AfrezzaUser

Advocate for Afrezza

Week 17–Congrats Gustavo, Now 9 out of 9 lifetime Best A1C’s, and “Needle Free”!

Week 17 and another confirmation of how effective and easy Afrezza is for any Type 1 or Type 2 diabetic.

Gustavo Winning like never before against his 24 year foe–Diabetes!

Yesterday, Gustavo was at his doctors appointment and he just announced a new and amazing 24 year A1C best after only 3 months on Afrezza! Privately he shared how “hard” it was on himself and his family to achieve the 6.5 A1C he had before Afrezza—the constant stress, the dieting, and the monumental daily planning and worry involved. it took all the energy he had to be at that A1C level.

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Now, besides having a “non-diabetic” 5.4 A1C he tells me that everything has changed. His wife is now able to prepare one meal for the family without any food restrictions or weighing his meals and counting the carbs whatsoever. In fact, he even survived and thrived on his first cruise with the all you can eat meals/buffets that are served day and night a few weeks ago.  Not sure if everyone saw this, but a month ago he posted something I will never forget:  “My first impromptu frozen yogurt ever. EVER.” along with this photo:

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So please don’t think Gus was suffering horribly and denying himself any treats to achieve his new, all-time record number–he will tell you it was just the exact opposite- he told me for him it was only 1/10th of the effort  and Afrezza did the rest. And best of all, it was EASY. In a nutshell, Gustavo is totally in control with Afrezza now as his diabetes weapon of choice. “Nothing can compare to the peace of mind knowing that sugars are no longer steadily killing your body from the inside”, Gus said.  Congrats Gustavo on not only achieving your goals, but also the kind and helpful way that you help others on their journey realize their goals, too.  Our Afrezza Users group has really benefited and also been tremendously inspired by you. I hope that this message will be forwarded to someone in Sanofi Marketing and we will all see you in your next triathlon blazing down some path with a giant Afrezza logo on your gear/clothing ! You will always be the winner in our book, Gus knowing what you overcame to get where you are.  You are proving that with Afrezza anything you want to achieve is now possible.

See for Yourself– 9 out of 9 “Lifetime Best” A1C’s readings with Afrezza!

A1C is the gold standard of measuring how much control you have over your diabetes. In our Type 1 Afrezza Users “Real Life” Results Group, all nine of us have achieved lifetime best A1C with much less effort and a tremendously higher quality of life than we ever have before. And every single one of us have posted our official lab reports from our doctors offices to be fully transparent in all our results for whoever may be looking at this–doctor’s, diabetes educators, etc. Funny thing is we are all so different. We live in different parts of the country, we’re different ages, professions, backgrounds, and we all had varying starting A1C’s (from 10.2 to 6.5) before beginning Afrezza. Yet, within 3 months time, ALL OF US have achieved a “Lifetime Best” A1C on Afrezza! The answer why is clear–AFREZZA. It mimics the pancreas perfectly and we are able to control our blood sugar levels in “real-time” unlike traditional insulins, which take too long to start and stay in the body too long causing damage and numerous side effects. What this means is a better, higher quality of life with our families, and less worry about the complications of high blood sugars – blindness, kidney failure, and neuropathy/amputations that all of us face if we don’t keep our numbers under control. The ADA considers an A1C of 7 as a goal to achieve–even though that level is still doing long-term damage to our bodies.  That number was most likely the result for what was realistic and possible using traditional insulins in the past. Now the paradigm shift–because with Afrezza all of us have achieved what the ADA would probably say was impossible with our beginning A1C’s    Dr. Bode stated that most of us won’t realize our true A1C number until at least 130 days after starting a new insulin treatment, so we are hopeful the A1C numbers you see on the chart will continue to improve even more. Here is the Type 1 Week 17 Chart:

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Afrezza is not working, huh? Ann and Laureen have something to say about that…

Along the way to achieving these record numbers, you should also know that every single one of us has had a “bad day” or a “bad week” when things just didn’t seem to go right like they normally did.  In fact, last week it happened to Ann. Did it also happen before Afrezza? Yes of course it did, however, it’s much easier to recognize it occurring on Afrezza because Afrezza is so predictable and fast-acting! On injectable insulin, it would take 3-4 hours to figure out if even your dose “matched” and your body was even processing it as it should be, but on Afrezza you pretty much know in about an hour. Thus, don’t be alarmed and let diabetes get you down if this should ever happen. Stress, sickness (infections), travel, new foods, new schedules, change in sleep patterns, worry–they all have effects which are multiplied if you are a diabetic. The good news is that this generally passes fairly quickly, and you’re right back on track with Afrezza because it functions like your body used to before diabetes–with the same onset and general phase 1 and phase 2 prandial insulin secretion (which is why we all generally take a “follow up” dose  60-90 minutes after beginning a meal if we need it). Well, this week, Ann wrote me that she’s had a really hard time keeping her sugars in range over the past week or so–and ended up going to see her doctor. Turns out she tested positive for a kidney infection which most likely weakened her immune system (in her doctor’s opinion) causing her sugars to be “even more resistant to insulin”. There was never a concern by Ann or her doctor that Afrezza was not working. Sorry Ann, for your recent challenges, and thank you for the reminder that if you or anyone are having issues with your diabetes which aren’t going away, by all means, go see your doctor right away.  It could be something else going on, just like there was for Ann.

Similarly, in our Type 1 “Real Life” Group, Laureen also sent me this a few days ago about her own experience when her sugars were spiking and not coming down like they usually would:

“As a type 1 diabetic, you learn managing blood sugars, food intake and insulin is one part of the equation. Many people forget or gloss over other factors that have a real impact on blood sugars. Stress, lack of sleep, family struggles, or fighting a cold or virus can often be challenging and extremely frustrating as a diabetic. All the sudden you see your blood sugar spike to 200-300 and wonder why. You think to yourself, I ate the same carbs and did the same insulin so what the heck ! I always know when my body is fighting a cold or virus because I see it in my blood sugars first. It doesn’t make sense to increase the basal level (Lantus/Levemir) because the spikes are due to a trigger. The good news is when I see it now, I can mitigate its impact by inhaling Afrezza. Not that I couldn’t take more insulin before, but the freedom of a quick puff to reduce a spike due to a factor that really can’t be controlled is another sense of comfort Afrezza provides.”

Thank you Laureen for your feedback! We hope this information is useful to anyone who will surely go through this at some point !

Adam Lasher is “Needle Free”

We all cheered for him on American Idol–the California resident with the “bionic pancreas” (as he calls his Dexcom) has been busier than ever. Recently he recorded a new song for Perle Biosciences which everyone should enjoy hearing called “NEEDLE-FREE” and also showed up at Congress to advocate for more Type 1 Diabetes Funding. Love you brother and all you’re doing especially showing everyone the Afrezza Dreamboat Inhaler–also a “Needle Free” solution available now everywhere in the US! ! Look for an interview with Adam soon!

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Speaking of Needle Free–Here is the Type 2 Chart for week 17 of all our Type 2 Needle-Frees!:

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Just a quick shout out to the Type 2’s–they are all loving the ease of use of Afrezza and finding no issues whatsoever. Also, we are all looking forward to Brian’s next doctors appointment in a month or so when his A1C will be tested. Think it will be lower?

What surprises you most about the Week 17 data?

No surprises this week—it’s obvious everyone in our “Real Life” groups  has Afrezza “dialed in” and the learning curve is over for the new users . Now they are becoming advocates themselves and engaging in their local community to help spread the word.

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!

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