Living with diabetes means you make important choices every day about how you’re going to live well—compound this with the inability to pay for your life-saving prescriptions and you’re facing a dilemma we know only too well.
At Simplefill, we don’t think you should ever make the choice between surviving and paying rent.
When you live with diabetes, we know how important it is for you to have insulin medication, like Novalog, close at hand. But there are millions of Americans who are under-insured or simply don’t have insurance at all. For these folks, it can be a real struggle to both pay their bills and also come out-of-pocket for expensive Novolog insulin treatments.
If you or a loved one has diabetes and need diabetes medication assistance, including Novolog prescription assistance, read below to discover how Simplefill can help make living with diabetes a little easier.
Why our body needs insulin
Produced in the pancreas, insulin is a critical hormone that helps your body regulate the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood. When you eat, the pancreas creates insulin to help get sugar into your body’s cells, where they can use the sugar for energy. When you don’t have enough insulin, sugar can’t get to where it needs to go. Instead, it stays in your bloodstream, thus raising your blood sugar. Depending on the kind of diabetes one has, the body either produces too little or has an excess amount of insulin.
Different kinds of insulin and how they interact with your body
When it comes to treating diabetes, everyone’s body reacts a little differently. That’s why insulin comes in several variations that can either act quickly or slowly depending on the needs of the patient.
Your doctor will rely upon several factors when choosing the right diabetes treatment for you, including age, lifestyle choices, how often you need to check your blood sugar, and your willingness to administer injections. From there, they can determine the kind of diabetes medication that will work best, as well as the appropriate speed of onset for you.
Rapid acting insulin should be taken at mealtime to help manage the blood sugar spikes that happen when you eat. Rapid acting insulin begins to lower your blood glucose after 15 minutes and then peaks around 30 to 90 minutes post injection. Several popular kinds are Novolog, Humalog, and Apidra.
Short acting insulin generally lasts between meals, giving you some flexibility. It begins to act roughly 30 minutes after you administer your injection, and will last between three to six hours, on average. Two of the most popular kinds of short acting insulin are Novolin r and Humulin r.
Intermediate acting insulin helps manage your blood sugar overnight and takes about two to four hours to reach your bloodstream. It peaks within eight hours, and lasts between 12 to 18 hours. Novolin n and Humulin n are two of the most common kinds of intermediate acting insulin.
Long acting insulin takes about an hour to reach your bloodstream, and typically lasts up to 24 hours. It doesn’t peak like several other popular insulin medications. Instead, it gradually lowers your blood sugar for the full duration. Two kinds of long lasting insulin are Levemir and Lantus.
What is Novolog?
Novolog is insulin aspart, a fast-acting insulin that works quickly to lower the amount of glucose in the blood. It’s used to treat type 1 diabetes and is often taken together with a form of long acting insulin.
As a fast-acting, injectable insulin, it works very quickly. Typically, meals should be eaten within five to ten minutes after injection. As a convenient medicine for diabetes, Novolog gives you a flexible dosing schedule that can easily adjust to your lifestyle and eating habits.
How Simplefill can help you with Novolog insulin assistance
At Simplefill, we know many of our clients are deeply inconvenienced by insurance company red tape and things like the dreaded Medicare donut hole. Our number one priority is to make prescription assistance easier so you can focus on what’s most important — your health. Our helpful advocates review every application individually, and we’ll contact your doctor, submit forms, and even perform grant writing when our clients need help with prescriptions. Finally, we’ll be there to work with you, hand-in-hand, to help relieve the stress that comes from managing your health while trying to manage the cost of health care.
If you or a loved one is struggling to pay for their insulin, apply today and find out how Simplefill can assist you on the path to wellness.