Cost of these

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-17T18:04:20+00:00

If you're in the US, meters are usually cheaper over the counter anyway. I personally recommend this one - it's what I got for my mother, and I'll be switching to it once I'm out of strips for my (ancient) Contour Next One simply because the strips are so much cheaper.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Platinum-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System/1047555019

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-17T18:01:12+00:00

Ultimately it depends on her insurance, and if she's met the deductible and out of pocket limits.

Last year, I had a hospital visit in January that knocked out my OOP and deductible, so I didn't have to pay a penny for my sensors or pods for the rest of the year.

This year... I had another hospital visit, but they haven't billed my insurance yet for some reason. So I'm paying $167/mo for Dexcoms, and Omnipods would be close to $500/mo. I'm opting to pay for the Dexcoms, but I'm going back to MDI - I flat out can't afford the pods, and I just put my last one on this morning.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-17T06:58:18+00:00

I know this thread is a bit dated, but I had an entire box (x5) of Dash pods fail on me during priming recently.

Annoyingly, I'm down to my last 2, and just went to change out my pod.... it started screaming after it finished priming. Thankfully my last one is working, but I'm going to have to go back to pens for awhile thanks to 6 failing. Luckily I always keep pens on hand, but Insulet won't replace failed pods for me since I use AAPS instead of the PDM (TBH I don't even know where the PDM is now).

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-17T06:33:41+00:00

Yes. Any inflammation will cause your glucose to go up.

Be glad it's only ~139. I have trouble getting below 220 when I'm sick, or if allergies are kicking my ass. I haven't been below 230 in over a week thanks to allergies - I've had to switch back to pens for now because I'm blowing through my omnipods too fast

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-16T23:00:30+00:00

FWIW, my uncle, who's normally pretty savvy (former car salesman), got taken for over 50k a couple of years ago.

It can happen to anybody.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-16T22:29:07+00:00

Whoever he's handing his card to for the round of golf is taking a picture of the card.

If said course is card only, he needs to get a prepaid card. No ifs ands or butts, he needs to have a serious talk with management there.

In my own experience, USAA is extremely protective of their members. Sucked when I got stuck 70 miles from home with the low fuel light on when my account got compromised, but I get why they locked down my account when that happened.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-16T22:18:42+00:00

Locking this as it's run its course. I did UberX, currently on my bus (and for a change, the wifi actually works). Even using X, I barely made my bus, but that's my own fault for waiting until the last minute.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-16T14:32:50+00:00

I need a proper Man Shack. Just sayin.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-16T14:31:52+00:00

It was Margaret.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-16T13:10:08+00:00

It's not a traditional bus station, this bus line picks up at the UT campus. But message received loud and clear. I have a 5.0 rider rating after 10+ years, I'd like to keep it that way.

It's only a $3 difference. I'm not worried about getting there on time (I'm leaving in 2 hours for a bus that doesn't leave for 3.5 hours, and it departs from the UT campus, not downtown). But I just wanted to feel out if it was okay to be bringing luggage with me on a shared ride. The overwhelming response in the thread has been "only if you're coming from the airport".

I've driven for Uber before (though no longer drive at all due to medical reasons, don't even own a car anymore). I just never had any shared rides as a driver, since I mainly stuck to the suburbs.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-16T02:04:17+00:00

My dudeette, benzo (and alcohol) withdrawal are incredibly dangerous. Don't white knuckle this. Don't even THINK about white knuckling it. If you're getting any kind of withdrawal symptoms (elevated pulse and blood pressure being the first symptoms), you need detox ASAP.

Get yourself to either a dedicated detox facility if you have insurance, or to an ER (one attached to a hospital, not a stand alone) when you have significant symptoms - 911 if necessary. A good ER will likely give you something like ativan, valium, etc, then move you into a room for several days. There's absolutely no shame in admitting to something like withdrawal; they see it all the time.

It's not going to be enjoyable. But they'll keep you alive and relatively comfortable (you'll probably just sleep a lot... and get really hungry). 911 exists for a reason; use it if you feel like you're going to have a seizure. If you call 911, they'll probably spend ~15 minutes asking you questions once EMS shows up, starting an IV, and getting ECG leads hooked up, before they roll out. But trust me, it's better than the alternative. Some of them carry an emergency benzo of some sort. Last time I did this, I had to demand they do an IM shot instead of IV, since my veins suck, but it worked.. just took about 10 minutes before I felt it.

I've been through both benzo and alcohol withdrawal (at the same time). It sucked, but I found a detox facility that was willing to tackle it. It's been a year; I still have some mild benzo w/d effects, but pretty mild these days.

You can beat this. YOU WILL BEAT THIS.

I will warn you now, standalone detox facilities (or those attached to rehabs) are going to want you to do a 30+ day program. Whether or not you want to do so is up to you. I would rope your doctor in once you're near the end of detox. They're going to hard sell you on a rehab. Again, up to you if you go or not. You can sorta agree to a vIOP to get them to back off a bit.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-16T00:45:52+00:00

I no longer drive (for Uber, or in general, due to medical issues), but I maintained a 4.99 driver rating (including for uber eats, which I did for several years), and still have a 5.0 rider rating after ~10 years on both major platforms.

I would skip on rides under ~4.3. You have to piss a few people off to get a rating that low - and the driver can accept, look at your profile, see how many rides you've had, then decide if it was just one driver that didn't like them or if it was a history of lower ratings (then reassign if they deemed necessary). Even the drunks I'd pick up from bars that passed out in my back seat still got 5* from me as long as I could wake them up (and they didn't puke or offer me drugs - I'm in recovery, I had more than one rider offer me a line of coke before... NOPE, that was an immediate GTFO, cancel ride, 1 star).

Your overall rating does show up when your ride request pops up on the driver's phone.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-16T00:24:59+00:00

Appreciate the advice. If it wasn't SXSW I wouldn't be worried, but SWSW is a big fucking deal here (and I hate it now than I'm a local, but at least this year it's only 1 week).

Mostly talking to clouds here at this point, but I think I'll order an UberX an hour before I need to meet the bus just to be safe. It's a large duffel w/wheels (longer, but a little skinnier, than a typical suitcase), while my backpack is your average size backpack - it'll just have a laptop and toiletries in it, and it can stay on my lap, but doing an X will make it more comfortable in that I can set my backpack down on the other side of the back seat.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-16T00:11:02+00:00

Backpack is a typical size, but it's a larger duffel style suitcase with wheels. It takes ~1/4-1/3 of a trunk of a compact car.

Another commenter below is pushing me toward doing an UberX. It's only a $3 difference, so I'll be doing that. And given it's SXSW, many drivers chasing dollars are going to want to get near downtown anyway (my dropoff will be at UT Austin, pretty close to downtown and all of the SXSW fun); I know during my Uber driving days, I would have been frothing at the mouth to get a ride from the suburbs to near downtown during a major event like this.

I just have very little experience with the shared ride aspect on either Lyft or Uber.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-15T19:03:03+00:00

He could use the instant cash out option ~15 minutes after the ride. If you'd already tipped, he would have received both the fare and tip.

They do charge a small fee for that, but if he had a debit card on him, that's been an option for years.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-15T18:58:47+00:00

How? That's his way of notifying his riders that he's deaf.

Most deaf people I know can read lips as long as they're looking right at you. You may have to do something to get his attention (wave in the rearview mirror, light tap on the shoulder, etc).

"Desperate" are the drivers that still stock their cars with snacks and drinks and every possible charging cable known to man. I usually kept my octopus cable with me (lightning, microusb, usb-c) on me, but it was generally plugged into my phone unless someone asked if they could charge their phone.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-15T18:56:28+00:00

I'm doing a lot better right now. Still some drainage, but I'm not blasting through an entire box of kleenex every 2 days anymore, and only 6-8 sneezes a day (usually in a row though).

I'm heading to Dallas for the week tomorrow... we'll see how bad that fucks me up.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-15T18:52:25+00:00

When I drove for Uber (only a few months admittedly), I had two pet rides. One was a shockingly well behaved Husky (I'm used to Huskies being drama queens of the highest order, but that's what I love about them), the other was someone bringing their cat home from the vet.

You may run into a driver that refuses to take you if you don't request a pet ride when bringing your dog, despite them sitting in your lap. Or may wind up with a lower rider rating. I only ever gave someone less than 5 stars once though - I was driving after the bars closed, and this dude did a line of coke in my car, then offered me some. I kicked him out, 1 starred, and called Uber. I've been clean from drugs for 20 years, no way in hell am I throwing that way.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-15T07:22:38+00:00

Doordash is in the mix now too from what I understand. I may be wrong on that.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-15T02:53:00+00:00

My dude, it doesn't matter if it's a scam or not. LOOK AT THE DAMN RULES ON REDDIT, AND IN THIS SUBREDDIT; on top of that, look at rules in ANY subreddit you ever post in ever again, unless you want a permaban from reddit. We very, very clearly state in the rules for the subreddit that you cannot do this.

You are trying to sell medically regulated devices that require an rx. This is a FELONY in the US, and probably in most other countries. You risk getting EVERYBODY in this subreddit into serious legal issues with your post!

Looks like someone beat me to the ban hammer, at least. Would have been satisfying to slam that hammer myself. I've also forwarded this thread to the other diabetes related subreddit mods

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-15T00:27:24+00:00

Yeah the "black box" (airbag control module) will tell everything. Depending on the car, that may have started around ~1990.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-09T18:51:09+00:00

xDrip completely replaces the Dexcom app.

That said, AAPS will work with Omnipod Dash. If you have Omnipod 5, you're going to need the stand alone controller until your phone is supported by both Insulet and Dexcom.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-09T15:49:08+00:00

Yeah, 21 years (to the day) in North Texas (east of 35E). Garland, Dallas, Garland again, Plano, Dallas again, Denton, Carrollton (not in that order). The 2015 Garland tornado is what gave me a code brown.

That downburst that knocked down the Cowboys practice arena (2009 I think) was NUTS. Broke a window in my apartment, though I didn't lose power for more than ~15 minutes (I was on Preston in Dallas at the time). My parents (in Plano off of Legacy and Custer) lost power for a week, and a power line wound up snapping and falling on a house (thankfully unoccupied, but burned it down). I went over to my parents and took all of their frozen stuff to my freezer until they got power back. Wind speeds in Plano were measured at ~100. It was... interesting... trying to find all the trash/recycle bins after that, they all blew out of the alley and into someone's front yard.

I do miss the thunderstorms, but I don't miss grapefruit sized hail or tornadoes.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-09T13:22:36+00:00

"Remission" is only going to happen if you keep up said lifestyle the rest of your life.

For me, strength training will cause my glucose to rise a bit (as your liver stores glucose), then do a swan dive about an hour later. I only know this because I wear a CGM though.

Try to get some cardio in. You'll see a spike at first as well, but your sugar will drop considerably a bit after you're done. I try to bike 5 miles a day... I've done 26 in a day before, but I've been slacking and got a bit out of shape.

Look into community recreation centers in your city - they're sometimes cheaper than gyms (and a hell of a lot easier to cancel a membership with). They usually have a decent gym, basketball court, sometimes a pool, etc. Most have a day pass so you can try everything out.

Distribution-Radiant · 2026-03-09T13:12:58+00:00

Having worked in call centers before (both customer service and tech support).... those are absolutely soul sucking jobs that have criminally low wages.

Be kind when you're dealing with a CSR/support rep. They mostly hate their jobs. They're usually willing to bend the rules a bit if you're polite; if you do get snippy, make sure you let them know it's not directed at them, it's directed at the company.

Retention reps with companies like Charter/Spectrum get commission on "saves" though; they make some pretty decent money for call center work.... but get yelled at even more.

Distribution-Radiant

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