabetics in the hospital with COVID had a death rate of 29%, compared to 6% for people without an underlying condition.

“Personally, I’ve seen about 40 patients who have had COVID,” Hichkad said. “I’ve lost two patients who were type two.”

Maggie Shannon is a senior at Mercer University working with the Telegraph this semester.