Pumping Apidra?

[Rddoms]

So I just got approved for the Animas Ping and Dexcom 7 by insurance. I am really excited, as it will be nice to be back on the pump after a 2 year hiatus.

Do any of you pump with Apidra? When I first began pumping, I used Humalog. Humalog was absolutely horrible for me. It took way too long to reach maximum effectiveness, and seemed to be highly variable in it's effectiveness. I switched to Novolog, and it was much better. It didn't have the variability of the humalog, and it seemed to work faster.

That being said, the Novolog still seems to take more than 2 hours to reach peak levels. I have heard that Apidra seems to work faster, and has less variability than the other rapid-acting insulins. Is this true for anyone?

I have read the pharmacokinetic data for all 3 types of insulin, and know that they are supposed to act in a similar manner. For some reason people respond differently to each drug, and I would like to hear your opinions. Thanks!

[betty6333]

Apidra pumper here... it still has a 2-2.5 hr DIA , but novolog was 3-4 hour

[sarahspins]

Apidra pumper here too... Novolog was always very fast for me, but one thing I have noticed with Apidra is that while it still works fast, drops seem to be slower/smoother and not as rapidly (which means it works plenty fast with food, but when treating highs, it can really drag that process out for a while).. with Novolog I would drop a bit within 20 minutes, hang out for a while, then drop a LOT suddenly. The total DIA for me seems to be a tiny bit shorter with Apidra, I am finding myself combo bolusing more and more because sometimes it's 'done' working too soon sometimes. A 75/25 combo bolus over an hour seems to do the trick for most meals though.

Overall my #'s have been much better since making the switch, however I was having some pretty severe site irritation issues with Novolog.. which was my #1 motivation for switching.

[Lloyd]

Novolog gets me back to my pre-meal level in 100 minutes, Apidra 70. I need 24% less apidra.

Apidra is a little more temperature sensitive, I would not recommend keeping it in the pump cart for 6 days in hot weather.

-Lloyd

[Gary_W]

I pump Apidra.

For me, it is a faster onset and is used up faster so (if you like to think of it this way) the whole bell curve response is shifted to the left vs Novo.

Be careful if you do try it - it was scary fast in me at first and pre-injecting is something to NOT do until you're used to how it works with you. I came very close to a nasty time due to second guessing the fast response time when I'd only been on it a couple of weeks!

Gary