Novorapid (aka Novoslooow) alternative? Fiasp?

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Jon-Manchester

Jon-Manchester

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi,

I have a call with my diabetes consultant tomorrow and I have been thinking whether I should ask to go to somethign faster than Novorapid. I should say that I do manual injections.
Most of the times Novorapid works absolutely fine, especially when i eat at home, as i can delay eating until the prebolus has taken effect, but sometimes that isnt possible. For example eating out, I either end up prebolus to early; the food gets delayed, or i have misread the how long the food will take to arrive or the food arrives much faster than expected so that I spike before Novorapid has an effect

What is people's view? I am thinking that if i was on FIASP or something similar i could do the prebolus much closer to the time i eat?
Anyone who has made the move from Novorapid to Fiasp? Did work out well and/or did you end up with more lows?

Thanks
Jon
 
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Jon-Manchester said:
What is people's view? I am thinking that if i was on FIASP or something similar i could do the prebolus much closer to the time i eat?
Anyone who has made the move from Novorapid to Fiasp? Did work out well and/or did you end up with more lows?

Thanks
Jon
Click to expand...
Hi Jon,
I use Fiasp in a pump, my views are relevant to MDI as well though.
Yes Fiasp is meant to be injected about 4 mins before you eat. I have found though it can depend on what your blood sugars are like at time of bolus though -- on the low side then be aware do not leave it to long to eat.
It also has a different peak time to novo so be aware of the type of carbs you eat unless you can split your dose to accommodate this other wise you risk running high. (Having a pump I can split/extend my bolus as I please)
 
Like @Pumper_Sue I use Fiasp in a pump.
I agree that the speed at which is works is very dependent on my starting level.
If my levels are in the 4s, I need to eat straight away whereas if my levels are in double figure, it can take an hour to see any movement for a correction.

Now I am used to it (and avoiding those highs), I like Fiasp but is has taken some time to get used to.

I also find that it does not last as long out of the fridge as NovoSluggish. After little more than 2 weeks, it can turn to water (at least that is what it looks like to me).
 
helli said:
I also find that it does not last as long out of the fridge as NovoSluggish. After little more than 2 weeks, it can turn to water (at least that is what it looks like to me).
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Oh that is a bit worrying.. 2 weeks isnt very long..
 
I am on MDI and made the move from Novo(not so)Rapid to Fiasp twice. The first time I gave up after 3 months of frustration. The second attempt, I promised myself I would give it a full year's trial and 4 months in I started to make progress. It still isn't that quick for me..... Nowhere near 4 mins. With NR I needed 75 mins prebolus time at breakfast and 30 mins at other times of day. With Fiasp I usually need 45mins prebolus at breakfast and 20 mins at other times of day but if my levels get above 10, I can sometimes be waiting 2 hours for them to come down before I eat or sometimes stack corrections to bring it down. I have found that I need to be quite proactive with corrections and I often correct at 8 when my Libre shows them drifting upwards, because I know that I will have a battle on my hands if they hit 10. Sometimes you would just think I had injected water, but if I can do some exercise after injecting then it can be quite responsive.
As the others have said, if my levels are low it will kick in quicker which encourages me to keep my levels lower but that brings with it a risk of hypos so I probably do have more hypos now that I did with NR but that isn't necessarily because it works faster but more to do with trying to keep levels low so that it works better and is less frustrating. Not sure if that makes sense.
Good luck with it if you try it and do persevere if you find it frustrating at first as it can take a bit of getting to grips with. It is somewhat of a disappointment for me as it isn't anywhere near as fast I had hoped but it is a minimal improvement on NR although I would say that I probably need to use more Fiasp than I would NR but more with corrections than ratio changes.
I think some people's bodies are just less responsive to insulin that others unfortunately.
 
I moved from Novorapid to Fiasp almost a year ago. Haven't really looked back. I was having post-prandial spikes, especially after breakfast and there were also times where correction doses were having no real impact. My consultant recommended Fiasp and I have seen much more stability in terms of my levels. I still pre bolus at breakfast (around 20 minutes) but I can usually inject closer to most other meals.
 
rebrascora said:
I am on MDI and made the move from Novo(not so)Rapid to Fiasp twice. The first time I gave up after 3 months of frustration. The second attempt, I promised myself I would give it a full year's trial and 4 months in I started to make progress. It still isn't that quick for me..... Nowhere near 4 mins. With NR I needed 75 mins prebolus time at breakfast and 30 mins at other times of day. With Fiasp I usually need 45mins prebolus at breakfast and 20 mins at other times of day but if my levels get above 10, I can sometimes be waiting 2 hours for them to come down before I eat or sometimes stack corrections to bring it down. I have found that I need to be quite proactive with corrections and I often correct at 8 when my Libre shows them drifting upwards, because I know that I will have a battle on my hands if they hit 10. Sometimes you would just think I had injected water, but if I can do some exercise after injecting then it can be quite responsive.
As the others have said, if my levels are low it will kick in quicker which encourages me to keep my levels lower but that brings with it a risk of hypos so I probably do have more hypos now that I did with NR but that isn't necessarily because it works faster but more to do with trying to keep levels low so that it works better and is less frustrating. Not sure if that makes sense.
Good luck with it if you try it and do persevere if you find it frustrating at first as it can take a bit of getting to grips with. It is somewhat of a disappointment for me as it isn't anywhere near as fast I had hoped but it is a minimal improvement on NR although I would say that I probably need to use more Fiasp than I would NR but more with corrections than ratio changes.
I think some people's bodies are just less responsive to insulin that others unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I am finding the same thing that if i go above 10, it takes for ever for Novorapid to have any type of effect.
I think i will run the move to Fiasp by my consultant tomorrow and see what she says.
I wish the required prebolus time always stayed the same but I guess it is one of the 'joys' of T1
 
Ivostas66 said:
I moved from Novorapid to Fiasp almost a year ago. Haven't really looked back. I was having post-prandial spikes, especially after breakfast and there were also times where correction doses were having no real impact. My consultant recommended Fiasp and I have seen much more stability in terms of my levels. I still pre bolus at breakfast (around 20 minutes) but I can usually inject closer to most other meals.
Click to expand...
Sounds great, it was similiar stories from other people that made me think of switching away from Novorapid.
 
One thing you do have to remember with Fiasp is that it's very important that your basal is correct.

I blammed Fiasp for the problems I had to start with but went right back to basics did basal testing and it solved the problem.
 
Fiasp user here for last 2 years, use it in pump have no issues with it, bit faster acting than novorapid & doesn't cause as high a spike if taken just before food, in own experience anyway.
 
I use Apidra @Jon-Manchester - have done for almost 14 years. As long as I bolus 15 minutes before eating, it works fine. If I don’t wait 15 mins, I’ll spike. (My evening meal is the exception to this rule, but there’s something weird going on there :confused:o_O).
 
Ah well, you'd have to have tried all 3 to be able to compare them - I haven't, been on Novorapid since 1998 because it's never been broken so hence needed fixing.
 
I have tried NovoRapid, Fiasp and Humalog. But not Aspidistra (I thought that was a flower)
I guess we are all different but I find Fiasp works best for me once I realised how it works.
 
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