I have shared this in replies to other posts, but wanted to do it in a single post so more people could see it.
I am so glad I stuck with it and continued on Afrezza. It took a while to figure out dosing, but it was well worth it. My A1c went down from 7 to 6.2 in just under 3 months! I am thrilled with its effectiveness! So I would encourage you to try it if you haven’t. It may take some trial and error (the dosing is quite different from injectible insulins), but in the end it may bring a big payoff for you in a lower A1c!
Congrats on your A1c success! That’s a big change in a short time. Do you usually use the 4-unit or 8-unit cartridges? Do you take your Afrezza before, at, or after your meal? How does an Afrezza correction work in your case?
Yes. I am type 1, so insulin is a must. I have used them all…Humalog, Novalog, Apidra, Lantus, and Levemir. Currently using Omnipod pump with Apidra in it for basal, and Afrezza for meals. Afrezza is superior to the others I have tried because it is so much faster and can actually diminish the post-meal spikes (something the other rapid actings couldn’t do for me.) It also doesn’t hang around in my system for hours after I’ve taken it, so I don’t have the worry of lows sneaking up on me three or four hours after I dose. It’s really great stuff!
@Terry4 I ballpark the carbs I eat, and if there are 60 or more carbs, then I take 8U, and if less, then I take 4U. I have learned that I must take it right when I start to eat. If I wait, then I will spike more than I want to. Then I followup with a 4U dose at 20-30 minutes. At first, I was frustrated with the need for lots of followups, but I am not needing as many now as I used to. Maybe my response to the drug changed, or maybe I am using more Afrezza than I used to at the start of the meal. ( I used to rarely take 8U, but now I take that dose more than I used to.) I am very sensitive to normal insulin (1 unit for 15 carbs), so 8U of normal insulin would be reserved for a huge pigout! However, I have learned that Afrezza is such a different drug that you can’t equate 8U of Afrezza with 8U of other insulins. I would say I need at least twice the amount of it than I do Apidra.
As for corrections, if I am 170 or above, then I take a 4U dose and that lowers me within the hour to around 80 or so. If I am less than that, then I either take the 4U and turn off my basal for an hour or so, or else I break open a 4U cartridge and make my own “2U” cartridge. But that is a pain, so I don’t do that very often!
One more thing: I also used to give a small pump bolus with the Afrezza to eliminate the need for followups, but I have learned now that I don’t have to do that, and I still get good results.
Very awesome. Glad to hear it. I’ll check mine next month… I don’t expect to see much improvement as mine was pretty good before, but given how much it’s made life easier and more enjoyable I’ll be happy if it’s anywhere within healthy ranges, and I’m certain it’ll be
@green_pear Out of curiosity, have you ever gone low with afrezza when there was still 30 minutes or so left? The way everyone makes it sound, afrezza will continue to work even if you eat 15 carbs or 50 carbs. My concern is that it would just “fight off” the glucose tabs that you’re actually taking to raise your BG and continue to lower it. Any thoughts?
@Type1dx2003 As for lows, they happened more when I was first learning to use Afrezza, before I had figured out what difference a 4 vs. an 8 makes. Now, I pretty much know how long to wait before correcting, and how much to dose. The big thing I have learned about Afrezza and lows is this: it doesn’t take much glucose to bring me back up to where I want to be. In fact, it takes less than when I go low from normal insulin. Your fear of the Afrezza “fighting off” the glucose tabs is certainly not my experience. I think it’s because of the action curve of Afrezza. It hits the system very fast while I am absorbing lots of carbs, and then after an hour or so starts dwindling rapidly, so by the time there is only 30 minutes left, it has lost most of its steam. My experience with liquid insulin has been just the opposite: it takes lots of glucose to bring me up because the slow-to-take-effect insulin is finally going full speed ahead long after I bolused and long after most of my carbs have been absorbed. It is this continued “tail” of insulin action that used to give me many lows on my old insulin.
