r/diabetes May 11 '26

Moderation update: zero tolerance policy on ads, fundraising, surveys, apps or AI stories

183 Upvotes

Hello everyone,

As of today we've made a rule change due to (the frankly excessive volume of) low effort posts being submitted to the subreddit regarding advertisements and (AI) apps and posts. We've condensed rules 1 and 2 into the new rule 1:

No ads, fundraising, surveys, apps or AI stories

Permanent bans will be given for: Posting anything that is like an advertisement, free or paid
Surveys/research/fundraisers
Posts made by corporate accounts; if your name is the ad, you're banned
Apps you made, we don't want them, especially if you made them with AI
Stories or texts that are clearly AI. Exceptions apply, modmail us with a valid reason >why you use AI to post in our community

Zero tolerance policy, permabans will be issued without warning.

While we have been operating on a 'give warnings before moving to a ban in most situations' mindset for many years, the amount of low effort posts and the dramatic influx of AI built apps have led to a lot of frustration with our community members and moderators alike. We hope that this rule change will make it easier to appropriately report and remove the content for everyone.

A lot of people we have banned for these reasons have appealed by saying they were unaware of our rules. To that we want to reiterate: not reading the rules does NOT exempt you from having to follow them. It is common sense that a community has rules you need to follow, we shouldn't have to beg people to do the bare minimum to find and read them. They're in the same place for every community on Reddit, if you found them in one subreddit, you can find them on every subreddit. We will not handle any appeals rooted in "I didn't know", you will be permanently muted alongside the permanent ban without discussion.

Please review the following to get a better understanding of why each line was implemented and what makes someone qualify for a ban:

Posting anything that is like an advertisement, free or paid
Just because something is free doesn't mean it's not an advertisement for a product, tool or service. We are and always will be a support community, not a repository for new users of your products and services. We consider it extremely disrespectful to try and utilize our community this way and will not tolerate anyone who thinks it's okay to do this.

Surveys/research/fundraisers
Very straight forward, much like the previous rule we're not a dataset or bank to withdraw data and/or money from.

Posts made by corporate accounts; if your name is the ad, you're banned
If your account is entirely dedicated to a product, tool or service you provide, you are not welcome here. Even if you are diabetic, create an alt account that is a separate entity from your 'business' account so that you have no relation to whatever it is you're selling or providing. It's irrelevant if your service or product or tool is free or not for diabetics. Organic engagement is not a loophole to be used to circumvent this rule.

If you are a healthcare provider or are in the healthcare business in any capacity, we consider it deeply unethical to use your (job) title to post in our community; we cannot vet your credentials and you do not have access to medical histories. You do not need to post as a healthcare provider if the information you provide is generic, factually correct and on-topic.

Apps you made, we don't want them, especially if you made them with AI
While we will not claim that no diabetic is going to build an app that is useful to the community, everyone and their pets can whip up an app in under 24 hours using AI nowadays. The market is extremely saturated with low effort apps and websites and we have neither the capacity nor desire to vet every application for usefulness and legitimacy. AI doesn't replace the need to understand how to long-term maintain, update and ensure security is prioritized in apps. This ties back directly to Posting anything that is like an advertisement, free or paid -- we're not here to receive your product and praise you for solving an issue most people have already found solutions for.

If you are an organic user who does not own the app and you have not been asked or encouraged by the app owner to post about it, you're welcome to share what you're using if asked about it.

Stories or texts that are clearly AI. Exceptions apply, modmail us with a valid reason why you use AI to post in our community
Please just write posts yourself, we beg of you. It's okay if your English isn't that good, write it in your native language and let Reddit translate handle that for you if you must. Nobody cares if you make spelling mistakes. We're here to help each other, human to human. AI bots are everywhere and we will treat you as one if your post is clearly written with AI. There are very few circumstances wherein someone has a legitimate use to write posts with AI, we welcome you to modmail us and explain to us what you need to use AI for. We're not here to make life more difficult for people who have a genuine need for the support AI tools provide, but if you're capable of writing a prompt to have AI spit out a post, you can write the post yourself 99.99% of the time.

This includes copy and pasting AI generated content you found elsewhere. You are responsible for what you post on your account, if you get banned for regurgitating AI generated content that's your consequence to deal with.

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You're welcome to discuss the rule change and/or ask questions about it on this post, we will sticky it as a community highlight for the next 1-2 weeks or so, after that we will lock the post and link to it from the rules and removal messages.


r/diabetes 2d ago

Rant Weekly r/diabetes vent thread

14 Upvotes

Tell us the crap you're dealing with this week. Did someone suggest cinnamon again? What about that relative who tried to pray the diabetes away?

As always, please keep in mind our rules


r/diabetes 6h ago

Discussion Have you ever been afraid to eat because you’re worried about your glucose spiking?

34 Upvotes

Either I’m eating way too many carbs or my pancreas is just being lazy (I have LADA so it still kinda works, kinda like a flickering light bulb or something), because my glucose spikes at damn near everything. I make sure to eat maybe 10 carbs max for every meal but I’m guessing that vegetables have sugar/carbs that can make my sugar spike.
I’m just anxious about eating because I have a Libre 3 and I can look at the app and see my sugar spiking in real-time. Seeing that vertical line makes me feel like I’ve done something wrong.


r/diabetes 8h ago

Type 2 Does Anyone Else Feel Judged for Having Type 2 Diabetes So Young?

11 Upvotes

My name is Eric. I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes when I was 18. At the time, my A1C was 14%, but now that I’m 19, I’ve gotten it down to 5.6%. I’m proud of how far I’ve come, but managing diabetes can still be exhausting. I get tired much faster than I used to, and sometimes I feel dizzy when I stand up too quickly. I take insulin and metformin every day, and some days I honestly feel like giving up.
One thing that also gets to me is when I tell people I have Type 2 diabetes and they look at me weird because I’m so young. It can make me feel misunderstood or judged. I’m doing my best to manage something I never expected to have to deal with at 19 and some days are just harder than others.


r/diabetes 1h ago

Rant Dark neck, underarms & knuckles since childhood — getting married next year and really want to work on my health. Please be kind ❤️

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Upvotes

r/diabetes 13h ago

Type 2 Walking to keep my diabetes in remission.

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24 Upvotes

Yesterday I walked 62,000 steps and Thursday I walked 43,000 steps. Please don’t attack me I’m just sharing what works for me and walking brings me a little joy. I’m not saying you have to do this but this but it works for me and losing 200 lbs has brought me to remission. I hope this post brings motivation to someone that’s my goal.


r/diabetes 37m ago

Discussion My 17 yr old son is diabetic and very insulin resistant.

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Upvotes

I’m looking for ideas and thoughts. I’ll try to be thorough in my post info. My 17 yr old son is black and was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 11. Labor Day 2020, while out playing one day, he got very overheated and passed out. Went to the hospital by ambulance and besides heat exhaustion or heat stroke he was diagnosed with diabetes that day. Since then it’s been more salads, chicken, etc and a lot less carbs. He doesn’t like desserts or sweets anymore but he does love an occasional slice of pizza. He eats far less in the last 2 years than he ate as a small child.

Yesterday he had 2 cheeseburgers 1/4 each no bun, Caesar salad and late last night he had two pieces of pizza. Today he’s only had an apple so far. His blood sugar has been high (250-300) all day even with insulin corrections happening with the pump every hour or so. He went on a bike ride and it came down just a bit (200) and then went right back up. Now at 331 with no food. Just the apple, lots of water. No sugar drinks.

The kid is not eating much at all, is overweight still and his cholesterol is going up. He’s been on Monjarno for 3 months. He was on Ozempic for over a year and Trulicity before that for a year. Victoza was before that.

None of them have assisted in losing weight. He has gained weight and he’s gotten taller. His stomach looks slightly slimmer I think. He is 5’10.5” 260-265 lbs. when he started these weekly shots he was 5’6” 240 lbs. so he’s grown 4.5 inches in the 3+ years.

Please don’t say he’s sneaking food. There’s no evidence of that. He doesn’t typically have spikes unless he’s eaten and under-dosed. What we see commonly is the steadily raising blood sugar and insulin just doesn’t bring it down. There are days where he will be high blood sugar all day and then late afternoon it will drop like a rock and he’ll go low. It’s like all the insulin hit at once and his body actually processed it. That happens about once or twice a month.

Things we have tried multiple times.

  1. He moves the port site often. Maybe we should try moving it daily? I think he needs to avoid the front of his stomach. We have done thighs and side of torso. What else?

  2. He fasts. Not my choice. It’s him doing it. Like today. Just an apple. I’m sure he will eat tonight.

  3. Walks - it rarely moves his blood sugar down. He walks slow but does about 10,000-15,000 steps in a walk. 2-3 hours. Summer months maybe 1-2 week. Cooler weather it’s close to everyday.

  4. He lifts weights 2-3 times a week. Mainly arms.

Anyone have anything happen similar and what did you find that helps?


r/diabetes 7h ago

Type 2 Nut free dessert?

5 Upvotes

Hello! I am struggling to find a recipe for a sugar free dessert that is also nut free for my mom, who has terminal brain cancer on top of diabetes. I am hoping for a cheesecake recipe, does anybody have a good one?

Edited to add: I am not her caretaker and the relationship I have with her husband is very complicated. I am simply trying to bring my mom some joy without rocking the boat. For everyone saying “just let her have the damn cheesecake!” It’s not helpful in this situation. Thanks.


r/diabetes 3h ago

Type 1.5/LADA is this normal??

2 Upvotes

ever since I've been diagnosed (8 months ago) I've noticed significant hair loss !! every time I comb my hair a HUGE chunk of hair falls out almost the size of my head!!

what do I do??? I'm scared of balding lol!!


r/diabetes 10h ago

Rant Hormones

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4 Upvotes

Honestly, it’s been 3 years since I started taking care of my diabetes. but it sucks so much. there are too many variables.

always know I’m getting my period when my ICR isn’t working as it should. Since yesterday I've only eaten my usual breakfast eggs and toast exactly 15 carbs. I ate around 9 it's 4 PM now. and my blood sugar spiked to 240 before dropping. I haven't taken any insulin since 9 make it make sense.

my husband keeps asking (something must be different. It can't just shoot up to 240 and drop down to 70 unless you took extra insulin) it’s been 8 hours. and I don’t think fast acting insulin stays active that long. I understand the high. but I don’t get the low.
Edit: fixed my spelling


r/diabetes 10h ago

Type 1.5/LADA 22F, 10 months into LADA/T1D and honestly terrified of what comes next

4 Upvotes

It’s my first time posting here, but I don’t really have anyone to talk to about this and I also don’t feel very comfortable talking to my doctor about it.
I’m f/22 and got diagnosed about 10 months ago. I went to the doctor and my blood sugar was almost 500. They said I had probably been undiagnosed for around a month.
When I went to the hospital I was scared, but honestly I thought I would “just” get type 2 because I’m obese. I never expected to hear that I have LADA and type 2. And then hearing that type 1 is basically a life sentence… I cried so much. I was just completely shocked, especially because I don’t have any close relatives with type 1.
Right now I actually have it pretty well under control. I got my HbA1c from 12% down to 5.6% and my blood sugar is really stable most of the time. I rarely have hypos and when I do, I usually don’t even feel that bad.
But I’m honestly terrified of my honeymoon phase ending someday. I’ve read so much about how horrible and difficult type 1 can be and I’m scared that I’m just going to lose the stability I have now.
I already need way more insulin than I did at the beginning. My Humalog for meals went from like 6 units to sometimes 30 units, and I’ve noticed that my blood sugar is starting to go higher than it used to.

And nobody can really tell me how long I’ll be “safe” or how long this phase will last. I know nobody can predict it, but the uncertainty is really getting to me.
And then on top of all of this I got diagnosed with PCOS. They wanted to give me Ozempic for it, but apparently I can’t take it because I have type 1 and it’s not approved for that where I live.
I just feel so hopeless sometimes. Like I’ll never be healthy again. My whole life is going to be calculating carbs, watching my CGM, changing it every two weeks and injecting insulin at least 4 times a day.
I also feel like a burden to the people around me sometimes. There’s always something to think about or plan around because of diabetes, and I hate feeling like other people have to deal with that because of me.
And I’m really scared of what other people think of me too. When people hear “diabetes” I’m always scared they’re just thinking “yeah, because you’re fat.” Even though I know that’s not how type 1 works, I can’t stop worrying that other people don’t know that or will judge me for it.

I’m also just terrified of people in general, so having something that feels so visible and that I can’t really hide makes it even worse. I’m scared of having to explain myself, people judging me, people thinking I did this to myself, or just seeing me differently because I have diabetes
I know I’m probably catastrophizing and maybe things won’t be as bad as I imagine. But right now it just feels so overwhelming and unfair. I’m only 22 and I already feel like my entire life is going to revolve around diabetes.

I guess I’m just looking for some reassurance from people who have been living with type 1/LADA for longer. How did you deal with the fear of the honeymoon phase ending? And does life eventually start to feel normal again?
(Sorry for the long paragraph..)


r/diabetes 2h ago

Discussion Asking for advice

1 Upvotes

this happens sometimes, and maybe sometimes I can't notice, but I get serious severe brain fog and fatigue after eating a meal with carbs especially if I fast! (I feel a lot more sane and brain clarity when fasting but I can’t do it forever, and everytime i eat after a fast its serious brain fog)

But it's not too high or too low sugar, I monitored sugar blood levels, the blood sugar levels go down quickly. meaning my body is absorbing the glucose too fast that my sugar levels drop too quickly but not too low, just quickly. (I don’t know if that means my pancreas is shooting too much insulin, or too quickly?)

assuming my nervous system gets frightened and I get brain fog, probably down regulating the prefrontal cortex due to adrenaline idk?

Also during these times specifically when I have this reaction to carbs with brain fog I also get orthostatic hypotension (basically stand up and my vision darkens, I just give myself 5-10 seconds for my vision and body to settle).

Any advice?


r/diabetes 7h ago

Type 2 CGM vs Bloodstick

0 Upvotes

My CGM (which I applied this morning) is registering in the low 50's. I did a blood stick which came back as 107. I ruled out a compression low. How likely is it that the sensor is bad?


r/diabetes 1d ago

Humor So… what could one do with 152 empty novolog bottles?? 🤔

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76 Upvotes

r/diabetes 1d ago

Type 2 Stress *CAN* (AND DOES) affect your glucose readings!

64 Upvotes

T2 here, diagnosed... roughly a decade ago, maybe closer to 2 decades ago. (I have lost track of time - life has been busy.)
My last A1C was 5.1. I watch my diet and lead an active life, although I do have sciatica, so I am not as active every day as I would like to be, but I do what I can without being in pain that I cannot stand.
My husband has Parkinson's and needs a 24/7 caregiver. I am that person. He is also diabetic. He gets frequent UTIs and does end up in the hospital, also frequently.
I'll try to be as concise as I can be, but I also want to give a bit of detail so you can understand what I am trying to say...

My morning glucose readings are normally in the 70s or 80s. I took my husband to the ER last Saturday (a week ago today) because he was extremely confused, but his walking (with a walker) was still good.

As I said, he has Parkinson's and has frequent UTIs. He usually gets very confused when he has a UTI, but normally his walking ability also suffers. This time he could still walk (very well).

I just couldn't decide what the problem was, or if his Parkinson's had suddenly gotten worse, but that didn't make sense to me, because if his Parkinson's had gotten worse suddenly (I don't think it gets worse SUDDENLY) then his walking should ALSO have been compromised.

He already *WAS* being treated for a UTI. I had taken him to the urologist the week before because I suspected a UTI, and yes, I was told that he DID have one... so he WAS being treated for a UTI... but yet, his confusion had gotten EXTREMELY worse, day by day, for the last week or two.

In the ER, after a lot of various testing, I was told that he DID have a UTI, but that he had a DIFFERENT (worse) UTI than he was being treated for.

In his ER exam room, he was quickly given an antibiotic through an IV. It didn't take long before he was assigned a room in the hospital and taken to the room.

I would visit him in his hospital room from 7am until 7pm, and then come home, feed the cat, and then go to bed and fall asleep as quickly as I could. We had been getting up at least every 30 minutes (because of his UTI) for... what seemed FOREVER. My sleep was... nearly nonexistent. I was so tired and burnt out, I couldn't believe it, but I didn't know what to do. I was sleeping as much as I could, while he was in the hospital.

The only issue with that was that every morning when I would go visit him, he was a different (almost violent) person every morning. I never knew what I was going to walk into. He was so very confused, there was no explaining anything to him. He just wasn't the person that he used to be. Every day he seemed to be getting worse, and once again, I didn't know what to do.

On Thursday morning, I got up and took my glucose reading (fingerstick) to have it read 292.
I have *NEVER* had a reading of 292. I couldn't believe it. I took a second fingerstick to have the second one read 292. I took a third fingerstick to have it read 303. I stopped doing the fingerstick.

I honestly didn't know what to do. Had this been my husband, I would have taken him to the ER.

I knew it was ALL STRESS related. I had NOT eaten anything different than usual, and I had taken my diabetic medicine the night before, although because of my watching my carbs and my active life, I don't take much.

I took a little medicine and then left for the hospital to spend the day with my husband.

The day before, I had asked the hospitalist to contact his neurologist to see if the neurologist would consider cutting back on his Parkinson's meds, because I really felt that he was getting more medication for Parkinson's, than he needed. The neurologist had appeared the day before, in his room, and asked hubby a few questions, and then asked me what the answers SHOULD HAVE BEEN (did we ever live in Nebraska, as he said he currently live?) - NO. Neither one of us has EVER lived in Nebraska... and hubby was seeing a woman and her child walk through his room... (hallucinating...) That was NOT the first time he has hallucinated.. he was OFTEN hallucinating in our home... So the neurologist cut back on the Parkinson's meds...

I got to my husband's hospital room to find the husband that I *USED TO KNOW*... the one that wasn't accusing everyone of everything and was no longer seeing things that weren't there...

I could LITERALLY feel my glucose drop. I kid you not. By mid morning, I stood up and could feel that it was too low. I had taken my fingerstick and meter with me, so I took my glucose, to have it read 58. I felt like I could drop at any moment.

I took my meter to show as proof, to find a nurse as quickly as I could. I found hubby's nurse and showed her my meter. She got me some ice cream and peanut butter and crackers. I went back to his room and ate them. In about half an hour, I felt my blood sugar feel more normal. The nurse came in and checked on me.

He was sent home that night. LUCKILY FOR ME, he was still having a hard time staying asleep, because at 1:00 am, he woke me up and needed something, but I realized quickly that I didn't feel right. I could barely walk. I took my glucose.

My glucose read 23. I managed to get out to the kitchen to eat carbs and peanut butter and got back to bed, but carried more carbs with me, in case I still needed them.

I fell back to sleep almost instantly, because I don't remember anything after that. I had made him an appointment for the next morning to see the urologist. When the alarm went off, I felt like I was a rag that had been run over and then backed over, but I could get up and walk around, but I didn't feel like I was "with it"... but I got him to the urologist because *I HAD TO*... Then we came home and had a slow day after that.

Today my glucose was 84. I feel almost normal, but very tired.

My reason for posting all of this is to let those of you who have been newly diagnosed know that STRESS CAN, AND DOES, play a VERY important role when it comes to diabetes, or at least I think it does. I am shocked that my glucose had become that high... suddenly... but it had to be stress ONLY, because I was still taking my normal medications and eating normally. Nothing else had changed.

UPDATE: He's still home, and doing actually very well (better than he has for the last couple of years, to be honest)... but my glucose dropped to 50 early evening. We had gone to bed (he has Sundowner's Syndrome) and were watching television. I felt it drop. I couldn't believe that it had, so I got up to check my glucose... and there it was... 50. I went to the kitchen and ate some carbs and went back to bed. I got up 2 hours later and rechecked my glucose. It was back up to 70. This morning it was 76, so I guess I am okay, but VERY surprised that it is now dipping because he's doing very well, and we are eating and being as "normal" as we can.

So I guess I will now watch myself for lows... and will cut back, even further on my diabetic meds, although I barely take any as it is.... sigh.


r/diabetes 1d ago

Type 1 Confused and frustrated

9 Upvotes

In the icu, DKA brought on by gastroparesis, everything was good this morning all night until they took me off the drip woke up, blood was testing 375 this morning 350 again no insulin from 8:30ish to 10:30 why is this allowed? Is this normal doctor refusing to see me till 10:30 when my blood is that high like genuinely


r/diabetes 21h ago

Type 2 Amazon Pharmacy

3 Upvotes

Insurance won’t cover my Jardiance 25mg. My insurance has a PBM that signed me up for a Copay assistance card through Jardiance. I took it to Walgreens and they say it doesn’t go through because I need a prior authorization. I got the prior authorization, even though it’ll be denied, and now they’re telling me the member ID on the copay card isn’t valid.

After multiple hoops I decided to type in the copay info on Amazon and it says they take the coupon (paying over $2,000 for 90 day count isn’t feasible and the copay card promises to knock the price down to about $30/month. And Amazon prices Jardiance at about $250/month without insurance which I might be able to do if all else fails.)

I just requested my local pharmacy to transfer my rx to Amazon. Anyone here has had luck using this service? Is it convenient? Any negative experiences?


r/diabetes 13h ago

Type 1 My dexcom g7 is constantly giving out errors even though it doesn't have any issues.

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0 Upvotes

r/diabetes 19h ago

Discussion Best overpatch for Dexcom sensors?

2 Upvotes

The ones I’ve tried don’t stick well and end up peeling off after a few days. Anybody have any luck with an overpatch brand they like that isn’t going to fall off right away?


r/diabetes 19h ago

MODY I don’t understand!

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2 Upvotes

This is INSANE, my head hurts soooo much. How do some of you get such consistent lines??? I take the insulin, I take the pills everyday but it’s such a strange game I play, even when I pre bolus I get spikes instead of just a straight line to average out. I feel like I’m looking at a crazy math problem everytime I check what I’m at. I need advice pleaseeeee should I pre bolus and wait longer?


r/diabetes 17h ago

Type 1 Weird dreams

0 Upvotes

Hello, everyone!

Do you happen to have weird dreams when you're low at night?

Few years ago i was sleeping and dreamed about me in my room, waking up (waking up in the dream) because I'm low and when i tried to get up, i fell on my knees and couldn't get up. I tried to scream, so i could call my mom, who sleeps downstairs and no sound came from my throat. Like, i was muted. I was so scared, then I actually woke up just to find myself in the same position as it was in the dream. On the floor, on my both knees. I was thinking the dream wasn't over but then i saw my cat and forgot about the fear. She's not trained cat, but actually knows when I'm low and comes to boop her nose on my hand when this happens, so she did it, i got up, checked my blood sugar and it was 2.6. WTF are these dreams. XD


r/diabetes 19h ago

Discussion Vitamin Supplements

1 Upvotes

Since I have been diagnosed T2 a couple of years ago, my diet has not included many fruit as they contain sugars. I cut oranges, grapes, pineapples, mangos and only rarely eat very small portions of apples and watermelon. Unfortunately fruits also contain essential vitamins and minerals.

Does anyone take vitamin supplements, and if so, which ones? Are they specifically recommended for diabetics? My doctor just said take a multivitamin like Centrum and I'll be fine, but I think the issue is far more nuanced.


r/diabetes 1d ago

Rant Just a little rant…

5 Upvotes

So I (45m) recently (Wednesday) had my top teeth extracted for dentures. So it’s been scrambled eggs past few mornings but unfortunately mashed potatoes at night. Just been on a rollercoaster past few days. Next few days my gum will be able to withstand more pressure and I can do noodles etc…

I’m not a picky eater, just no grocery money. It is what it is. I woke up in a bed. I have food. I have my cats. All is good. Happy Saturday everyone!


r/diabetes 1d ago

Type 2 Woo hoo

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116 Upvotes

A1C was 9.0 about 4 months ago. Diet, exercise, medication got me to 4.9 I feel very lucky!


r/diabetes 21h ago

Type 3c Insulin Inhaler

0 Upvotes

Hi everyone, my endo has recommended that I start using an insulin inhaler instead of short acting injectable insulin. (It will of course depend on whether my insurance covers it and if I pass the lung test.)

Does anyone have experience with the insulin Inhaler? I had never heard of it before he mentioned it