Afrezza Inhaled Insulin

MapleSugar: Do you mean that your doctor personally had disappointments in the past with his patients who were using inhaled insulin?
Is he opposed to/doesn’t trust “miracle drugs” in general?

Now that I think about it, I’m not sure. I had the impression that he was speaking from personal experience , but I didn’t ask for details.

There were previous brands of inhaled insulin before Afrezza which bombed with the public and medical world because they were hard to use and caused health problems.

My last endo was really anti Afrezza when it was relatively new. When I asked about it, she said you don’t want that, it’s expensive and insurance doesn’t usually cover it, plus you have to take it in 4 unit increments, it doesn’t work well for dosing. She might have said a few other things too. I remember it completely dissuaded me from wanting to try it. But people on this board? kept mentioning it so…

She was a type 1 herself and loved trying new things, so I’m sure she had tried it. Reps and companies were always giving her stuff to trial since she was a combo endo /type 1. I have no idea if she’s changed her mind since then since it’s been around longer. She used to have monthly meetings for her type 1’s, there was a lot of them, I’m sure some would have wanted to give it a try anyways.

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Remember, dogramma, your physicians work for you. It should not be “I hope he is receptive.” It should be “I hope he is customer-service oriented enough to provide the patient the solution that works best for them.”

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My use case is much different than yours but I’ve found Afrezza to be extremely useful for me. I think it would definitely be worth trying.

I started on Afrezza when it first became available, March of 2015. I am a long term T1D on an automated insulin dosing system and use Afrezza almost entirely for “high” glucose corrections. It’s fast on, fast off nature is ideal. Many of the high corrections that I make are to stop upward trends in the 100-120 range. It’s very effective for me.

I use the 4-unit cartridges and find that they act more like 2 units of sub-q liquid insulin except it starts to lower my glucose within 20 minutes and is done at 80 minutes. Your results may differ.

I would not willingly give up using Afrezza and decided to pay out of pocket for it when my insurance formulary dropped it. My daily Afrezza use is 0-3 times.

While I don’t use Afrezza for my meal-times, I have read many successful accounts of people who have done so. Use the TuD search function to read these stories.

Why isn’t Afrezza more popular with doctors and their patients? I think two major factors influenced this. Number one is that the manufacturer, Mannkind, does not have the extensive network of sales and marketing staff that the typical big-pharma firm contains.

The second is the FDA black box warning contained in the FDA info. It’s important that asthmatics and those with COPD generally not use Afrezza but for most of the rest, it does not apply.

I encourage you to give it a try.

Yes, he’s like that. I think it will just be a matter of whether it’s on his list of meds that he can order from.
Everything is electronic.

Good to hear, Terry; thank you!

Remember also that Afrezza has their own way of letting patients pay out of pocket ($100 per box per month) even if it’s not on your insurer’s formulary.

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Does Medicare cover Afrezza, or are you using the Eagle Pharmacy mail order, or other source? I finally ran out of last Eagle supply from my stockup (don’t use as often as you).

No, Medicare does not cover my Afrezza. I use Eagle pharmacy.

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@MM1 Afrezza can be covered if you’re on Medicare. It depends what plan(s) you have. My Afrezza is being covered and I’m on Medicare. But I have a supplemental/gap insurance through my husbands past employer. It’s with BCBS and OptumRx but I bet my husbands past employer probably decides the parameters for what’s covered.

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I’ve been reading/hearing reports of some cough problems with inhaled Afrezza.
So, none of you have experienced any coughing??

I often have a reflexive cough after I inhale but the incident is short lived and has no lasting effect. I have always passed the breathing tests. I have used Afrezza for 0-3 corrections per day since March 2015.

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Notoriously it causes coughing…but in most people I gather it goes away. I was told to drink water before and after and it would help until I got used to it. Now sometimes I cough once or twice and sometimes not at all. But I did hear someone complain their coughing never went away and they stopped using it.

My problem is I like it too much lol and if I use it a lot, it seems to send my system a little wacky…

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I coughed a lot the first time I used it, but haven’t coughed again.

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If you inhale it incorrectly you will cough but the best tip I had when I first started using Afrezza was to fully inhale, fully exhale, inhale the dose and hold breath for a few seconds. I rarely ever coughed after using it.

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Thanks for sharing your experience, Terry! Doesn’t sound too bad.

Thanks for the tip on drinking water, Marie ~ and sharing that your cough went away after getting used to the Afrezza. When you say that you “like it too much” and if you “use it a lot” it sends your system “a little wacky” – do you mean that it sometimes makes your BG go too low? What do you do to minimize the chances of that happening, and to treat it when that happens? Do you use 4, 8, 12 units, or a combination? Wondering if I should ask for all or just lowest dose to start out, or a prescription for each as needed…

Thanks for explaining the technique, Firenza!