Drawerful of pills

Here is my left-hand bathroom drawer. It holds my medications & supplements. I fill up the two seven-day pill planners every week. The white one is for morning pills and the purple one is for evening pills. Each of those little compartments, white and purple, is full of pills.

(Carpenters and architects, note the poor planning. The drawer is stopped from pulling out its full length by the toilet tank. You can see this on the left of the photo. It is a consistent annoyance in my life. And yes, that is my roll of toilet paper at the top of the photo. Thanks for noticing.)

Most of my medications I get on a 90-day supply, through the mail from a Kroger-based pharmacy. Supplements I get on an as needed basis, either through my local drugstore (probably lower quality) or through the upscale almost-all-natural grocery store (probably higher quality). Some meds, as needed prescriptions, we get at the big-chain pharmacy around the corner from us.

And I have pretty-darned-good medical insurance, which covers a great deal of our medications. I haven't even gotten a prescription for Lyrica, just using samples, so I've no idea how much it costs. Even before I count in that cost, my current meds are costing us roughly $100 per month. I haven't figured out the cost of the supplements, because I tend to buy 60-90 day supplies, and they are staggered throughout the year.

What supplements do I take right now?
I take: Calcium Magnesium Zinc - it keeps my doc from flipping out about the fact that I consume very little dairy.

A high-end multi-vitamin - because I love the fluorescent colored urine that it makes.

Alpha-Lipoic Acid - may help with nerve pain

Garlic - may help with cholesterol and circulatory issues, and we know that diabetes makes that more of a problem.

Co-Enzyme Q-10 - suggested by the sweet neurologist who did my EMG tests this week.

Are these the right supplements for you? I don't know. You should talk to your own health professionals. Decide for yourself what is right for you.

I should probably be taking a cinnamon or other diabetes-targeted supplement (meaning targeted for type 2).

But all my little pill compartments are full. I can't possibly take any more meds. Well, if I do get new meds, they should be tiny little ones.

Let's see if the doctor goes for that one.

I get frustrated by spending all this money on my diabetes care. What could I do for myself if I had an extra $100 per month? What vacations might I have taken? Could I have donated that money to a ministry or charitable program and helped people here in my hometown? Might I have donated for research on diabetes, or on ALS, or lung cancer? Or to a scholarship fund for students wishing to become endocrinologists? They are unanswerable questions.

This week I get my first ever crown. Dr. Parts tried to de-fang me by freezing the chocolate. The tooth broke but did not need a root canal. Dr. Parts won't believe me that chocolate, most chocolate, is best enjoyed at room temperature, so it can melt into the mouth. Oh well. He makes excellent seviche, so who am I to argue.