I have been eyeing getting a prescription for Afrezza too. I am a little concerned over the inhalation part of it as I have allergies. I am not asthmatic, but allergies like crazy. I was once diagnosed with pneumonia and stuck in the hospital in an oxygen tent as a kid and within 10 minutes of pure oxygen it all went away. I was booted out lol 1 hour later.
But I am wondering how my lungs will react with breathing Afrezza so have been on the fence of deciding whether I want to try it. Has anyone else with major allergy issues tried it?
Iāve used afrezza for years. I donāt really pay attention to carb ratios or correction factors or any of that like I do with injected bolus. I just use it and it works and works well with a fraction of the thought put into it that liquid requires. I used to use it for almost all boluses, but how, like @Terry4 I find it most effective for corrections. I attribute this mostly to my metabolism having slowed down as I approach middle ageā¦ that and my general preference for a higher fat diet which digests more slowly. Afrezza still works very well solo for lower fat meals for me. I take it after I eat which allows for quite a bit more flexibility and freedom in life than prebolusing does. As others have said, sometimes follow up doses are required because by 2 hours or so its effective action remaining is nil.
I find afrezza lowers my bg starting in as little as 10 minutes and has a natural tendency to level off without causing major hypos.
Is a dose of Afrezza generally half what a dose of insulin would be? That seems to be what people are saying in this thread (four unit Afrezza equals two unit insulin, two unit Afrezza equals one unit insulinā¦).
Iāve never used Afrezza and canāt get it since itās not in Canada. But definitely something Iām interested in checking out if or when it gets here.
I wouldnāt say thatā¦ theyāre just different animals. Almost like asking if the number of apples are half the number of oranges. But yes Iād agree that youāre going to use a higher number of āunits of afrezzaā but Iād encourage everyone to break free of the box of just thinking about their doses in units because itās really a self limiting and outdated concept with afrezza
Yes, thatās a good starting place for someone switching to Afrezza.
However @Sam19 is right in that a 4 unit cartridge isnāt truly equivalent to 2 units of fast acting. Afrezza levels off for me (as long as I donāt take way too much) in a way thatās completely different than Humalog.
I donāt use carb ratios much anymore either. Still, I do have a general idea of how much I would dose with Humalog for a meal. Thatās a good starting point to keep in mind as I choose my dose. With Afrezza working so quickly, itās easy to add more insulin depending on how your body responds to the food (as shown on a cgm). Kind of like how you can easily add more carbs if your Humalog dose was too high. Itās a really different approach to treating diabetes.
The biggest reason I switched to Afrezza was because of the crashing dangerous lows I would get with Humalog that were so unpredictable I was afraid to sleep and subsequently would run high in order to try and protect myself. With Afrezza I have not had a severe low that wasnāt absolutely basal related (early morning or hours after any Afrezza dose) since I started using it 2 years ago. It stops working for me at 1 1/2 hours on the dot.
The only times I have coughed when using Afrezza is when I have inhaled incorrectly. If your mouth is dry it can get caught on your tongue though. It does require some technique but if you suck strongly on the inhaler instead of trying to breath it in like you would when taking a normal breath there shouldnāt be much issue. The bigger, stronger breath you take the better it will work.
Also the claim of it needing to be used immediately after opening the package is (as far I can tell) false. I have never had an issue with leaving a package out of the fridge and there are several enterprising individuals that I know of who have run experiments with leaving Afrezza in a hot car for months or freezing it and then eating a high carb meal. It just worked like normal. BTW @katers87 I wish I was a spokesperson for Afrezza as it changed my life.
Imo the only limitation with leaving it out of the fridge is if itās opened and in humid environment Iād be concerned it might eventually goup up and not disperse wellā¦ never experienced it just my thoughts
Afrezza gives you a year to ātryā it for $15.00 for a monthās supply (if you have some sort of U.S. medical insurance ā I have ObamaCare. Have your doctor prescribe it, then fill out the form on their website and you can get monthly doses for a year.
The big problem with the Afrezza people is that they DONāT contact your insurance company during that year to make it a ācovered drugā. They leave that up to the patient. This is stupid on their part since most insurance companies wonāt put a drug on their approved list unless they are contacted by the manufacturer.
For exampleā¦ when I wanted to use Fiasp, the makers of that drug (Novo Nordisk) contacted my ObamaCare insurance company and got it put on their prescription drug list as a āclass 2 drugā ($20 for a monthās dose) within a month.
The Afrezza people refuse to do this, even after I explained that my ObamaCare plan REQUIRES the manufacturer to negotiate with the insurance company directly.
Thus, Iām going to give up on Afrezza as soon as my year-of-discounts is up due to their ridiculous way of dealing with insurance companiesā¦
Tim35 ā Pointing out that Fiasp/Novalog being covered is not the point. The point is that the Afrezza people need to pursue the insurance companies to get it on their prescription āpreferred drugā lists, not the patientā¦
Mannkind seemed to have a difficult time brining the drug to market. They are a small company and basically an engineering firmā¦ this is their only productā¦ they have never brought a drug to market before. Years ago they partnered with sanofi to market their product because of course sanofi has tremendous experience bringing drugs to market. Unfortunately sanofi didnāt fulfill their part of the agreementā which imo is industrial sabotage and is unforgivableā¦
Patients need to do some legwork in some cases to get them meds they need. Iām sure if their prescription counts were higher that theyād be ending up on more formulariesā¦ but itās a moot point unless more of it is being prescribed. In the meanwhile Iād encourage everyone interested to look into their discount programs. Iāve received stellar personalized one on one Customer service from mannkind when Iāve had issues that needed straightening out.
Noridian is a Medicare administrator who processes Medicare claims for a portion of the US. I get my pump-administered Apidra under Medicare Part B and that transaction is managed by Noridian. Part B coverage is premised on insulin used in an insulin pump. Since Afrezza is not delivered by an insulin pump, I have not attempted to get this coverage.
I also use Afrezza which I get from Caremark CVS, a supplier of Medicare Part D prescription coverage. Your mention of Noridian in conjunction with your Afrezza usage confuses me. Are you getting your Afrezza under your Medicare Part D prescription? Maybe Noridian also oversees Part D coverage.
Iām curious about the context of your mention of Noridian and Afrezza. What is the actual source of your Afrezza? Is it a pharmacy that submits payment claims under Part D?
