Freestyle Lite Archives - The Life of a Diabetic

My test strips woes of the last month or so have been well documented between my blog and Twitter. The CVS fiasco being the worst part of it. The chapter has ended, but it seems that the book is continuing. Let me explain.

I contacted Aetna RX Home Delivery because I have to use them because of the insurance that I have. I contacted them on Tuesday April 13 and gave them my credit card number to ship my testing strips. I explained that I would need them by Friday, so I will pay the additional $20 to ship them overnight to me. I hear nothing on Wednesday, nothing on Thursday and nothing on Friday. I called them back and asked if the supplies had shipped yet, and they said no, the order hasn’t even processed. Well that right now makes me feel good that I needed them rushed and 3 days later the order hasn’t processed.

Since I was leaving to go up north, I had the address changed to my PA address. Well Thursday of the next week, after I came home from New York, my strips still weren’t there so I called Aetna once again. They proceeded to tell me that the strips were already delivered, to my Florida address. By this time I am pissed because I explained that I needed them in PA. The customer service rep agreed with me that it was Aetna’s fault because she saw the notes in the system. I asked them to overnight the strips to me in PA and when I got to Florida I would send back the other box. She said that I couldn’t return them and if they did reship them since it was their fault, that I would still have to pay the copay of $90 for them. That is when I lost it. Why would I have to pay for a whole other shipment and not be able to return something because you made a mistake? That makes no sense to me what so ever!

I didn’t hear anything back from them on Friday or Saturday, so I had to call them again this morning. They still haven’t shipped out the re-order they said they were still reviewing the case. I told them that there is no reason to review the case because I am no longer in PA, so that rush delivery is no longer needed, but I’m glad that my emergency means 4 days to them. I finally received my strips, but I wanted my $20 refunded back for the overnight shipping because they shipped them to the wrong address and they just sat in my FL mailbox for a week, so why should I pay for overnight shipping?

I was told that customer service can’t do anything about it, but document it, and it is up to the reship department to make the decision on whether I will receive my $20 back for overnight shipping. I don’t know what kind of investigation is needed, you charged me for something that you did not provide, so give me my damn money back!

Aetna RX Home Delivery, you have just made the list. You can join CVS in customer service hell!

We all have our favorite meter’s, pumps, syringes, glucose tabs, CGM’s, and whatever else you use to manage your diabetes. Here are my top 4 essentials to managing my diabetes.

Medtronic Minimed Paradigm 722

This is my insulin pump of choice at this time. It is the one that I was given when I first got the pump 5 years ago, well it was a Paradigm 712 at that time, but I upgraded to the 722 at the beginning of the year. I don’t have any issues with the pump, but there are some things that I do like with the other ones as well. This pump is my life right now. I would not be able to manage my diabetes as easily without it. I did MDI and it just didn’t work for me, I eat too frequently and eat at random times that just make it best for me to use a pump and bolus at any given time.

Freestyle Lite Meter

For a very long time I used all One Touch products. That stopped about a year ago when I received a Freestyle Lite meter, and I haven’t switched to another since then. I absolutely love this meter. I never have any problems, it’s small and the best part about it is the light it has. I test more frequently, especially at night because of this light. I would never test at 3 am because I didn’t want to turn the light on because then I can never go back to sleep. With this meter, I can just turn on the light on the meter, test, and go back to bed. I do use other meters in different situations. I use a True2Go meter when I am traveling or golfing because it carries easier. I look forward to trying out the Contour USB, who knows, that may become the new meter of choice, we shall see.

Minimed CGM

Even though I don’t use this as often as I should, when I do, it helps me out tremendously. My average BG levels are about 20-30 points lower when I use it. It comes down to dealing with the pain of inserting a new sensor. That is the number one reason that I hate to put it on because quite honestly, it hurts. The needle is extremely long, so that’s not a plus either. Once it’s on and calibrated I love it.

Skittles

You may be wondering why this is one of my essentials. Well, it’s because this is the most comfortable item that I like to use. When I eat a bag of Skittles(the small bag shown here), I know how much it will bring up my sugar, which means that I don’t overeat. When I am eating other things like glucose tabs or orange juice or whatever else, I don’t know how much it will raise my sugar, so then usually my sugar is way too high at that point then.

Tag: Freestyle Lite

Aetna RX Home Delivery Major Failure!

4 Essentials of Managing My Diabetes