I started on Afrezza last night

Hi DrBB,
I got this from the following article. Supposedly there is no residue, the powder is so fine that it is easily passed through your lungs. That’s the beauty of this Techno-sphere technology that Afrezza is delivered with. If it takes 20 years or more to get lung cancer from Nicotine that stays in your lungs for years and is a carcinogen. How many years would it take a substance that runs naturally in your blood stream to cause cancer in your lungs, and considering it leaves no residue? Just food for thought.
Thanks and good luck.

“Back in 2009, Al Mann told us they’d been following some patients who’d already been using Afrezza for up to 5 years, and saw no change in their lungs. (They did high-definition CT scans on the 600 patients in their study.) That seems encouraging.”

Amazing Afrezza

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Hi @mpg54(guess what he’s no longer part of this?) I’ve read the articles you’ve referenced. My take away is in the first month, the subject of your first reference, the one that went on about dehydration, there is a reactive cough immediately upon dose delivery. In the second month, the subject of this most recent reference you site there is a constricting cough, as @mikep put it when responding to your explanation for the first type of cough. You have not acknowledged the second type of cough. It appears during the second month of use and worsens with daily use. It is the cough and not concerns about long term effects that matters. It is a hacking deep lung cough that is distracting to company and a physical irritation. The experience of the inhaled insulin is fantastic in every aspect as the sited reference say except for the cough. When the first article delved into it it said inhalation delivery was an unknown of such significance that he was downgrading his investment rating. The person making that recommendation was making a positive spin with so much discussion of dehydration which more experience has shown to be not the cause of the second cough. All the positives of Afrezza are undeniable. It’s a breakthrough game changer. It’s the best therapeutic available. It makes users healthier. Only the cough is a problem.

Hi Aaron.

Great points. I will say that I’m back on Afrezza for all meal and correction boluses and the cough is relatively gone. Every once in a while I’ll cough a bit after an inhalation but the constrictive cough (which worried me so much) has not come back. I’m wondering if the Afrezza combined with bad allergies and maybe a slight cold all contributed to the constrictive nature of the cough. Either way, I’m back using it regularly and it is working very well.

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Hi Aaron,
I’m still here. I understand and appreciate your feedback, I’m just re-posting things I’ve read from others. I can’t claim any personnel experience with Afrezza, nor do I try to tell others how to treat themselves. It’s good to hear that you are still positive about it as a treatment despite the cough. I wonder how often this occurs as you and Mike seem to have a similar experience, yet Sam does not.
Thanks.

Ok glad you’re here I did the @ key and your name didn’t appear so I didn’t know. I took Afrezza doses last night and this morning and coughed a lot. Seem to be trying doses every two weeks. That’s how often I’m desperate to bring down bg fast. But when I us ed it regularly I found it less predictable for correction as opposed to carb meal boluses. Hesitant to keep at it but cough very well may go away. That seems to be the common experience.

Hi all - just wanted to post a quick follow up. I had my Spirometry FEV-1 test done again after being on Afrezza for a little over 6 months and it came out great. Doc said it actually improved a bit!! This is very refreshing news as I’m using Afrezza exclusively for all meal boluses and corrections.

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Love it! Happy to hear. I need to do my follow up too but unfortunately got hit with w piece of metal in the chest at work so breathing deeply hurts… Will probably delay a few weeks til I heal

Lol afrezza actually improved your lungs. What a quandary this puts the naysayers in. Use enough And eventually you’ll breathe underwater like a fish (kidding)

LOL thanks Sam. You ok? Sorry to hear about getting hit at work.

It is not a big deal at all just hurts a little if I inhale deeply like I would have to for a spirometry I’m fine thanks

I’m traveling in New Zealand now. As a result, I’m swagging more for unfamiliar foods and the spontaneity of my eating times makes Afrezza handy. The Afrezza does a great job without increasing the risk of going low. Afrezza is a D-travelers friend.

Considering this has been an expressed fear by many of its skeptics it is good to hear. I think you’re the first adopter on TU and therefore have the longest experience with it on this board. I expected to hear more from other Diabetics about experiences with this drug, not in this particular thread, just on TU, but its seems you, Sam and a handful of others are either the only ones willing to try it, or the only ones willing to tell about your experience with it. For a drug that had so many expectations around it before reaching users, it seems to have been swept under the rug by many in the Diabetic community, not sure why, as those who are using it seem to be successful for the most part. The saying old habits are hard to break certainly seem to ring true in this case.

People with diabetes tend to be skeptical… For good reason… They’ve been the target of countless “miracle cures” “diets” and snake oils of all kinds for many years. They’re also people who learned a very rigid way of thinking about how insulin works and how it must be dosed. When your life, day in and day out depends on thinking within a rigid box, it becomes very hard to think outside it for many people. It didn’t help that the fda added additional warnings, and more strict prescribing guidelines, against the recommendations of its expert committee, which raised some alarm that it might be dangerous, although there was no evidence of this… The fda had blew it with a lot of drugs in not too distant past so is very very cautious in covering their a$$ nowadays. Also bear in mind that most people with diabetes don’t even know about it yet.

It’s a wonderful treatment, but it’s not the only treatment. Other insulin are still effective, so the urgent “must have it” phenomenon that investors were counting on didn’t materialize (this isn’t viagra)— it’ will take a while to catch on. I will keep telling anyone who wants to listen how well it has worked for me. I think over time it will become more and more mainstream…

I think the overall “internet sensationalism” of afrezza has also probably made some people more skeptical about it than they otherwise would be too— wanting to not get involved when it seems like a lot of hype.

My main concern at this point is that if it doesn’t become a commercial success 1) it’d be a terrible shame, because it would not have the opportunity to tremendously improve the quality of life of millions of people,

And 2) mostly, it won’t be available to me.

Those two reasons are why I’ll keep preaching about how awesome it is…

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Appreciate your insight Sam, thanks for sharing.

couldn’t have said it better myself.

Exactly Sam, well said. Afrezza completely and unexpectedly changed my life as well (my original driver to start with Afrezza was to solve the IOB mess with exercise, as I am a competitive triathlete, the whole “living as a non diabetic” benefit came as a bonus). I will share my experiences hoping that others can benefit from this revolutionary drug as much as I am doing.
Cheers!
Gus

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Right on Gus, welcome to the discusssion

So, I just looked at the Afrezza website and the doses come in 4, 8, and 12 units. So, does this mean that users eat around their bolus, as opposed to bolusing for exactly what they want to eat?

Pardon my naivete, but how can you have great control if the doses only come in 3 varieties?

Thanks!

It doesn’t really work like other insulins that require precise dosing… It’s a different animal.

The 4 and 8u cartridges cover my needs very well regardless of the amount of carbs I eat (within reason)

This “flexible dosing” has been discussed at great length and you definitely aren’t the only one who’s had a tough time accepting it at face value… But for me (and many others) it works magnificently

If you would have taken anywhere from 1 to 4 u of injected bolus you instead take 4 of afrezza. 4-8u of injected bolus =8 afrezza and so on.

That’s the entire appeal of it, it doesn’t have to be precisely dosed like injected bolus

Thanks for the clarification. The other question/worry I have is what @mikep reported a few months back of having a serious cough, serious enough that he stopped inhaling it for a period of time. He also attributed it to Afrezza directly. Now, in my mind, I try to listen to my body as closely as possible. If a serious cough develops then that would tell me that my body is trying to tell me to stop inhaling this stuff.

Who else is coughing from this stuff? Is anyone concerned of long-term (unknown) complications from this approach?

Well the fda put them through the absolute wringer looking for any reason imaginable to determine that it wasn’t safe and came up pretty much empty handed, not that they’ve never screwed up before… Sure it’s a concern because it hasn’t been around forever, but all prescription drugs have their own concerns… That’s why a doctor has to prescribe them and manage their use… So, I guess ultimately I’m not any more concerned about it than any other drug I’d be taking as directed under the monitoring of a doctor I trust—

I haven’t had any issues with coughing… Ive had throat irritation for more than 20 years (which was seemingly exacerbated by afrezza at first, but seems to be a thing of the past now since I’ve been taking antacids). I’m sure Mike will be happy to explain his experiences…