Insulin Preferences?

My basic insulins are Apidra and Levemir. Apidra is really the fastest acting insulin as others have said here–Apidra is particularly useful in corrections. Lantus gave me a constant headache, but beyond that, I like the fact that Levemir has a flatter peak. I have somewhat slow digestion, so for a long time I took half my Apidra dose before and the other half after a meal, especially in meals such as pizza. Now I’ve added Regular to my regimen; I take one unit at breakfast and two units at dinnertime–substituting those R units for Apidra units, both as a pre-bolus. As I remember, Dr. Bernstein recommends using Regular, keeping Apidra mainly for corrections. I’m happy that my insurance accepts all three types of insulin, so I’d guess I’m not the only one using three.

Reading my previous post, I realize it was pretty terse.

Levemir is my basal insulin. Split dose, morning and evening, weighted more heavily toward evening.

R is for meals containing mostly protein with very few carbs. The longer action of R fits my protein digestion curve better than anything else.

Apidra is for high-carb meals and corrections. Fast in, fast out.

The above is what gives me the best results. All of it was arrived at by trial and error and recordkeeping.

Hi @Jen,

Thanks for the feedback. I use Humalog now. Do you see any noticeable difference between Apidra and Humalog?
Thanks,

Busybee

I think Apidra may kick in faster, but I don’t know for sure since I wasn’t using a CGM back when I switched. I switched because I was having crazy highs and irritation at my infusion set, which I thought might be the insulin (turns out I’m allergic to the infusion sets, although I may give NovoRapid insulin a try just to make sure). I did find that I had a lot more occlusion alarms with Humalog than I do with Apidra.

Awesome! Thank you, this is very helpful.

We loves the A-pee-dra. :heart:

Fastest insulin in the (Pacific North) West! :gun:

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*fastest injected insulin

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Apidram is a no go for me, found out why i was go high,.

Hey @Jen,
for you, is Apidra more expensive? I know this largely different for everyone depending on your insurance coverage, but curious the comparison between humalog and apidra in price for you?

Busybee

I’m pretty sure Apidra is cheaper for me. But I’m in Canada, so things are quite different…

In deference to Sam and all other Afrezza users (whom I support wholeheartedly), I’d like to qualify my previous remark:

Apidra is the fastest injected insulin in the (Pacific North) West! :syringe::gun:

When my daughter first started on Apidra (she switched from Novolog after switching from Humalog), we needed to (along with her endo) jump through the PITA “Prior Authorization” hoops. At the time my [unemployed] husband was picking up all her scripts from the pharmacy (after an average of ten days of asking politely, reminding, nagging, then pleading), so I don’t really know the dollar amount of the copayment. Now I pick up my daughter’s Apidra scripts (because my [still unemployed] almost-ex-husband won’t). If memory serves I think I paid $200 plus for three vials with insurance and a copay discount card. I’ll check my records later and amend that price if it is actually much lower.

This is an expensive little disease, isn’t it? :angry:

Thanks for the info. I will have to call the insurance company to ask about pricing.
Its totally expensive! Its one of the reasons we ended up short selling our house in another state. We finally finalized the sale this last October. It was one of the big reasons for not paying our mortgage to engage in the short sale for our hardship letter to the bank. Thankfully the bank accepted it. My extra diabetes supply costs really do add up. I try to get free samples when I can from my endo though and that helps.
My husband complains little, if at all about the costs. He realizes that I need it to live so why engage the issue.
We’ve been trying to pay off student loan debt so our budget has been tighter than normal, but thats a self imposed limitation. :wink:
I do think of other people that have far worse medical issues than me and I am grateful that mine only costs xx amount. I hear about the debt people are in from other issues and I’m thankful our heads are above water.
Thanks for the input,
Busybee

you might find some help with the costs here

it a good, thing Apidram, don’t work for me, there is no way, i want to do, the “Prior Authorization” hoops, did it for my pump,.

I find U.S. prices so crazy. Even if the government paid nothing for my insulin, it would cost me $118 for 3,000 units (I get it as two boxes of pen cartrdiges, and I’m pretty sure three vials are even cheaper even though it’s the same amount of insulin). Between the government health coverage and my work health insurance, I pay about $7 for that amount of insulin. I’d pay $35 if I was unemployed or had a job with no health benefits.

i think, i had to pay, $250 for 3 or 4 vials, that was with a discount card, now that is down to $15 for 4 vials, & that is with-out a discount card, it just my copay,. & do i find it to be, a expensive little disease, i do, i pay to much for it,.

& @Jen i always find the U.S. prices, crazy to,.