AfrezzaUser

Advocate for Afrezza

March Madness-Actual Info on How Afrezza is Different with Great Info!

 

Injectable shot

Afrezza basketball shot

Here it is–March Madness–when the NCAA tournament is happening and the  final four colleges (Kentucky, Duke, Wisconsin and Michigan State) compete to see who is going to be the very best school in college basketball. For diabetics, there is another competition going on between traditional insulins and Afrezza. This morning a noted blogger Amy Tenderich released her report on Afrezza Inhaled Insulin. Afrezza does change lives, and I certainly wish her even greater success in her personal diabetes journey.  Here are some other thoughts and opinions on the March Madness going on right now off the basketball court.

  • In starting Afrezza some people are misunderstanding the dosing and how it compares to their past RAA insulin use. Know this, at least from a few of our experiences, that for the first two weeks or so, you will notice unusually higher Afrezza dosing and usage (and this is not just me, but also Adam, Brian, etc.)- my take is that this phenomenom seems to be how this new drug gets accustomed to your body and having a more efficient pancreas/liver relationship again. The other thing to consider is that Afrezza is not your old insulin in a different form-it acts uniquely different, works faster and leaves the body sooner. It doesn’t correspond or have a direct relationship to old insulins, so if you take 8U of Novolog or Humolog, it is not equivalent to how 8U of Afrezza will work–please get that out of your mind if you feel that way–Afrezza is a brand new drug. Perhaps when you use it, sometimes you will use a similar dose as your old insulin, but that is where the similarity ends. Once again, just like when you started on Novolog or Humalog or any injectable, you needed to figure out how your body reacts with those drugs, (ie. the drop rate on a set of carbs and how long it stays in your body). Afrezza does requires the same initial review and adjustments. After taking a dose of Afrezza, some might get nervous especially if they “under-dosed” and don’t see their blood sugar fall, and then panic and take an injection of their old treatment, and I don’t think this is the optimum way for anyone to have different insulins working and peaking throughout the system at the same time. The key to this is that almost everyone on Afrezza reports that once they are over the “dosing”hurdle, which for Afrezza is characterized by fast onset and soft landings, your confidence goes through the roof because it is very predictable and you live in “real-time”. After 2-4 weeks–and most of us by then feel like our pancreas’s are “working” again at that time, even th0ugh as type 1’s we know this is not possible. For type 2’s, you really have it made with Afrezza–and Afrezza Spiro is my new hero in that regard. Plot his BG #’s on a graph for the last 3 weeks and the results are beyond stellar, with absolutely no inconveniences. This is a huge deal, as he spreads the word to his doctor and other type 2’s, they will not only become more compliant (biggest issue among doctors), they will love this new non-invasive treatment option.
  • People seem to be afraid to “knock down” their highs” in the bud”—that is when their blood sugars are turning up and approaching more than the 140 area. The reason I think diabetics are apprehensive is that this is something you cannot do using traditional insulins—with those you always have to wait for hours so I can see why taking a corrective dose might seem very scary and strange. If I need a follow-up dose an hour or 2 hours later it is just never an issue in my opinion. It is no different than taking a follow-up dose with RAA insulin if necessary 3 to 4 hours after a meal. The difference is that the Afrezza adjustment takes literally minutes to start working and you will be back in normal range ready for the next meal. This is why I call it “real-time” insulin–you can live, whether that means play sports, exercise, go out at night, or play in a rock-n-roll band  and you will most likely have less worries about your blood sugars because Afrezza is predictable and fast acting.
  • Some online Posters (if genuine) are missing the point—living a near “normal” life again without injections, waiting for hours, babysitting this disease, and being obsessed with diabetes day and night is worth trying to do something about and spreading the word about. Feeling better = living better. Ask any afrezza user—(ie. someone with more than a month or more experience who understand the process and has been succesful at “time in zone”and keeping in tight control )-do you feel better (watch testimonial)?  “Yes, like never before!” will usually be the answer you will hear. Interestingly, you will almost never hear anyone say they are going back to what they were doing previously- to me when I had to stop taking Afrezza because the drug trial was over, it was like going back to live in the “dinosaur age”. At that time, I had to wait 2 years before I could have a prescription filled for Afrezza–the worst two years of my life!  Simply can’t imagine anyone going back to their “old ways” after using Afrezza. To me, that would be definite “madness”. Remember if your A1c is >6.5 you are doing long-term terrible damage to your body—with Afrezza you can get that number down further and be safer and healthier.  In this regard, Afrezza is life-changing and I’ve seen nothing out there comes even close the pharmacokinetics of a normal functioning pancreas like Afrezza does.
  • This is why  I am so excited about the performance of Afrezza. In all of history  this is the first time that diabetics can safely manage their blood sugars to “near” or at a “non-diabetic” level. Do you see  what is so “life-changing” about that? Simply, if you can get your blood sugars down you can halt the progression of diabetes and increase your chances of not suffering from neuropathy, kidney disease, amputations, blindness, etc.! Since the average A1c mentioned in an article by Amy Tenderich was between 7.5 to 8.0, research says it is killing our bodies, and those levels are way to high for us on a daily basis. Simply, as a measure of diabetic success–it is unacceptable! Especially, when drugs like Afrezza can take care of this problem.
    • Chronic hyperglycemia (high blood sugars) that average more than 120 to 130 mg/dl gradually damages tissues throughout the body and makes a person more susceptible to infections. Read about it here.
    • I believe the new target for A1C levels for diabetics is less than 7% which equals to 154mg. This is still far higher than a normal range of 4-5.6% A1C (you can see what the ranges are below):
    • Non Diabetes = 4-5.6%
      Pre-Diabetes  = 5.7-6.4%
      Diabetes          = 6.5%+
    • For those new to A1C levels please this is interesting. Read here.
  • People saying they will “wait” to try Afrezza. That’s fine for some folks, but if your glucose levels are out of control, and you are “out of range” for the majority of your day, you really need Afrezza now—before even more physical damage is done to your body. Interestingly for previous ”out of control diabetics like myself—you will usually experience a “flip-flop” for your % in a range. For example, if you were 20-30% of your time in a range of (70-130)—you will notice that time in that range will go to 70-80% or higher. I get emails from people thanking me who say they are experiencing that “control” I speak about–and love hearing about their success. If you’re doing damage to yourself, please get help right away and don’t ignore the symptoms.
  • With Afrezza you can achieve a much lower a1C with less risk of severe hypoglycemic lows from my experience—my past experiment testing afrezza with eating nothing and then taking an Afrezza dose proves this point. In fact, in the Afrezza drug trials the person who had half the issues was taking additional diabetic drugs so when I read people mixing slow, fast and ultra rapid insulins together as sort of a “cover all bases” approach–ie, “a cocktail”, I do get nervous and worried about them. Diabetes is tough. May I make a suggestion to all those expecting miracle results from day 1 and reaching non-diabetic #’s your first week, that you please don’t! By all means ask for help, but I find it strange that some people go on Afrezza and they start giving out advice to others and I would say please learn to ride your own bicycle before you help others figure out how to ride theirs.  The most concerning part is that they post their CGM data and you can visually see the spots where they needed to do a “corrective” dose, and probably got very scared and are mixing in their “old” regimen to compensate,  which messes everything up. Be patient and remember what it was like when you first went on insulin and you will do just fine.  Not every day especially when you begin is going to be a “flat line” – give yourself some grace and some time. One of the reasons I post as much as I do, is to try and “shorten” that learning curve for all new Afrezza users, which is the reason this blog exists.
  • Lastly, how do I know Afrezza will be a blockbuster? Well, besides the fact it changed my life, when I have my A1C test with Dr. Bode at the 3 month mark (and others have their measured results after using Afrezza for 3 months) you will hear and see something NEVER before happening among extremely large and uncontrollable groups of diabetics—that the most challenged diabetic poplulation will suddenly be showing up to their doctors appointments with at or NEAR or NON-DIABETIC A1C’s! This is going to change EVERYTHING! Why do you think my endo Dr. Bruce Bode said “unbelievable so much? Because if you try an adjust diabetics down too much what happens every time—hypoglycemia—ie. emergency room visits, hospitalization, families scared out of their minds. But when they see Jackie, Eric, Brian, me probably reporting A1c’s in the 5’s or very low 6s this should make the national news—because then it will be obvious that anyone and everyone can possibly get there with Afrezza and stop that long-term damage! And we all had A1c’s that were way out of zone in every way (just look at the charts I posted on the day Afrezza launched on my website).  On my webcast on May 7th, I’m sure this topic will come up. And when doctors see how well it worked for the most challenged diabetics—they will feel ultra comfortable prescribing it to type 2’s who won’t need a basal dose nor take needles to begin insulin therapy which will preserve their remaining “beta” cells, providing them a longer and higher quality of life.

March Madness—it’s more than basketball, for many it will be the first time they will hear about Afrezza. I thank Amy for her “test drive” article that will inspire many others to try and better their treatment results. My hope is that everyone out there gets the “tight control” and consistency they so desperately need to avoid the complications from living with high blood sugars. Please don’t underestimate the risk and damage before it’s too late. That would be the real “madness!”

Some of us are posting  our “Afrezza Users “Real Life” Results to help bring awareness to Afrezza and the importance of “time spent in zone” and having healthy, controlled blood sugars. Our mutual hope is that if we can do it–guess what–YOU can too! And once you have that “control” and “time in zone” then you can help others experience the same success. Advice for you: get out of the stands, and get in the game!  It’s time to dunk on diabetes and win back that feeling of freedom in your life!

 

 

16 Comments

  • Reply Debby |

    I’ll be sharing your blog and tweets with my daughter’s doctor in Miami; hoping she will write her a prescription at her April 14th appointment and offer it to her other patients, as well.
    Not sure if you’re aware that Dr. Faustman’s trials in Boston have shown that once destruction of T-cells stops (what her trials are doing with a drug called gbh) – even after 20 years – pancreas starts pumping out insulin again. Might be a connection somewhere here? All I know is, if it works, want it for ALL diabetics to improve health and quality of life!!!

  • Reply johnhindepost |

    Sam, as a Type 2 , I find your postings very engaging and informative on your experience with Afrezza, the recently launched novel inhaled mealtime bolus insulin. I would like to thank you for your passionate, crusading approach toward spreading news about Afrezza.
    An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

  • Reply Kirk Gossett |

    First a disclosure, I am not a diabetic and I am an investor in MNKD. I have been following Al Mann and Afrezza for many, many years, through multiple Adcoms and rejections until the day when it was finally approved and I became an investor. I am in the medical profession and have a device that treats Neuropathy, predominantly diabetic neuropathy and business has been very good because Neuropathy, like Diabetes are at epidemic proportions. I lost several family members to diabetes at a very young age, it was horrific to watch, multiple amputations, terrible wounds that would not heal and succumbed to the disease. Most of the problems arise from th lack of patient compliance which in my opinion was due to the inferior treatment protocols. Based on my research of Afrezza I was still skeptical that it would follow the same path as Exubera until I saw the patients testify at Adcom for Afrezza, where I first saw Sam and something clicked for me, Afrzza was NOT like Exubera, actually it was remarkably different. I want to commend you Sam for your commitment and passion for helping the millions of patients afflicted with this disease. My only concern now is that Afrezza will put me out of business because patients will be able to control there diabetes like never before, I read your blog religiously Sam and have to say I find these posts and results remarkable, I work with many Endo’s who have just shaken there head in disbelief when I show them your charts, Afrezza is almost to good to be true and soon the entire world will benefit from this magnificent med. God bless you Sam for championing this product, you are changing lives forever. From an investment standpoint I could care less if the stock goes to zero as long as patients are being helped. With these kind of results I find that highly unlikely.

    • Reply Sam Finta |

      This is one case where I would smile seeing you go out of business. You know looking at my Dexcom screen today I was in disbelief. It is still had for me to believe so it does not surprise me that people are sceptical. What if everything I have said is true? What if 70% of diabetics can duplicate what I have done? Well, everything I have said over the last 3 years is true and most diabetics can duplicate these results. Why do I say that? I say that because I was at the bottom of the barrel with injectables. If so many people did so much better than me with injectables this means that they should be able to do even better than me on Afrezza. What is amazing is that to date I have counted 0 carbs. I think Amy Tenderich touched on this a little bit today in her article.
      My intention 3 years ago was to save my life and save at least 1 other life. I do not have an investment in Mannkind as I stated at my FDA Panel speech. This is not because I do not think it is a great investment but because I did not want my words to be muddied by those with other agendas. Yet, they still want to call me whatever they want to call me. That is fine with me as long as the truth spreads about Afrezza and many more diabetics will find a new life. I cannot wait till the relatives start speaking up about the changes they have seen in their loved ones.
      It has been such a long road and it bring me joy to see other lives changed one by one. Thank you for the kind words and support and keep spreading the word because everything on this web site is 100% true!

  • Reply Janet in Quebec |

    Outstanding Sam. I thank you for your precise explanations and continual dedication to supporting the diabetic community. The way you describe how tight control can be achieved leaves one wondering why there is any hesitation in trying Afrezza. All diabetics know about the daily roulette wheel with “where am I going to land” and the option of Afrezza gives an entirely new element to the word “diabetic” – one of a simpler and not so chaotic life, one where plans can be made and regularly followed through with, knowing that Afrezza may well vastly change a person’s life for the better.
    Who would ever want to do anything but the best for themselves – and this is the best in the history of diabetes .
    Thanks again Sam. Excellent article you put together !

    • Reply Sam Finta |

      I have so much more to say, but time seems to vanish into thin air each day. I think most people have known insulin to work a certain way their entire diabetic existence so it is hard for many to understand what we have here with Afrezza. It will require some time and education, but it will happen. Every time I see a new diabetic go on Afrezza they are so excited and want to tell other right away. By the way, they are not all on twitter. I have dozens of people emailing me to tell me the latest update on Afrezza and what their doctors are saying about their results on Afrezza. Not everyone wants to be in the public light for the obvious reasons we have seen. Dr. Bode at the Atlanta Diabetes Associates was very amazed. So my question is what does it take to amaze one of the top endocrinologists in the world? I guess that would be Afrezza! So my point is the word will get out that this is not just an inhaled insulin. It is much more than that. I wish Afrezza was not inhaled so we would not be dealing with this distraction. Honestly anyone that compares Afrezza to Exubera at this point tells me that this person has done 0 research. But the truth will prevail and many more will realize what many of us already have. Thanks for the reply.

  • Reply Patrick |

    Hi Sam,

    Once again, thank you for sharing your honest thoughts and feedback. I’ve been watching and following this drug for some time and it’s great to see, despite many who have agendas and wish for Afrezza’s demise, that the actual experiences and results of users is what will bubble to the top. No one can argue with results and I’m thankful you are sharing yours with the growing diabetic community. Stay healthy.

  • Reply Jim B |

    Thanks for all your work Sam. I was frankly surprised to hear you say that you do not have an investment in Mannkind. Many of your detractors claim you do or you are a shill for Sanofi and/or Mannkind. Having an investment in the company would not bother me at all. Why not? If they make a product a person believes in why not invest in it? Well you stated the reason. Because people will doubt your motives. That is sad but it is true.

    I am surprised that when they accuse you of being an investor you do not answer or at at least I have not seen you answer. Then again, maybe you shouldn’t bother. Everything you have been saying for years now has been proven by others. Even Amy Tenderich who came to Afrezza with more than a little doubt has come over to your side. Amazing. You have led the way! I think a lot of them believe you now. It is too bad they are not big enough to apologize for the things they have said but that is the modern world of the Internet.

    • Reply Sam Finta |

      I cannot keep answering the same question over and over again. I reserve the right to make an investment at any time. I will not engage people with other agendas as my time is very limited. If I have any free time these days it will be spent answering questions from those that are genuinely searching to make their lives better as I have. I will not waste time on detractors! I stand by what I said that most diabetics should have Afrezza on hand to treat their highs. If you sugar is 300 at 10:45pm what does diabetic do? With Afrezza could treat a number like that and go to bed at 12am without any worries. The problem is I have not had a 250+ reading in 50 days on Afrezza. A 300 was a daily event for me before Afrezza. So I suppose in a matter of time I won’t even know what I am talking about as blood sugars of 250+ will be a distant memory. The great thing with Afrezza is that even if you over estimate on a large carb meal the lows are different and you would catch it right away instead of 3 to 4 hours later while driving a car or doing who knows what. It is insulin after all and you can still get a low. I see comments that you cannot get a low on Afrezza and that is totally false. You can get a low on any insulin if you take too much. The difference is with Afrezza is not as critical to be exact. If you err on the underdosing you can do a follow-up dose very quickly and nip the rise in the bud and the action is so fast. Every diabetic can figure out the interaction between Afrezza and the liver to learn the action of it all. When we went on injectables the 1st time we all had a long learning curve on Novolog or Humalog but it seems with Afrezza some expect a miracle on day 1. So everyone just needs to be patient and let the body adjust. I know my body does not know what to do with itself. I really feel different. I feel like I have clean blood running through me. I did not even realize this till I got to the point I am now. It is a shame that so many have listened to the noise denying a new life for themselves. In the end, one treatment is not for all but Afrezza will help perhaps millions. By that time, I will just be a little voice in a large crowd as there will be people screaming about Afrezza much louder than I can.

  • Reply CP Hammer |

    Sam,
    In keeping with your March Madness theme. Afrezza is the first drug that has allowed patients to play offense. For decades diabetics have only been playing defense with their disease, trying desperately to always keep the game from getting away from them. They now have a tool which allows them to aggressively bring the game to their disease. As you have stated and others have experienced, you now are comfortable in aggressively managing the spikes which your disease presents to you. No game was ever won with defense alone, but takes an a effective defense coordinated with a superior offense. Your finally winning! God Bless.

    • Reply Sam Finta |

      I am playing offense for the first time in 16 years. That is an excellent point! I think this is part of the learning curve for many. Everyone is so used to playing defense for dozens of years that when they are given the ball they are gun shy about what to do. This is where each diabetic needs to get comfortable with Afrezza and not rush to judgment thinking that they cannot make a layup.

  • Reply Scott Ketcher |

    In the DCCT the goal for the intensive control group was a HgbA1c <6.05%. Less than 5% of diabetics were able to achieve this and the average was ~7.0%. The results with Afrezza are remarkable and unprecedented.

    • Reply Sam Finta |

      I believe the lows doubled under tight control and yet the results were not even that great. This is a comment by a new Afrezza user who is on Dexcom “Wish there was a way to show in this table the decrease in the number of times I’ve had to run for the juice or candy to hold off a low!” She was able to achieve an average blood sugar of 116 last week. She achieved 153mg average on her last week on injectables. She is being added to the Afrezza User list on the website sometimes today.

  • Reply Kirk |

    Do you have confidence that Dr. Bode and Sanofi and the research institutions will start publishing your A1-c findings and those of other Diabetics who are able to drop their A1-c numbers to with in the normal ranges? Also, thank you for each and every life you end up changing as that will be worth more then all the money in the world.

    • Reply Sam Finta |

      I believe Dr. Bode can with his patients but as far as Sanofi I am not sure what the FDA regulations are.

  • Reply jeff |

    I wish my father, a Type 2, had the option of using Afrezza. Oral treatments did not work for him at all. Eventually he lost kidney function, had sores that would not heal and finally pain and gangrene in his foot and toe. He died on the operating table during surgery in an attempt to save his foot. A large % of diabetes don’t have control over their blood sugar levels and either have or will ultimately suffer serious complications. Now, with Afrezza, people with diabetes have a better way to control their blood sugar and can look forward to a healthier and happier life in the years ahead.

Post a comment