Strange Experience with Fiasp

[StewM]

Hi there, I’ve been having some unusual experiences with Fiasp.

In June, I found my Fiasp slowing down, due to sudden extreme spikes after meals which, if left uncorrected, would fall back down on their own. This happened consistently with foods with all sorts of GI. Realising the issue, I kept prebolusing by more and more until in September I was having to prebolus by 40mins a meal and I was still seeing sudden spikes and late drops until…

I got a stomach virus. During the virus I couldn’t hold down solids at all. I had to increase my Basal by 15% to keep my levels steady. Once I recovered from the virus something unusual happened.

Suddenly my Fiasp was working faster than it ever had. At the moment, I can’t prebolus at all and have to take Fiasp after I eat to prevent my Blood Sugar dropping like a rock (only to rocket up later*). I’m still pushing back my postbolusing at the moment and still getting Lows promptly after eating.

Has anyone else experienced such an issue with Fiasp?

btw, I’m certain it’s the Fiasp as 1) I’m seeing incredibly stable overnight readings. 2) I accidentally didn’t take my Insulin with Lunch one day, and found my Blood Sugar shot up like a rocket in the absence of Fiasp. I took it an hour after eating (realising my mistake) and it only took an hour to come back down to normal after hitting 16 (which is unusual given Fiasp isn’t exactly fast at those levels).

*due to the hypo being caused by Insulin timing rather than excess Insulin.

EDIT: Just for added context, I’m sure I’m not overtreating the hypo as there’s usually a gap of at least an hour after returning to normal range post-hypo before the spike occurs. The only exception being, a second low happening around an hour after the first one was successfully treated, and then my Blood Sugar shoots to the moon upon treating the second hypo in the same manner as the first.

 

[Rianne]

Hi StewM,

Admiration for your efforts to get things clear. I do not have the same but also an awkward experience with Fiasp. I used it since mid June this year and at first I was happy with it because it lowered my spikes after mealtimes. After about a month I started needing more and more insulin and got hot flashes. As I'm in menopause I thought that was the cause. It became harder and harder to regulate my blood sugars. Stress due to other circumstances also could be a cause. I was struggling so much that I decided to return to NovoRapid, of which I still had some in the fridge. It took a few weeks before everything turned to the situation before Fiasp. Shortly after that my Insight pump gave up. Since it was my old pump and out of guarantee I had to change to my current 'official' Ypsopump. Somebody suggested that maybe my old pump was not functioning precisely for a longer time already, which might have caused the troubles with my blood sugars. I therefore gave Fiasp another try, and at the beginning it again worked very well. But again after about 4 weeks, my overall need for insulin increased and I started feeling more and more exhausted. Bolusing to lower spikes did not work, what especially at night was very troublesome. Only when bolusing and exercising, I could lower the spikes. With the exhaustion that was very difficult to do and it would almost mean I had to be physically active all day long. I googled a lot and came to the conclusion that the niacinamide is the cause for my reaction. A few years earlier I had taken vitamin B3 supplements which caused higher blood glucose. I did not expect that the amount of niacinamide in Fiasp would be that high to cause the same effect, but is does. For me this means that when using Fiasp long time, the niacinamide builds up and gives adverse reaction to what insulin is supposed to do. I do not know if niacinamide causes what you are experiencing, but it might be worth to investigate. I yesterday found a title of a publication of the FDA that mentioned that Fiasp can cause hyperglycemia in certain individuals. I have not read it because it would cost 20 dollars to get access to it, but in other places, f.e. livestrong.com, I also read about the influence of niacinamide on blood glucose. I hope you find an explanation for your current experience with the extreme fast reaction of Fiasp. I can imagine you feel insecure about it. But you seem to be a searcher as well . Thank you for sharing, it's so helpful that we do this all together! Good luck!

 

[StewM]

Hi StewM,

Admiration for your efforts to get things clear. I do not have the same but also an awkward experience with Fiasp. I used it since mid June this year and at first I was happy with it because it lowered my spikes after mealtimes. After about a month I started needing more and more insulin and got hot flashes. As I'm in menopause I thought that was the cause. It became harder and harder to regulate my blood sugars. Stress due to other circumstances also could be a cause. I was struggling so much that I decided to return to NovoRapid, of which I still had some in the fridge. It took a few weeks before everything turned to the situation before Fiasp. Shortly after that my Insight pump gave up. Since it was my old pump and out of guarantee I had to change to my current 'official' Ypsopump. Somebody suggested that maybe my old pump was not functioning precisely for a longer time already, which might have caused the troubles with my blood sugars. I therefore gave Fiasp another try, and at the beginning it again worked very well. But again after about 4 weeks, my overall need for insulin increased and I started feeling more and more exhausted. Bolusing to lower spikes did not work, what especially at night was very troublesome. Only when bolusing and exercising, I could lower the spikes. With the exhaustion that was very difficult to do and it would almost mean I had to be physically active all day long. I googled a lot and came to the conclusion that the niacinamide is the cause for my reaction. A few years earlier I had taken vitamin B3 supplements which caused higher blood glucose. I did not expect that the amount of niacinamide in Fiasp would be that high to cause the same effect, but is does. For me this means that when using Fiasp long time, the niacinamide builds up and gives adverse reaction to what insulin is supposed to do. I do not know if niacinamide causes what you are experiencing, but it might be worth to investigate. I yesterday found a title of a publication of the FDA that mentioned that Fiasp can cause hyperglycemia in certain individuals. I have not read it because it would cost 20 dollars to get access to it, but in other places, f.e. livestrong.com, I also read about the influence of niacinamide on blood glucose. I hope you find an explanation for your current experience with the extreme fast reaction of Fiasp. I can imagine you feel insecure about it. But you seem to be a searcher as well . Thank you for sharing, it's so helpful that we do this all together! Good luck!

Thanks for your detailed response.

I’m not sure if that’s what’s effecting me simply because I doubt the stomach bug I had would’ve caused some sort of reset, like it seemed to do in my case.

As it’s been a couple of months since my last post I’ll just update (as a lot more people seem to have seen the post now).

The speed declined at a somewhat steady and slow pace. I was still having to post-Bolus on all carbs taken after breakfast up until a week ago. Only in the last week have I been able to pre-Bolus post-Breakfast and pre-dinner. Dinner, I still need a minimum of 10 minutes post-Bolus.

I’m still somewhat at a loss to explain what’s happening. I’m now on a Pump (as of today) so that’s just another variable to throw into the mix.