REQUEST FOR CGMS: DENIED BY INSURANCE

Today is a special day. A day when we all raise our voices and tell our stories. CGMS is a fairly new technology, but it has done wonders in the lives of many diabetics already. My life is one of those lives.

I was one of the lucky ones. I was approved the first time I requested CGMS. This was back in February. I had only been on CGMS for two months, and my A1c dropped from 6.7 to 6.4. This is a significant drop for me. And puts me that much closer to my goal of an A1c less than 6.0.

But now, as I am beginning to see all the wonderful parts of CGMS, my insurance company is trying to stop paying for the coverage.

I sent a letter to my insurance company that explained all of the things that CGMS has done for me. Some other things that have helped me are the slow regaining of some of my hypoglycemic awareness. It's still not perfect, but I am beginning to feel me lows better than I did before. I would love to see that continue.

As I sit here, on the sidewalk, outside my local public library, in the warm sunshine, I am not worried about if my blood sugar is low. I can look at my pump and see that I am right around 100. This gives me peace of mind.

Currently, I have been told that the insurance company had decided to "table" a decision to quit covering the sensors, but is currently looking at the policies of other insurance companies around the country. This doesn't look good for me, as I see post after post of people who have been denied continually.

I am not married. But I would someday like to be. I don't have children, but I would someday like to have children. After spending 23 years with diabetes as a part of my life, I am beginning to see the early signs of wear on my body.

My feet sometimes fall asleep much sooner than they should. I have high cholesterol and have to take medication for this. My eyes are beginning to get cataracts. These things have been held off for years by taking care of myself (for the most part). I want to continue to hold these things off. I want to be able to have healthy children and to watch them grow.

Part of the ability to do that is to take and aggressive stand against diabetes. To control it swiftly and to micromanage this disease that consumes so much of my life.

This new technology is a new way that I can do that. To anyone who works for an insurance company and that may be reading this: DON"T CAUSE ME TO SUFFER, and in the long run, be more expensive for you (via kidney, heart, eye, and limb problems).

Let us take care of ourselves. Let us live. Let us come out as healthy as possible, until there is a cure.