Hello, I’m new to the forum, my name is Devin. I’m planning to take a trip soon, I’ll be on a 3-4 hour flight. I know that if Afrezza is left at room temp for more than ten minutes it must be used within 10 days and 3 if opened. I would like to take some extra but fear not being able to keep it cool enough. Does anyone know what it would take to be able to take it with me and not have to worry? I planned on using one of those small insulated velcro coolers and an ice pack or 2, would that be enough? Thank you!
How long will you be traveling (a month)? If you will be gone for 12 days then just fuggedaboudit, it probably doesn’t matter, your Afrezza will be fine.
There are numerous ways to keep things cool and a 3-4 hour flight is not really that long, so exposing your Afrezza is unlikely to seriously impact your shelf life. That being said, there are many cooler packs on the market and they would probably do fine. Also, in a pinch you can put the Afrezza in a watertight ziplock back and just put it in a cup filled with ice and water. If the ice melts too much on the flight then ask for more ice. Even for a long flight you can ask for ice whenever you need it.
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Google search on " Afrezza travelling" gave me these results
the first one is the link to this thread ( Google bots are quick)
the second link has a collection of social media posts.( mostly from twitter ) - so may be talk to them?
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What’s up Devin. I’ve used Afrezza that hasn’t been refrigerated for over 10 days and it worked completely fine. Not sure why they put such restrictions on it. Admittedly I haven’t done much research on it. Maybe my man @Terry4 @Dave26 or @Sam19 could chime in. Seems like an unreasonably short shelf life.
I think you will be completely fine. Have a safe trip and let us know how it goes.
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I travel for a living and can honestly tell you I wouldn’t even worry about it at all. I’d take precautions to kee it from getting stupid-hot but that’s about it. Don’t leave it in direct sunlight, or in a hot car… make a reasonable attempt to keep the unused cool, but certainly don’t lose much sleep over it
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Guys, is insurance covering your Afrezza, and which insurer?
I’m close to pulling the trigger again, hoping I might be able to ditch the pump completely, switching to a long-acting pen and Afrezza. Would be a lot cheaper for Blue Shield if it works out too.
I confess, after all the research I did on the drug and the delivery technology, finding nothing to worry about, I still worry about long-term lung effects. I’m having some irrational concern over the “growth hormone” aspect of insulin, and how it might affect the lungs.
What do you all think?
The prospect of a daily Tresiba injection, plus a toot here and there on a whistle to correct and when I eat, a long with a CGM to monitor it all sounds very attractive. Especially, even though I love the Omnipod, I’d love no Omnipod even more!
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Yes. Cigna.
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I have a retiree mail order prescription benefit adminsitered by Caremark/CVS that fills my Afrezza Rx. Last year, Medco filled my Afrezza prescription.
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Yes, I have a private health trust insurance. Caremark is the prescription administrator and I had to have the trust override their formulary…
Otherwise I’d have to do the PA with Caremark,not sure how onerous that is.
I’m quite happy with tresiba and afrezza overall. I still end up using novolog too… I’m not worried about lung issues at all.
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I have nothing scientific to cite regarding storage temperature for Afrezza but I’ve stored Afrezza unrefrigerated for longer than 10 days without ill effect. I’ve never read any user account with Afrezza degrading from a high temperature. I remember watching a YouTube video of an Afrezza user burying some Afrezza in a hot-house in Australia for a few months. He then tested it using a Coca-Cola and his CGM and found no degradation of action.
Re: still using fast-acting (novolog, humalog, etc.) with Afrezza… Do you mainly do this to simulate an extended bolus on a pump, Sam? Can the same effect be achieved simply by tooting again in a few hours after eating?
Wondering if the combo approach (say, have a steak and potatoes for dinner) is more efficient than trying to handle the protein tail for hours with Afrezza (resulting in a lot of Afrezza, basically kind of wasting it)?
Yeah I suppose it’s sort of like simulating an extended bolus. And yes the same thing can be accomplished with just a follow up toot.
Other times I will just use afrezza and no follow ups necessary… depends a lot on what you’re eating and your activity level afterward. I’ve also noticed over the past couple weeks that I’ve been taking strong proton pump inhibitor that the delayed spikes seem a little more pronounced. In this situation I’m tending to use novolog a little more and afrezza primarily for corrections. I assume this is because of slightly slower digestion with weaker stomach acid.
Interestingly I’ve noticed that I seem to have absolutely phenomenal results with afrezza when I’m in warm locations, even when I’m eating like crap… I’m not sure what to make of that quite yet— but am convinced thus far that when I go on vacations to hot places I can eat whatever I want and have perfect control with afrezza— substantially more so than I can while freezing my a$$ off in Alaska… so I plan to explore that theory a little more.
With a steak and potatoes I’d probably take a 4 about 20-30 minutes after eating-- I know it’d stay flat for 2 hours but between 2-3 hours I might see a spike (depending on activity level, circumstance, etc) so I’d check again at 3 hours and if elevated take another 4. I am starting to realize that it’d be easier with a cgm-- but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
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Yeah, the G5 is one of those “pry it from my cold dead fingers” sort of thing. It is the single more important tool I have in my D management routine. If insurance stopped covering it, I’d find a way in the budget to pay for it 100% – and probably start using sensors for 3-4 weeks instead of 2.
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Could not agree more @Dave26
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Not sure if @Castagna2011 is active here but Mannkind has program called Mannkind Cares to which your doc submits the RX and they take it up with insurance.
https://afrezza.aspnprograms.com/About.aspx
Probably better to try samples though to see how it works out for you
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Ditch the pump and try the Afrezza / Tresiba combination. I’ve been on Afrezza for about 19 months and absolutely love it. The most freedom from Diabetes I have ever experinced in 33 years as a T1.
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How often does the CCO of Mannkind buy you lunch:
Also, from September 20, 2015:
“@bmcgoo I started #Afrezza 4/15. My a1c prior was not very accurate. Many hypos prior to Afrezza and Tresiba gave false a1c. Now - flatlines”
Your “a1c was not very accurate” – what does that mean? Ditto for "tresiba gave false a1c?
Do you have any legitimate or even well intentioned reason to be posting on this forum?
The CCO of mannkind does outreach with actual users who’ve shared great success stories. He personally joined this forum to address a concern and issue I was having getting an rx filled and followed up on it several times to ensure it was straightened out, personally.
I’d be more than thrilled to take him out to lunch. I’m a bit jealous.
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A side question: You both said “CCO”… did you mean “COO”, and if not, what’s a CCO?
I don’t know, chief commercial officer, something like that. Ask him yourself. @Castagna2011