A not so positive revue. The slowness of response seems quite odd. He stated that he tried to contact the company that produces it... wonder if that is Sanofi or Mannkind.
www.russfit.com/2015/02/afrezza-update.htmlAfrezza | Early Review
I love gadgets. I always have, and I always get excited about the latest and greatest. I love fitness also, so when fitness, health, and gadgets come together, you can only imagine the endorphins I release.
Thus I have been trying Afrezza, the inhalable insulin, for five days now.
Here's My 7-Point Review:
1) PRICE The price point is more expensive than what you'd pay for Humalog or NovoLog. If you're paying cash, it can be up to twice as much for a given number of units. If you really, really hate taking injections, you may be willing to overlook this. If you overpay for insurance, your company may cover the difference, leaving this point moot. Go ahead and read on anyway.
2) DISCRETE Inhaling insulin via the very small inhaler is usually more discrete than injections. Two notable exceptions: the movie theater, and at church. Here, it is far more quiet to take an injection. Most diabetics with a few years of experience can easily accomplish this feat even in the darkness of the theater without notice. Of course, if you break out in a coughing fit, that changes the equation.
3) NOT SO FAST Afrezza is not as fast-acting as you may believe. I ran several side-by-side tests, and where 3 units of Humalog does the job in 15 to 20 minutes for me, inhaling four units of Afrezza takes at least an hour to accomplish the same goal. I went from 185 to 87 over the course of 60 minutes with 4 units of Afrezza. And it took the full time--I was testing every 10 minutes. Humalog requires 3 units for the same reduction, but only takes 20 minutes if injected in the abdomen or triceps.
This may be due to a lower than average body fat, but I also have better-than-normal lung capacity and volume, which I would think would make up for the difference. At any rate, where I thought there would be cost savings of using fewer units, such was not the case.
More hassle, but less pokey than syringes.
4) OLD SCHOOL Afrezza uses an older type of insulin called "Regular." It's a perfectly usable sort, and I used it for about 20 years. It takes much longer to enter the bloodstream when injected, and its lifecycle in the body is less predictable than modern fast-acting insulin. I did not find the latter to be true via inhalation, however. It seemed to begin acting within 30 to 60 minutes, and have no more effects after 70.
5) NO FINE-TUNING If you need to give yourself a dose of fewer than four units, you cannot. The smallest dosage cartridge is four units, which disallows fine tuning of blood sugar levels. If my blood sugar level is 130, for example, I may inject two units of Humalog, one unit of Humalog, or none, based on the last few hours of exercise, and what I'm about to do.
With Afrezza, I only have the option of inhaling four units, and then running the risk of needing to eat carbohydrates to keep my blood sugar level up. Depending on your activity level, body fat, and sensitivity to insulin, this may not be an issue for you, so you'll have to do your own mouth on that. I can also sympathize with the company--too many different dosage cartridges, and people will get confused and give themselves the wrong doses. Not to mention the logistics of balancing smaller amounts of insulin with the powder carrier.
6) LUNG IRRITATION A deep, thorough inhalation of the powder makes me have to stifle a cough about 75% of the time.
7) WORKAROUND While you would not think that you could alter the dosage rate of absorption in anyway, I did find one trick. The instructions tell you to put your mouth on the device and breathe in fully and deeply. I found that if I hold it in my open mouth, and begin the inhalation just before closing my mouth around the mouthpiece, I got a deeper, fuller absorption with slightly speedier uptake. It also felt as though it seated deeper in my lungs than by following label instructions.
So…Is That a Yea or Nay?
As of right now, five days into the experiment, I'm not 100% sold on its benefits. The company that produces it has also not responded to my request for a phone call or an email, which looks bad from a customer service standpoint. I have no doubt that they are deluged with requests from the press and from doctors at the moment though, as it is brand new.
Here's who I think would benefit from it the most:
1) People who are less sensitive to insulin injections due to higher than desirable body fat levels.
2) People with an irrational fear of syringes.
3) Diabetics who are willing to wait when their blood sugar levels are too high. Personally, I cannot stand the feeling in my muscles and the knowledge that it is damaging neurological pathways, and would far rather take an injection and solve the problem now rather than wait 1 to 2 hours.
Posted 58 minutes ago by The Krowbar