Fiasp insulin....

[RuWo]

Hi, I've been switched onto Fiasp for about two months now (I was on Humalog for many many many years and so not used to other insulins) and just wondered if others' experiences of it are similar to mine....I'm on a mini-med 780g pump for about 2 years but been pumping for over 10years...

- it seems to work extremely fast (too well!) if my BS is round the 6-7 mark, I have to eat and then bolus so I don't go low whilst eating! Am finding this timing difficult to get right

- however if I am higher than about 14 it seems to take much longer to kick in - and sometimes I have to bolus more than I'd expect to get back down

- it also stings a lot - is this normal?? It's quite painful most of the time bolusing wherever I put it and I rotate sites properly - Humalog only stung in specific areas I knew about when I caught a blood vessel

I hope it gets easier as it does seem to be quick acting and I don't have to plan an extra 30mins into eating which is much better !!

Thanks for reading!

 

[Nicola M]

Hey there,

I'm on Lyumjev which is basically the same as Fiasp but to answer your questions the best I can do;

- Generally, with both of these insulins they can kick in within 5 minutes of taking the insulin so you do have to be careful when you take it. I generally take mine right as my plate of food is in front of me but it can take some trial and error to get it right.

- I've never noticed needing more insulin than usual when I'm high so can't comment too much on this, all I'd say is just be careful with how much you are dosing, because of the speed at which these insulins hit the system you can sometimes take too much which can drop you low.

- Unfortunately stinging is a known side effect of the faster working insulins, it's one of those things you either don't get on with or you learn to put up with because the benefits of quicker-acting insulin outweigh the drawbacks of a little stinging. I find it stings more in some areas than others.

I am one of those who just puts up with the stinging because the 45 minute - 1 hour pre-bolus was not something I enjoyed doing all the time.

 

[CheeseSeaker]

Hi @RuWo,
Fiasp is is NovoRapid with added nicotinamide/B3 to make it absorb faster - work beautifully for some, and not for others.

My experience was (used it off and on for 6 months or so) it worked amazingly for something like 6 weeks, then I started to get issues.

As @Nicola M says with Lyumjev (similar insulin action profiles), don't pre-bolus so bolus from your pump when the food is in front of you - and watch out for high carb/fat meals (pizza) as the insulin will kick in before all the carbs are digested.

When going high (14 or so), lots of people (me included) found it took a lot more insulin to make it drop my BG - only way I could make it work was to inject Fiasp into my leg rather than bolus using the pump - then it worked as expected (though still needing about 1/3 more than when in normal range).

My observation was I had resistance at the sites I was using from my cannula sites - moving them to new bits (sides etc) where I didn't normally put the cannula helped a lot and made the insulin more responsive.

In the end I switched to Lyumjev - and had similar issues till (I worked out about site rotation - a long path to get there). I've found Lyumjev to work better for me (Lyumjev is Humalog with a vasal dilator - Treprostinil - added to speed up absorption)

You might be fine with Fiasp if you can avoid pre-bolus and do good site rotation.

Stinging - yes, this goes off after time (took about 3 months, had a break from it and returned and no stinging), your body does get used to it.

Lyumjev was the same - but my body got used to the Treprostinil after a good while (I tried mixing insulins, which isn't recommended, and that seemed to lessen the pain and made the insulin absorb better - but eventually I ended up with resistance again (due to site rotation I think)