For those who are still curious about Afrezza I just saw this on YouTube and thought I’d share. Eric & Christi talk about the success they both have had using it and lowering their A1C, the long struggle to get a prescription, and the desire to see a 2U cartridge.
A couple thoughts, being an every day user and fan of afrezza myself (with an a1c of 5.0 - 5.2)
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I have not encountered any issues with insurance coverage, I have had 3 different prescription policies in the last year— all three covered afrezza very well. I have not personally spoken to one person (and I do network with other users) who had any trouble with insurance coverage.
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the only issue I had getting it was a quantity prescribed issue, because it comes it fixed packaging and when it was brand new on the market my doctor didn’t apparently understand that yet and prescribed a quantity combination that wasn’t available.
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the big foofoorah about pulmonary testing is total nonsense over nothing— all that is recommended is a fev1— which can be done in literally 1 second (that’s what the 1 means) on a handheld device that costs less than $50. These can even be done at walk-in clinics. Some doctors, early-on (including mine) asked their patients to go way above and beyond this recommendation to do full pulmonary function tests which are extensive, elaborate, and costly, just to cover their bases with a brand new drug. I don’t hold this against my doctor, I applaud him for being extremely cautious with my health— but I do believe that as afrezza becomes more established those trends will diminish and doctors will only ask for the recommended fev1— or that even that recommendation may be removed completely.
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I don’t agree that a 2u cartridge is necessary or would benefit very many people. I will not debate this point with anyone unless they’ve tried it themselves, because apparently it is a difficult concept to understand that a 4u of afrezza is not the same thing of 4u of any other insulin.
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What is impressive is her A1C drop in such a short amount of time. Her personal best and she only started in September. I’m guessing that the effort to do this was minimal in comparison to other methods.
It’s effortless, @mpg54. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again— I had the skills, tools, motivation, and education to maintain an a1c in the low 5s without afrezza— with afrezza I do it without any of those things! It commands about 5% of my life to have perfect control of diabetes instead of 90%. I feel sorry for anyone who hasn’t tried it— there is a better way, people.
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Agree on all points here. I don’t think I’d use a 2u cartridge as 4u covers me for small carb meals and corrections. For example if I’m 130 I’ll inhale 4u and level out in the 80-90 range. Also, @Sam19 your description of the FEV1 and the process pre Afrezza is spot on to my experience. I went and did my pre Afrezza test on this big fancy machine and when I did my 6 month follow up I did it in my Endo’s office with a device that looked exactly as you described. Little handheld thingy that plugged into a computer!!
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I don’t believe it was specified in the video but Christi looks like she is probably type 2. If so, someone may wish to forward this tudiabetes post to Christi:
He relates how placement of a gastric sleeve caused dramatic weight loss and “cured” his diabetes. I found it very impressive. Bariatric procedures for weight loss in type 2 diabetics is typically covered by private insurance. I believe it is also covered by medicare and medicaid.
It was specified that she is t1-- or at least implied by her saying she’s been s diabetic for 20 years or whatever when she’s obviously still relatively young. Believe it or not t1 diabetics can be overweight too… Just like they can be smart or dumb, poor or rich, young or old, white or black, heavy or thin, the list goes on.
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Believe it or not, children can get T2 as well.
3:32 “she has type 1 diabetes”
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Right on Sam, just because she’s chubby does not mean she’s type 2. She and Eric are both Type 1’s from Childhood.
Conversely, just because someone is thin or young doesn’t mean they’re type 1. Overall, as someone who doesn’t fit either mold particularly well, I am extremely frustrated with the overall stupidity of categorizing a tremendously complex array of disease presentation as simply two “types”
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Ray - she isn’t T2 (clearly says so in the video) and she isn’t looking for someone to tell her to consider gastric sleeve surgery.
I appreciate Christi’s courage to share her experience with Afrezza. We should be commenting on her experience, not making assumptions that she is Type 2 because of her weight and suggesting “advice” based on this assumption.