General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere are reasons why I think the sky is falling. There are reasons why I worry.
Last edited Sat Jan 25, 2025, 05:47 PM - Edit history (1)
You know how Trump talks about having water run down from Canada to LA? How he talks about injecting bleach? Doing a "cleansing" with disinfectant that kills Covid in minutes? Killing Covid with a bright light? How he rambles on about windmills killing the whales? Windmills driving the whales insane?
Shit like that isn't funny to me. And it shouldn't be funny to anyone else. It's the talk of someone who is seriously mentally ill. And he has the nuclear football.
Covid killed my brother. Killed him dead. Dropped my blood brother like a fucking rock. I have several illnesses that would likely contribute to my own death were I be unfortunate enough to get Covid.
There's another pandemic coming. Bookmark this thread, mark my words, do whatever.
It's coming. It's going to be bird flu, or it's going to be something else, and it's on its way. And RFK Jr., an antivaxxer and complete nut job, is going to be the head of HHS, with Trump at the helm. And it's going be be devastating, YET AGAIN, with these fuckers at the helm.
With all of Trump's insane actions, supply chains are going to get fucked up again. Things are STILL not right since the pandemic. I am a type 1 (juvenile) diabetic using MDI (multiple daily injections) vs, using a pump. I use 6 millimeter pen needles. My insurance keeps denying them. they want me to use 4 millimeter needles, even though they cost about the same as the 6 millimeter needles.
They 4mm needles do not work for me. Period. They don't work. My endo doc knows they don't work, but she doesn't know why. My theory is that I have multiple areas of scar tissue from multiple injections on multiple body sites for several decades, and the 4mm needles don't penetrate the scar tissue as well, therefore causing the insulin to just splay out after an injection if I hit a bad site. I can't tell what is scar tissue, and what isn't anymore.
So then begins the fight with the insurance company to get the 6 mm needles. Denial paperwork, phone calls, letters, endo doc making pleas. After all of this, they finally approve the 6 mm needles. And guess what? I haven't been able to get them for several months from the pharmacy. Their approved supplier does not have them. So, I have to buy boxes of them from FUCKING AMAZON out of my own pocket because insurance will not cover an Amazon purchase. These boxes of needles have Japanese writing on them, but they work.
My point is this. Something has been wrong with the supply chain since the pandemic.
Lack of CDC and FDA reporting, coupled with medical deregulation, in concert with bizarre tariffs, along with the probable removal or at least weakening of the ACA, along with every other fucked up thing you can think of that this administration is going to do, is going to screw healthcare sideways. It's going to fuck everything sideways and backwards and upside down.
I've been wearing a fucking N95 mask for 5 years now, when hardly anyone masks anymore. I get criticized in public for wearing a mask. I worry about dying when in crowded places. I worry about the NEXT pandemic, because IT.IS.COMING.
So we sit here and complain, not realizing exactly how fucked we are. JUST LIKE WE SAT HERE AND COMPLAINED WITHOUT REALIZING EXACTLY HOW FUCKED WE WERE BEFORE COVID HIT. But it did hit, didn't it?
And if we said to someone in 2018 that this was going to happen, we would have been called chicken little. Just as some say we are being like chicken little now by saying the sky is falling.
Buckle up. Yet again.
![](/du4img/smicon-reply-new.gif)
LilElf70
(693 posts)There isn't a day I don't think about him. He was very close to the 500K mark, and I fully blame Trump for sitting on his ass, doing nothing until it was way too late. Trump will most likely f&*& up the upcoming pandemic too. He learned nothing.
I'm with you partner. And I agree, its not going to be a pretty picture. How many people he will affect adversely. His latest moves should destroy him and his money making cult. How much is a country going to take to destroy a democracy? People are starting to see it. The magats took a long shot on the con man, which will ultimately fail in the end. Probably before the end. People will soon find out lunacy, is LUNACY. End of discussion....
Yep, it's gonna be a bumpy 4 years.
LuckyCharms
(19,533 posts)Mine died in 2021, and I still occasionally burst into tears over his death. And I blame Trump 100%. I can't tame my anger over this.
LilElf70
(693 posts)I deal with it every day. I found him, and I had to see he was properly buried with no will. Does probate ring a bell? Yeah, gee thanks Donald. He also dropped like a rock. Also in 21. Perfectly healthy.
I try not to dwell on it and move on to something else. It's not easy. But each day gets a little easier.
stollen
(704 posts)My sympathies
It means a lot.
dickthegrouch
(3,922 posts)His prices and ethics are better than Amazon’s in most cases.
https://www.costplusdrugs.com/
Couldn’t find any but I don’t have an account.
There are some pens there but I also didn’t find any injectable meds such as humulin.
Another possible source of syringes is a clean syringe exchange program. You take in used syringes and get sterile ones in return. The program is more for heroin users and might not get you more than a few syringes at a time, but they also may not have recognized a need such as yours.
Good luck.
LuckyCharms
(19,533 posts)and I don't see needles. Maybe in the future...
Also, regular syringes won't work for me. I need the kind that screw on to a pen vial.
Thanks for the suggestion though!
Ms. Toad
(35,885 posts)I don't use insulin - but when I'm hospitalized they take me off metformin. Normally, my blood glucose is low enough (even off Metformin) that I don't require anything - but if I'm over 150 just before a meal they want me to use insulin. I've needed it once during my last two hospitalizations because they delayed breakfast (and hospital food is notoriously carb-heavy) so I had a carb-heavybreakfast a little over an hour before they brought lunch.
But my experience with it was that none of the insulin actually went in.
Have you checked with diabetic advocacy organizations to see if they have any leads on free/reduced cost needles? Apparently NovoCare used to provide free/reduced cost needles, but the page is down now and all I can find is assistance with meds.) Check with local pharmacies, as well. When there was the big ransomware attack that shut down a lot of Medicare prescriptions, the pharmacy in my local grocery store had a complete test kit (including 100 needles and test strips) for $10 (the next closest I found was around $40). It is possible that they would have a similar deal on needles for insulin pens. And if your doctor hasn't appealed the insurance denial for you, you should ask them to. (In our family, doctors don't stay around long if they are unwilling to occasionally knock some sense into the insurance companies - and we've one every appeal we pursued - except for the one which required the cooperation of a now-ex-doctor. They count on people not appealing denials.)
(And no, you shouldn't have to do this - but you do what you have to do to survive, and spending less money would be better than spending more, if it is possible).
Jim__
(14,578 posts)This idiot is screaming at the Prime Minister of Denmark because he wants to buy Greenland? Peter Hegseth is Secretary of Defense? RFK Jr is up for Secretary of HHS?
In an old episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray's father talks about the possibility of an asteroid falling on earth and instantly killing us all. Then he talks about life with Ray's mother. Then he calls out, "Come on asteroid!"
Ever since Trump was re-elected, I"ve been calling out, "Come on asteroid!"
58Sunliner
(5,167 posts)flashman13
(945 posts)People have to beg - let me repeat - beg their insurance company for insulin needles.
That's insane
Immoral
Criminal
Inhumane
And proudly brought to you by Republicans.
LuckyCharms
(19,533 posts)It's just that the 6mm needles are not in their formulary, so they create hundreds of dollars (in just MY case) of paperwork and phone calls!
It's vile.
Codifer
(870 posts)I had with the DMV (although the DMV, barring a stroke, is not a life and death matter). The problem with these folks is that they perceive the situation as a zero sum game. If I get my tags, they somehow feel that they have lost. But my getting the tags is what they are tasked to assist in doing. It is their job. The same situation applies to the syringes. It is actually in their job description to help you get what is needed.
But they do NOT want to lose... whatever. So, no tags (even though everything is in order and I had a letter of support from a DMV supervisor). Just as the Dr who supported the claim for the syringes.
With the deniers, it is personal.
DENVERPOPS
(10,739 posts)some Frenchman when we were forming our country. He is quoted as saying:
"Democracy will work until some individuals or groups of individuals, figure out that they can vote themselves money"
I'll bet that the price limit on insulin will go back to where it was before Biden limited what could be charged.....
The Mantra of these NEW Republicans is: If you get sick......die.........
Of course it should be a DELAYED DEATH, so that the Corporate Health Care Insurance companies, and Corporate owned Hospitals, and the Corporate Pharmaceutical companies can suck your finances dry, before you croak.....
CentralMass
(15,878 posts)yellow dahlia
(1,283 posts)Many of us have had our lives forever changed because of the pandemic. (And BTW, Covid hasn't left us, no matter what some say.) I, too, have to take special precautions (and even use a special P100 respirator) because of health issues.
There were so many deaths that didn't need to happen. I am sorry your brother was one of them.
One could say the sky already fell on us once, due to the grifter's actions and inactions.
It is difficult to steel ourselves as we wait for what comes next (from IMHO an illegitmate president).
I concur with your assessment. Buckle up is one of my go to expressions as well.
Thank you for sharing your story. I wish you well as you manage through all of this.
FoggyLake
(131 posts)the sky has fallen. THUMP!
Blue Full Moon
(1,673 posts)Chicagogrl1
(503 posts)Its not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. Probably will be bird flu. Chickens and birds are dying here in Illinois. It’s just a matter of time before it starts infecting humans on a large scale. Buckle up indeed.
Marthe48
(19,999 posts)My best friend was getting wound care and the center was supposed to supply her with dressings to change daily. She was on week 11 by the time the center sent supplies to her. In the meantime, she bought what she HAD to have from Amazon. I believe the same megalomaniacs in charge with traitor felon now assisted in screwing up the supply chain and keeping prices artificially high then. They like the extra money their sucking out of our pockets so much, prices won't come down.
If you find another company that has the needles you want to use, would your insurance consider letting you switch? I've gotten testing supplies from a place called Diathrive. I think they have other supplies, too. Would your insurance let you get through Amazon pharmacy? I don't know anything that, but I heard Amazon established a pharmacy.
Sincerely sorry you lost your brother. I don't understand how so many people lost loved ones and didn't blame the monster for the deaths.
NotHardly
(1,590 posts)state of stupid
(118 posts)the niece goes thru hell keeping her levels in check. I do not know if this will help or
whether it can beat Amazon, but it never hurts to try.
https://www.adwdiabetes.com/search.aspx?keywords=6mm%20pin%20needle
Evolve Dammit
(19,920 posts)simply don't want to be sick given my "issues." Anybody criticizes me will get an earful or an upraised middle finger. Stupid fucks.
That really sucks about your needle issue but sounds totally in keeping with how absolutely f'd up our "health care" system truly is. It's a mess.
Hang in there
Niagara
(10,126 posts)Unfortunately it's just going to get worse. Another withdrawal from The Paris Agreement and from WHO.
He doesn't care about the rest of us. His cult are oblivious to that fact.
rubbersole
(9,202 posts)In Texas. Arlington. Texas was calling it "flu" because there was no such thing as covid in Texas. My cousin told me his doctor admitted it was covid 6 months later.
This "administration" is going to kill millions of us. tsf gave a new/rare covid testing machine to putin when they were desperately needed here. He'll do it again, but this time on Hannity and brag about how US citizens were mean to him.
Turbineguy
(38,726 posts)He shits his diaper, that's a gift too.
Kaleva
(38,899 posts)It's pretty much of a sure thing. Even if Harris was elected
nilram
(3,059 posts)Much less spoken about it in public. His noise lowers its credibility and is furthering the agitation of an ignorant hoi polloi.
Editing to add: And we're going to need FEMA in the face of the many upcoming climate disasters that we're going to have.
Kaleva
(38,899 posts)The point I was trying to make was that the sky is going to fall even if Harris was elected. I agree that Harris wouldn't have dreamed of shutting down FEMA.
nilram
(3,059 posts)nilram
(3,059 posts)His call to the Danes reportedly freaked them out. Experienced international diplomats are freaked, not just us amateurs. And having Hegseth at the DOD removes at least one level of guard rails.
vapor2
(1,776 posts)Appalled that we have left the WHO and the end of research and communications by the CDC and NIH. This man is really sick and will kill us all. But furthermore, it is the republicans/sychophants who are enabling him and refuse to grow balls. His threats and bullying needs to stop but they keep defending his ass. We feel helpless in this mess and wish it would end.
LoisB
(9,400 posts)This is nuts! I never stopped wearing an N95 mask either.
Lunabell
(7,285 posts)are fairly new to DU.
Move along. Nothing to see here. Just keep buying the narrative that the orange blobfather isn't a fascist dictator.
Hhmmm...
Eko
(8,866 posts)I think there is a big fucking bad storm out there. Of course I could be wrong about the sky falling so I certainly would not call anyone out for thinking that it is. One of my employees came to me about this today. She is LGBT and her partners parents are Filipino that had her here making her a US citizen. They are worried about anti-LGBT and Birthright citizenship from dump and his dumperoos. I told her I would fight for them however I could and do anything I could do to help them. Told her I knew a bunch of liberals in the underground that would help as well.
All is not lost and the second word matters as well.
Keep on keeponing.
Eko
LNM
(1,154 posts)IbogaProject
(4,048 posts)I prefer thicker needles, and get my script to be 29 guage, the higher, narrower guages are more fragile and can be an injury risk. So maybe try and ask for 29 guage I'd hope they don't come in short. I take low doses so I also get 30 unit ones as I like the wider units, that gives me more wiggle room to take a half unit.
I'm scared too. I survived 17 days intubated in 2001, so the pandemic hitting my zip code 2nd week of march 2020 was?frightning. I rember seeing t45 rambling on the TV and knew it was going to be chaos.
Personally against all medical advice I reuse my needles. Once speaking w some one who is recovered from iv drug abuse, he said wider guage reused leades to a duller point that pushes in rather than cut. If one can get saline in a bottle like the insulin you could pull a few units and rinse it after use your alcohol pad to wipe the outside.
Meowmee
(7,062 posts)I am sorry about your brother, did he have type 1 also?
I’m also an autoimmune a type one too, but it didn’t happen until later in life for me, like MT Moore and half the type one every year. I had Covid in the very beginning…double Covid pneumonia and I was ill for months. I had to go to the hospital twice, but I survived it. I know other type one who survived it too. Of course I’m fully vaxxed now and so are you I am sure but don’t be so sure that it would kill you. However, I still mask everywhere, I do worry about it, and I never want to get Covid and go through that again. It also caused some permanent damage for me, including damage to my heart. I think part of the reason I survived it is because I was on blood thinners then.
To this day when my blood sugar crashes badly, I have pain in the middle of my back like I had when I had Covid pneumonia.
They did murder, my father however, he was infected by a hospital one week before he would’ve been eligible for the Vaccine, he had to go there for an emergency. It’s a long long story of multiple gross negligences to say the least which I’m not going to rehash right now.
I don’t think bird flu is going to be another Covid. After reading about it. There have only been about 900 cases worldwide since 2003 to 2023 unless it’s somehow rapidly mutates into something that is easily transmitted between people, the people that are most at risk are people who are working with the animals who have it.
I agree with you about a lot of other things- the supply chain and everything has never gone back to normal. I’m not saying there isn’t going to be another pandemic with another disease/ virus. There could be…right now I’m more worried about them stopping us from getting vaccinated and people just not vaccinating their children and that older things like polio which were essentially cut down to the point of being nonexistent are going to make a comeback.
I have some ideas about your pen needle issue just DM me if you want that I’m not gonna post all of it here. One is to switch to syringes and vials. I still always have syringes which I have to use at times even though I’m on a pump for a long time now. Have you tried getting the pen needles from Canada in bulk? They’re probably cheaper that way..
Did you try massage for the scar tissue? I’m also worried about that over time and because of all my skin issues. I know somebody who got massage for scar tissue and it helped him.
GregD
(2,267 posts)She lived in the Roseburg area, a rural "red" area of Oregon. Anti-maskers led to such a flood of illness that it filled their hospital. She had become ill with yet another UTI, then sepsis. Hospitalized, but sent home early because of the need for beds. She fell the next day (due to weakness) and broke her hip. A month later when doctors told her she would never walk again, she went on hospice. She was gone a month later.
MadameButterfly
(2,402 posts)many groups of people who are on the front line of being affected by Trump's insanity.
When you're on the front line, the sky is falling.
We may all be on the front line some day.
Response to LuckyCharms (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed