As I mentioned in my previous post on this subject, my endocrinologist provided me with a sample vial of Fiasp so I could try it out in my insulin pump. This is only my opinion… before starting or stopping a medication, especially insulin, check with your doctor.
For anyone who hasn’t heard of it yet, Fiasp is Novo Nordisk’s faster acting insulin– in fact, Fiasp stands for Faster-acting Insulin ASPart. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last September. I was able to try it out in my pump for about a week.
When I did an informal poll of this new insulin via Facebook, I got a series of answers. Some people love it, some hate it, some made adjustments, some went running back to their previous insulin. I really didn’t have an idea of what to expect before beginning my trial.
But I did think of some of the experiences shared on that thread when considering my own experience with Fiasp.
To begin with, let’s talk about the faster acting part of the equation. Maybe I’m a little more sensitive than I thought, but the first two or three boluses really hit me hard. Even if it took a little more time to kick in, when it hit me, my blood sugar would plummet.
The science behind this is a combination of Vitamin B3 and an amino acid known as L-Arginine. The first is to speed up the insulin’s absorption time, and the other is to help maintain the insulin’s stability.
After the first couple of boluses though, there didn’t seem to be any more of an impact with Fiasp than there was with the Novolog I’ve used up to now. The only difference I could notice was with pre-bolusing. I like to pre-bolus for a meal, but like anyone else, I’m not always perfect… sometimes I forget.
When that happened, the Fiasp allowed for some forgiveness of forgetfulness, allowing me to bolus late without any measurable post-meal BG spikes.
A couple of people mentioned feeling a burning sensation when injecting Fiasp. I didn’t really experience that. For me, it was more of a feeling like the insulin was thicker somehow, like something oversize was trying to squeeze its way past the tiny constraints of the cannula and under my skin.
Both times I changed out infusion sites while using Fiasp, I found blood about a foot up inside the tubing of my set. I don’t know if this phenomenon had anything to do with it, but blood in the tubing is a very rare occurrence for me.
It should also be noted that I’m using the now defunct Animas Vibe pump, which dispenses insulin at a rapid rate. If I had been using, say, a t:slim pump, which delivers insulin at a glacial pace, the result might have been different. You never know.
As far as in-range or out-of-range blood sugars go, there wasn’t really much difference between Fiasp and the Novolog I use on a regular basis. I had one post-workout BG in the upper 200s (mg/dL), which is not common for me. Otherwise, my highest highs were around 200.
Looking at the entire experience of my time on Fiasp, I can say that there just wasn’t much difference other than what’s noted above. In the end, yeah, there were differences… but not so much of a benefit using Fiasp that it’s going to make me want to go away from Novolog. Especially since Novo Nordisk products are not on my prescription provider’s formulary anyway.
If my out of pocket cost was less than what I’m shelling out now, I might make the switch. Same price? I’ll stick with what I have.
Again, this is just my experience using this drug. I’m not a medical expert. I also encourage you to learn more about Fiasp, by reading THIS from Diabetes Mine and THIS from diaTribe.
You can get additional first person accounts of Fiasp by reading about Julia’s experience HERE and Anna’s experience HERE.
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