Thanks Sam, much appreciate your comments, it was starting to feel like a twilight zone. Love that I posted something that was actually helpful no matter how small. Your experience is truly amazing, thanks for sharing. I think Aaron confused my comments on safety of the drug with the cough issue. I see them as two separate issues. I understand Aaron’s concerns and I don’t discount his experience in anyway, very happy he shared it. Mike had very similar experience so I believe its real, but I do feel its more to do with usability then a safety issue. That’s my humble opinion and until i learn more, I’ll stick to it.
Could not agree more. Thank you.
So this talk about Afrezza is passionate and divisive in the sense that some many people have lung sensitivities that makes it impossible. And yet what a possibility it (would have been) (provides to the fortunate) (exclusive lung lucky) or is it. Nobody knows. And hence the investor class interest in our discourse. Well, let’s agree that there is an unusual topic that is difficult to calmly pursue. Let’s too enjoy the chaos. How often does a miracle drug come available to only the lucky? We may never again engage in such a topic of conversation. Soon it will be settled. I don’t think the price will come down. Someone said there were weird observations. Maybe … weird…And someone said we must avoid personal attacks and straying off topic. I’ve wanted to de-escalate the unbridled passions I perceived. It’s only my perception and I am frequently wrong. Perhaps my words were hateful and perhaps next time I will be less thin skinned knowing I have your forgiveness and support.
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Those are great results Sam and the kind of updated comments I was hoping to hear about afrezza. Both weird and sad to me how such an amazing new treatment for diabetes has had to endure so much controversy here and on the web. I was almost afraid to ask people using it how it’s going now that more time has passed. I joined this site to learn about treatments, diet…various personal experiences dealing with blood glucose problems and I’ve learned so much. There is such a wide variation in all of our problems and also what works for each of us, and that’s ok, that’s what makes a patient forum so valuable!
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Great stuff @Sam19.
The suggestion of drinking water sometimes before and sometimes after inhalation has worked wonders for me. My cough is essentially gone after inhaling Afrezza. I use it for all meal and correction boluses now and have zero constrictive cough.
My lunch today : Turkey Sandwich on a roll (30g) and some light Pringles chips (about 20g). Chobani Pumpkin Spice Yogurt (15g) BG started at 73 and peaked at 131 an hour and a half later and is edging down right now almost 2 hours later. I inhaled an 8u cartridge at about 15 minutes.
The stuff really does work extremely well. I was discouraged at the cough when I first started but the cough is gone.
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Great
Cool dw… It sounds like your dosage and carb loads are comparable to mine… I think a bunch of us should organize a teleconference or something at some point where all of us users can compare notes at the same time…
That’s a good idea Sam. I’m in.
Great to hear that Mike, I’d say the cough was more based in your throat if water is really helping so much. The water is keeping it from being so dry and therefore the cough.
I’ve thought my cough was Afrezza caused but I still have a post basal drop type cough. And eight years ago I had a cough so long lasting that I got some inhaled stuff from doctor. I want to do that again so that I restart Afrezza with no cough. But the cough isn’t bad enough. I might experiment with over the counter antihistamine. I can’t take rapid acting insulin with lunch because I take insulin less than three hours prior and it stacks so that I would have to eat three hours after lunch. But Afrezza solved that problem for me. Now I’m just eating protein for lunch with no insulin.
It’s what I meant and I thought was clear from the context given the previous sentences. I apologize if this was not clear.
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I had been complaining that a “month supply” of Afrezza only comes with two inhalers that only last two weeks each before they are supposed to be discarded… Of course a package of bolus insulin isn’t the same as a bottle of 30 1x daily pills that will actually last 30 days… A package of bolus insulin will last a highly varied length of time depending on a plethora of factors… So two 2-week inhalers for a “month supply” wasn’t cutting it for me.
Was thrilled today to receive a stock of back-up inhalers and a pile of free samples of the 4u cartridges from my doctor… Ha I didn’t even have an appointment he just brought them for me from his other clinic.
Today’s results— 84 before lunch, ate a salad, vegetables, and a Hawaiian chicken sandwich on a ciabatta bun (only ate half the bun because last time I ate a whole one I shot up pretty high. 8u at 30 minutes this time (delayed longer than usual because a lot of fat in the salad toppings and dressing)
84 at start, 92 at 1 hour. 107 at two hours.
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great score!!! I know it’s been discussed briefly in another thread but I’m not sure why the inhalers are only supposed to be used for 2 weeks and then discarded. My guess is potential buildup/residue but I use mine for more than 2 weeks with no issues.
I’m only an occasional Afrezza user but I use the inhaler for more than two weeks too. I use a pipe cleaner to keep the passageway free of buildup.
The two week thing seems a little silly to me honestly… I suspect they were just required to have some sort of expiration date since they were drug administering devices. I keep them clean and wouldn’t lose any sleep over using them far past two weeks… Nice to have spares though
We are not covered by insurance yet and our DD has not been using it long, but I would literally take food off the table to pay for this insulin. And if insurance does not kick in, it may be rice and beans for the adults, LOL. However, she is using quite a bit more Afrezza than she would have used Apidra. 30 grams and under she uses a 4 unit cartridge, 40 and over 8 units. We are giving it ten to fifteen minutes into a meal, and I am beginning to think our timing is off and we should give it immediately after. Regardless of the meal, almost always she will be 170 one hour after eating and we then give a four unit cartridge. It seems to require two doses, either four and four or eight and four, depending on size of meal. Very surprised that at 200 and even 170 one four unit cartridge for correction is not too much, but she is also on a new basal insulin and we are trouble-shooting that as well. For now, the four unit does work for a blood sugar of 170. To give you an idea of the dosing, a correction dose for 170 on Apidra is 1:70 or just one unit. We are probably going to need more than what they initially give for one month. But it is fast, very fast. It is easy to use. She loves it.
I just love it too… There really is no comparison to injected insulin… It just flat out works better, by a landslide
How old is your daughter? I was under the impression that Afrezza is not approved for use in children…
Same here. Life changing experience with Afrezza. I basically got my life back from T1D, recovered a non-diabetic lifestyle lost for me and my family while I was with injected. It takes some time to figure out, but IMHO the effort is totally worth it. To give an idea of how the adoption process worked for me, coming from a pump/CGM based low carb extremely tight control, combined with triathlon training to spice things up:
1st 3 days: Sh$t, this thing works fast, and its gone after 90min! Awesome! But I keep over correcting while trying to gracefully land! Afrezza BG seesaw! Chaos! And 4U is the smallest dose? WTF??? Tests, more tests, experiments…
2nd week: I got the post prandial thing, trying to still count carbs
3rd week: Hey, what do I have a pump for again? Just the basal? I don’t need custom basals anymore as with the IOB gone, everything else is more stable. Notable. Dump the pump!
1st month: loving the short tail that removes IOB mess from exercise. Enjoying my swims in the lake without fears of crashing in the middle of the water.
2nd month: Got Toujeo fine tuned, most nights I sleep with no interruptions. So awesome.
3 months: Oh, hold on, do I really need to keep counting carbs? No I don’t! I can just sugar surf and react to whats happening! Cool! Tweaked Dexcom to 70-120 range. Got 1st A1C on Afrezza, drop from 6.4 to 5.4 and with 1/10 of the effort! Pure awesomeness.
4months to today: Slowly but steadily my T1D anxiety levels diminished. Now I can just enjoy whatever life throws at me, knowing that I will be always in control. My family loves this as well.
PS: I had my best ever triathlon season as I can now focus on my training and not the ducking fiabetes, I am going to the Nationals! Woot -Woot!
PS2: My suggestion is, if you can get your hands on Afrezza, try it for a month with the same level of energy you put today in treating T1D with injected. You might be pleasantly surprised on the results.
Cheers
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Love that narrative. I’d do one like it myself-- but honestly diabetes is hardly enough of a concern of mine anymore to motivate me to string together that many sentences in a row…
After encountering so many people on the internet who had no interest in actually trying it but sure were enthusiastic about trash talking it (a case study in the dumb side of human nature that I’ll never understand) I am happy to meet another new friend who can actually relate to how much better it’s made my life. Looking forward to exchanging many stories of kicking a$$ with you. Sam
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