u/Oaktree27

I see a lot of prescriptions for treating ears that won't drain, but I've never seen one that kept working.

I had this happen 2 years ago, but the earliest ENT appointment was 4 months out so I recovered by the. And the ENT happily took my $400 to say I could hear.

Now, it's happened again, but my immune system destroyed my pancreas last year so it's even worse because the inflammation makes me need more insulin. I went to the doctor, and she charged me $300 to tell me to buy Flonase. I'm 3 weeks in with no changes and my experience seems to be common.

Since I live in America, I can't afford the thousands it would cost to ask a doctor what actually works, so does anyone know of any success stories or am I just fucked to have a full ear forever?

I started off with 12u basal, 7u lunch, and 5u for dinner assuming I ate around the same carbs for those meals, but in 2 months ago I lost a lot of hearing in one ear and my needs have been rising ever since.

The doctor said there's fluid buildup from allergies, but nothing is working to drain it. At this point, I'm taking 18u basal, 12u lunch, and 12-15u dinner, and now even that's not enough. It feels like the more I take the less it works.

I run half a mile after most meals because the insulin has not really been working otherwise.

Does anyone else have endlessly increasing insulin needs? Is there a cap, or is there a point where it just doesn't work as treatment anymore?

Endo charged me $300 to tell me to go to the PCP and PCP charged me a further $300 to give me a $20 medication, so I'm not interested in going back to any of them. I actually had this hearing loss many years ago before I had diabetes, but my soonest appointment appointment with an ENT was 4 months out so it returned by the time they got my $200 to walk in the door.

Over the past month, my total insulin use has probably tripled.

A meal I eat daily that required 5-7 (depending on season) units has steadily increased over the past 3 weeks to the point of needing 14 units, which is more than I was taking total in a day.

Until 4 weeks ago, I could run 5 minutes to lower my sugar by 20-40 points, but I tried that 5 times in a day and it had no effect at all. I actually tried a 5k once a few months ago and needed 10 15 carb corrections to keep going, but I ran more than 5 kilometers one night last week and it didn't affect me at all.

The only thing that has changed is I Iost about 30% of the hearing in one ear, but last time this happened I scheduled the earliest doctor's appointment I could (3 months out, American special) and by that time my hearing returned and they said "idk what that was, give me $300 on your way out" so I'm not keen to go again. My genes are shit and my sister fully lost hearing in one ear by 28 so I assume I'm on my way as well, but why would that completely nuke my insulin resistance?

Last night, I had 100% insulin immunity, which is bizarre since I'm generally very insulin sensitive.

The numbers I was at yesterday weren't really bad since it was 140 the whole time, but I'm just curious about the rigidity.

Normally, I run for 5 minutes or take 1 unit of insulin per 40mg/dL to correct. Yesterday, I was in the 140s all day, and since I do tight control while I'm able, I wanted to lower it in the evening at least before I slept.

Last night, however, I was unable to decrease my glucose even by 1 point. I started trying 3 hours after eating spaghetti, which I had prebolused 8 units for with expected results to return me to 140.

I ran 5 minutes, failed to drop at all, so I took 1 unit of insulin, ran again a few times over the course of 3 times to boost it over the next 3 hours, and still was at exactly 140. I verified via blood one more times that I was in the 140s, and took 1 more unit an hour before bed, and still I didn't drop below 140 overnight.

Any idea how this is possible? Combining running with a unit usually drops me by 80 points or more, so why didn't I decrease at all? What I did in that window normally would've dropped me a total of 200 points.

EDIT: I know some people rise when running, but that has never happened for me. It's always a sharp drop.

My insurance only covers one appointment from each endocrinologist before dropping them and it takes over a year to get into a new ones office. Feels like $300 a visit isn't worth continuing just for a1c reports and advice I already know about.

I have a good a1c, but I don't think I'll be able to maintain that if I go broke from these greedy doctors.

What is a 5.5 a1c in mg/dL? My endocrinologist said it was 99 but I keep seeing online it's 117.