Expired Afrezza - thoughts on experimenting with it?

A friend of a friend has some expired Afreeza (2017) with inhaler and all. The person was cleaning out their refrigerator. I’m thinking about playing around with it. The worst that could happen, I think is that the expired Afreeza won’t work and I will deal with high BG after 1 hour. Any other thoughts? @Sam and others who have been using Afreeza for some time. Afreeza is out of the system in an hour. If the package is a dud, I’ll know in an hour. The risk of a temporary high, doesn’t seem too dangerous for me. I was going to experiment on something that I may need about 2 units of insulin and use the 4u cartridge. Comments, suggestions?

3 Likes

I have recently used expired Afrezza, from late-2018, and it worked, but not as strong. I think you have a good plan to use, but test.

In my case, the Afrezza was still sealed in outer foil pack, containing 30 cartridges, stored in refrigerator (stuck in back, out of sight). May be different if already exposed to warmer temps.

3 Likes

Yes, I just used the 4 u cartridge, it seemed ok.
I had a cookie which would usually require 2 units of insulin. The BG stayed flat - which is ok. I was hoping for a decrease. But at least, it didn’t rise :slight_smile:
So the Afreeza kept my BG flat.

4 Likes

That’s great. Even with non-expired Afrezza, I get equivalent of 2-3 units insulin action from 4 unit cartridge, and know it varies by person. I usually open the cartridge after use, as it varies at times and some powder is still in cartridge, so I know I will likely get less effect.

2 Likes

Have you used Afreeza, (either expired, or not expired) to correct?

All of my afrezza is long expired. It works fine.

4 Likes

Really?! No kidding?! LOL.

1 Like

I have wondered if it’s become less effective… but in my mind that’s been disproven by comparing to my injected bolus which I’ve needed more and more of (which is not expired) in the same time frame. I haven’t been using afrezza near as much lately, but when I do, stuff that expired clear back in mid 2016 still works fine

6 Likes

I tried the 8u Afreeza (2017) on an afternoon snack:

1 apple 27g
1 slice of bread with peanut butter (14g and 3 g)
Total: 44g

I would usually bolus 5 units or 5.5 units for something like this.
Knowing the speed with which Afreeza works, I began to eat, and 10 minutes after I began eating, I inhaled the Afreeza.
My pre snack BG was 118.
10 minutes my BG= 142 (from the apple) this is when I took the Afreeza
10 more minutes - the Afreeza has been working for 10 minutes, the BG =141.
40 minutes after Afreeza BG 74.
1 hour after Afreeza, I was at 83. It’s amazing!
2 hours after Afreeza BG=114.

I was a little apprehensive about using 8u. Having read some of your experiences and the stories of the others gave me the confidence to try it. My head felt slightly lightheaded. Maybe I tried to inhale too much. I experienced this when I used the 4u last night too.
Afreeza is a game changer!

5 Likes

Fantastic Result!

1 Like

Why isn’t Afreeza more readily available?
Would you all consider using only Afreeza and basal?

With slow digesting foods, it would be multiple puffs of Afreeza ( I may become light headed and pass out…lol). Still, the results are amazing.

Imagine, if the situation were that Afreeza has been around for 60+ years and fasting acting insulin just came on the market. Do you think that anyone would choose to use the fast acting that would require pre bolusing? The only reason that I can see someone preferring the slow peaking action of Novolog would be matching a slow digesting meal. The way Afreeza just stopped the rise was simply amazing!!

1 Like

Yes. Absolutely. I did this for several years and maintained A1c in the low 5s and even 4.8-4.9

My patterns have changed over time to where it honestly doesn’t work as well as it used to, but I’d not hesitate to have it as a solo bolus

It’s not more widely available because pharmaceutical is a cutthroat industry.

3 Likes

More specifically, the company that brought it to market didn’t have enough money to spend to really get the market to switch from the comfortable place it currently is in to adopt a new paradigm. Also, I am guessing there isn’t enough profit from it to justify the expense from the other companies in the market, so instead of gobbling it up the other companies declared war on it and put a kernel of doubt in every physicians head about the danger of inhaled insulin.

3 Likes

Yes… clear back to when they strong armed the warnings into existence that the fda didn’t even recommend but somehow appeared out of nowhere… shameful…

Then they partnered with big pharma (sanofi) to bring it to market… who sandbagged them intentionally to burry their potential… again— shameful

Real case study about how it’s almost impossible to make medical breakthroughs in this system

2 Likes

What about other types of inhaled medication? could they be dangerous too?

There is no real reason to believe that Afrezza could be dangerous… that’s fake news… very frustrating to me… I’ve blogged on it ad naseum

2 Likes

There was one type of inhaled insulin on the market (Exubra) prior to Afrezza and it had a bad rap because pulmonary function declined in those patients, and it had a label change because of this finding. Afrezza didn’t have these problems, but the competitors inferred that it did.

1 Like

I read about it.

I was wondering about asthma; don’t know if there are other medications (not insulin) that are inhaled.

That is one area I don’t know anything about. Sorry.

1 Like

I found this:
What are the ingredients in Afrezza?

Active ingredient: human insulin

Inactive ingredients: fumaryl diketopiperazine, polysorbate 80

What is fumaryl diketopiperazine?

1 Like