I was hesitant for a long time to try Tresiba. I’d done well on Levemir for years after changing from Lantus I’ve changed insulins many times since 1967 having started out on beef and pork Lente (back when rocks were soft, lol).
A few months ago, the harder I tried the less predicable my numbers were throughout the day and night. I’m low-carb diet-wise and have been for several years. No changes I could uncover other than aging.
So at my endocrinologist’s insistence, I tried Tresiba. I was quickly afraid of the notorious weight gain as I was gaining lbs quite quickly. He encouraged me to stay with it. (It’s a great thing being able to do virtual calls thanks to a Dexcom connected to him so we’re talking about most relative datapoints).
My bgs were leveling out within six days. So I started counting calories as well as carbs. Total pain in the ■■■ initially but I was feeling better so it was worth it. Weight gain stopped. I gave up a number of calorically dense yet lower carb foods. Tresiba’s profile, for me, is worth it.
My endo has submitted a second-level appeal to the insurance carrier to cover it. We’re doubtful they will. My insurance changes in another 30 days and I’m hoping the new policy will cover it but unknown yet. I’ll save my remarks about the macro economic stupidity of 4-profit insurance for another thread.
Thanks to the people here who take the time to share their stories and experiences. It matters.
My insurance company fights covering Tresiba too, so every year my doctor asks what he can write to convince them that I need it. So far so good.
I haven’t heard of Tresiba causing weight gain. The only time I gain weight is when I take too much insulin and have to eat to stay level.
I hope that your insurance company will cover it. I think that anybody who has had this disease for over 50 yrs, should be able to use whatever they need to help them stay stable and that the insurance companies should cover it.
Hear ye, hear ye Marilyn! Once my new policy is active, I’m going to push much harder for the coverage. I didn’t want to push the process when it won’t matter for my very next refill. I’ve lived in ten states and some endocrinology practices are better and more effective than others when it comes to appeals.
Having gone from Lente to NPH to Lantus to Tresiba over the past 40 years, I can say that Tresiba is clearly the best of them all with honest 24 hour action.
My insurance company has vacillated between paying for Tresiba to not paying for it. Every couple years there’s some back room deal where they switch covered brands.I stock up on it while covered and if necessary use Novo discount plan while paying out of pocket. Details on current Novo plan: Savings card
All of the insulin companies have some kind of patient assistance or savings cards. Check out the Tresiba site to see what’s available. Some are income based, some are straight savings cards.
I don’t have quite this long a history with insulin, but I have used Lantus - which I dislike for several reasons - and am now using Tresiba, which I agree has an excellent long-term stacked evenness and works very well as a basal.
If I couldn’t get Tresiba, I’d go back to Levemir, which I used for several years in between the other two. It has a shorter activity timeline, but I found it very friendly and if I split doses to 2x or even 3x a day, I could time those to help manage/match the normal ups and downs of morning, day and night basal requirements.
Learned yesterday that new insurance policy will cover Tresiba! I agree with Marilyn6 that T1s who have tried several (sometimes many) basal insulins should cover Tresiba or any that work more effectively for them than others. A pharmacy tech tried to tell me the insurance co was right – there was no difference between Levemir and
Tresiba. Naturally I ended the call. Life’s too short to argue with misinformed people with bad facts + no personal experience. Next…
I don’t need it now but I did make a call. Their “savings” (for those with 4-profit insurance) was for a first time prescription only. So not much help at all. They just want people to try it and then figure out a way to pay for it on their own. Not sure if there’s more help available for those w/o insurance or other thresholds. I sure hope it’s better.
Tresiba was the best thing that even happened to me. My a1c is 4.9 lower than on a pump and have less lows. I didn’t have any wt. changes but I am very aware if my fluctuations.
One thing my Dr. did which maybe taboo but well we did it. She wrote my insulin requirement to be slightly higher than the actual dose to help the insurance blow if that makes sense.
Imho this is absolutely necessary for all insulin scrips:
The scrip does not include the “airshot” of a few units to get a new pen going, nor the airshots each time you put a pen-needle on. Even though this is required by the insulin manufacturer, PBMs and pharmacies will not add that to the delivered insulin that is being prescribed by your doctor. It’s a ridiculous situation, but easily solved by having a higher scrip amount than the minimum needed.
Emergencies happen. Natural disasters, whatever. It’s important to have a backup supply.
Not so much for basal, but for bolus insulin, weird stuff can happen that requires a higher than usual bolus. Having some “extra” on hand takes away the stress of just treating it without having to worry about having enough for some other day.
They can write “Toujeo - 18-22 units daily” even if you’re on 18 and likewise “Humalog - up to 30 units daily” even if most days you’re using only 24. At least that’s what I got!! So I always had a bit extra which was nice.
Now on the pump, I specifically request penfills and ask for one box a month which leaves me with extra left over as well. I actually use 30 units a day but with tube priming and leftovers in the cartridge I go through 150 units with each infusion set change which is every 3-4 days.
