AfrezzaUser

Advocate for Afrezza

Week 18-New Possibilities, Jackie’s “Eye Opening” Comments, and Spiro on Afrezza!

Week 18  and another confirmation of how effective and easy Afrezza is for any Type 1 or Type 2 diabetic.

Brian Sharp Shows What is Possible

Hats off to Brian for an incredible week–he was able to stay between 60-150 on his blood sugars for 100% of the time. For a Type 1 diabetic that is like winning the lottery! Best of all, he had ZERO severe or moderate lows and finished the week with an average blood sugar number of an enviable 99! As Dr. Bode, and any doctor or diabetic educator would say, knowing Brian had an A1C of 10.1 before starting on Afrezza–UNBELIEVABLE—but yes however, it’s 100% true! This week Brian is in Romania/Europe for 3 weeks and on his way he posted this for everyone:

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We all wish him a happy and healthy trip and a big thanks for sharing his success with all of us!

Jackie lights up Social Media with her “Eye Opening” Afrezza Experience!

Even though Jackie has been in a number of Afrezza videos sharing her experience (this video is when she had been on Afrezza less than one month), it is sometimes what she writes that leaves everyone amazed. This week was no exception as she shared yesterday on Yahoo Message Board:

“Just got back from my Ophthalmologist who has been treating me for early stages of diabetic retinopathy. I have had several laser surgeries there to repair leaky blood vessels in my retina. Scary. Very scary. Today’s visit was quite different I had the full dye test today and the doctor was amazed at how great my eyes looked. No more laser surgeries for me! I am the first patient he knew taking Afrezza and was so excited to hear of my A1C drop to 6.7 and my very realistic goal to get to the mid-5s by year end.  He was sad however that I wouldn’t need to come and see him anymore. Who knows, maybe we can go out for a beer sometime.  😉 “

When I asked about her about this later, she said her doctor attributed all the improvement to her lower A1C (ie. better control and lower blood sugar–ie. AFREZZA!).  The American Diabetes Association published data from 2005-2008 that 4.2 Million people have diabetic retinopathy that may result in loss of vision. As diabetics we are 25-30 times more likely to lose our sight than the general population. This is another huge complication of diabetes that Afrezza could help with like it did with Jackie. I admire Jackie so much for not being shy about sharing her journey on Afrezza in a most caring and humble way–she is saving lives and is also saving people from going blind by doing what she is doing–sharing her firsthand personal knowledge. I don’t know how to change the world, except one person at a time, but I hope Jackie will save many, many people the gift of sight through her testimony and ongoing advocacy. 

 

Here is the Type 1 Week 18 Chart:

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And here is the Type 2 Chart for week 18:

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In another social media post, our own Spiro recently posted:

Afrezza only Works Better with Time

“It looks looks like some people on this thread are struggling to find answers. Spiro will try to help you guys out without gloating to much. You guys need to forget about the Type 1’s, the real market for Afrezza is the over 20 million Type 2’s who haven’t heard about Afrezza yet. To put it simply, Afrezza will save a Type 2’s pancreas from getting weakened or destroyed by oral medications. Spiro is amused when he hears some of the stories out there that Afrezza has spontaneously stopped working well. Good grief, it’s human insulin, since when does human insulin stop working? Can someone tell these Type 1’s, it’s the disease. Diabetes is a nasty sucker, it is affected by a lot of factors during a diabetics daily routine. Things like stress, fatigue, exercise or a sudden change in diet can all influence glucose levels. Afrezza will never stop working, it will only start working better as the diabetic learns how to manage his disease better using Afrezza. Spiro has the pleasure of seeing how great Afrezza works everyday. Today, pre-dinner BG 96. 60 + carb dinner, 4 units Afrezza, 1 hr. BG 124, 2 hr, BG 84 3 hr, BG 86. Afrezza is taking the stress off of Spiro’s pancreas during phase 1 digestion. It sure seems like Spiro’s pancreas is cranking out a lot more insulin now, than it was 5 month’s ago. That large piece of red velvet cake with butter-creme icing was incredible after dinner tonight.
Someway, somehow and hopefully someday Sanofi will get the message out to Type 2 diabetics. it’s a quite simple message, early intervention in treating your Type 2 diabetes with Afrezza will save your pancreas, nerve endings, eyesight, liver, spleen and kidneys. Of course they can’t say that, but isn’t that what happens when your blood sugar is at normal levels? Uncontrolled diabetes is a nasty sucker, it destroys your body, system by system until your quality of life is gone. It’s a slow death and it will come earlier than it should have.”

Spiro has been an outgoing patient and advocate of Afrezza, and his firsthand experience is very valuable for all future Type 2 Diabetics (and also Type 1) who will go on Afrezza someday. Thanks Spiro for keeping it “real”!

What is the Afrezza Users “Real Life” Results Group?

It is a group of Afrezza Users who use a Continuous Glucose Monitors (most of the Type 1’s) seeking tighter diabetes control and measuring the time spent in each blood sugar range. Laureen and Julie are also Type 1 but they use “finger prick” measurements throughout their day to measure their blood glucose levels while the rest of us are using CGM’s (continuous glucose monitors). For Type 2 diabetics, nearly all use finger prick measurements, and this is the the case for Brian, Hillard and Spiro. It is NOT a competition between T1’s and T2’s nor among any of us and was only started so people could understand and see the inherent benefit of why Afrezza provides better control and higher patient satisfaction for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics over any our previous regimens. In essence, this is a “real-world” trial of “do your best”, and have good and bad days, but keep track of it all, and let everyone know the results. Well, the results thus far are clearly and unbelievably positive for Afrezza.

Why are you doing this?

There has been so much discussion about the FDA Afrezza Drug trials and why I feel as a participant in the Affinity 1 trial, there were significant “hold backs” as to why we were not able to materially outperform Injectable Insulin because of the protocols on the trials. This is no longer the case!

To Summarize here are just a few of the hold backs why Afrezza didn’t get to show how great it works:

  • Afrezza Dosing was only changed approx. every 6 weeks, and not flexible dosing depending on meal
  • No CGM’s allowed
  • Time in Zone not measured
  • Patient Quality of Life not measured
  • Brand new Afrezza users vs. Very experienced Injectable users (what if it was brand new injectable users vs. experienced Afrezza users—would that be fair? No-they would stop the trial right away because it would be a TKO/referee stops contest victory for Afrezza which we are already proving by “real-world” experience.)

What would you like to express to everyone out there considering Afrezza or to any doctors considering prescribing Afrezza for their patients?

My opinion is that Afrezza is a “life-changing” drug. It improved my life and every single person in our “real life” group which gives me hope that diabetics everywhere can be helped by this insulin therapy. I wish the same for you or any other diabetic you know—to enjoy a better, longer and higher quality of life! Please demand to try Afrezza from your doctor, and see for yourself!

3 Comments

  • Reply Eric |

    Good job Sam. Tough going getting Afrezza to catch on with the prescribing physicians, but the results cannot be denied. All the best to the T1/2 diabetics – I know this drug positively, and substantively, leads to a superior quality of life.

  • Reply Gary Klass |

    My A1C dropped from 8.0 to 6.6 (.1 lower than my sister Jackie) after 3 months on afreeza.

    One problem my insurance company seems to have
    a) I take about 44 units per day.
    b) Afreeza’s dosage configuration chart suggests that I should take this entirely in 8 and 12 unit cartridges.
    https://www.afrezza.com/hcp/configuration-chart

    I actually use about three 4 units a day and maybe a 12 unit every other day.
    I use the 4 units for corrections and maybe an hour after a big meal.
    Does anybody eat only three times a day?

    • Reply Sam Finta |

      I uses 4 and 8s. In my opinion only T2s will be using 12 unit doses. I would ever do a 12u at a start of a meal. The best method for me would be 8u to start and I might follow up with a 4u 75 to 120 minutes after my meal.

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