Afrezza: ever had a low after treatment?

I was fascinated by the other threads’ discussion on being able to take 4Us of Afrrezza to deal with low numbers of carbs (or, I imagine, small corrections).

Have you ever had a low because of Afrezza treatment?

Yes, I have had quite a few mild lows with afrezza, almost always from taking the dose too soon after eating a slow digesting meal…

The beauty is though that food is still digesting long after the insulin has peaked, it’s a built in safety net… it truly is pretty easy to avoid having any serious problem hypos u just have to learn a little bit about how to time it

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@Sam, what is your DIA with Afrezza compared to Novolog/Humalog?

For me, Afrezza is for practical purposes done in about an hour… having novolog on board weighs constantly on my mind for about 3 hours after I take it

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I’ve only had a more serious low with Afrezza when I inadvertently used an 8 unit cartridge instead of a 4. Like Sam alluded to, it because it’s action is faster than Humalog, it was easier to address.

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ETA— those mild lows i mentioned are almost always so short lived and fleeting that they are rarely ever observable on a cgm, but only on a finger stick (this is a topic I intend to post about). It is remarkable the different dynamic when you’re tracking an insulin that peaks in 10-12 minutes with a cgm that lags 20-30 minutes…

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I’ve had the same experience. I have had a few lows but nothing like a low on Novolog or Humalog and it’s directly related to the fact that Afrezza doesn’t hang around at all. Afrezza is out in about an hour for me as well.

A little more context…

My lows on RAI were plummeting lows that triggered an “eat now and eat a lot” response. I would sweat profusely and get somewhat confused. My few lows on Afrezza were not plummeting lows but “drifting” lows just under 70. Easy to treat with 15g carbs and I’m not panicked.

Hope this all makes sense.

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I’ve had some novolog type lows especially with a 12.

What is RAI?

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Rapid Acting Insulin, like Novolog or Humalog.

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Thanks!

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I relied heavily on Afrezza the past two weeks while traveling/eating at others’ houses. I’m not sure if I just had random spurts of beta cell activity or if this is the result of using Afrezza more often, but I started having some mild lows (50-60s), though some happen up to 4 hours after eating, which makes me think it couldn’t possibly be the Afrezza, but I hadn’t had a low in a few weeks before this. The last one occurred after eating a salad at Chick Fil A while traveling home (had fruit in it and a sugary dressing) - I’ve eaten it with Afrezza before, so dosed like normal (a 4 for the 40-something g carb salad) and 2 hrs later, I had to pull over as I was getting low symptoms. I was at 57, and it took a little bit more to get me back above 70 than normal (ate 9g carbs instead of the usual 4-6). I’ll be picking up a Libre tomorrow - curious to see what, if anything, that shows.

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Emily, I am not sure about your lows, but the Libre is great news! Mazel Tov!

Be sure to start a thread on it :slight_smile:

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I plan to!

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Just an update - my lows are definitely due to some beta cell revival, not the Afrezza itself. Temporarily off insulin again (this happened a couple months ago, too).

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Thanks for the update!

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Sorry if I was unclear - to clarify, I’m having lows WITH administered insulin only. Without I’ve been rising to 110-140s after eating (from 80-90s). And the timing fits my “normal” delayed beta cell response to raised BG - somewhere around the 2hr pp mark. I am going to mention this to my doc when I next see her, but from what I understand from LADA groups, this is normal in the honeymoon phase when you have tight control - eventually it gives your system enough of a rest that it’s able to semi-function for a few days, then becomes burned out again and you go back to needing insulin/more insulin. Already I’m seeing that be the case today (and just took Afrezza with lunch, so we’ll see how that goes!).

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In which case, I would suggest my previous posting:

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Is that peak right after eating? How long does it stay up?

Honestly, if I was peaking there and then going back to 80-90s (and starting there), I would be celebrating and not taking any insulin at all. That sounds like either non-diabetic or very very slightly impaired glucose tolerance ranges. And of course maybe that will change, but why not ride it until it does?

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It would peak about 2 hrs after eating w/no insulin (on insulin I peak closer to 1 hr), and would come down in 1-2 hrs depending on how high, how much fat I ate, etc. The first time this happened, I had sooo much fun as I could eat bananas and granola again(!). This time I had to be more careful, and it’s gone back to “normal” more quickly. I’ve been in the 100-140 range even with IOB most of today, trying to get back on track.

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