First Shot with Fiasp

A few days ago, I picked up the new insulin, Fiasp, brought to us by Novo Nordisk. (German article here.) Below are a few quick facts in case you haven’t heard of Fiasp yet:

1. Fiasp stands for faster-acting Insulin aspart.
2. Can be injected 2 minutes before meal and up to 20 minutes after, unlike Novolog/Novorapid where a pre-bolus of 20-30+ minutes is necessary.
3. Fiasp is absorbed 2x as fast as Novolog/Novorapid, hence point 2.
4. Contains Vitamin B3 (niacinamide) which helps with speed of absorption AND contains Amino Acid (L-Arginine) for stability.

source: Novo Dordisk Press Release dated 27 March 2017

Drum roll, please.

I have tried Fiasp twice and am excited about my results. There are however, a few quick things that I want to clarify first. I am still using Novorapid (Novolog) in my pump and injecting Fiasp via pen. In both scenarios below, I simply injected once per meal, literally right before my first bite, with no dual injections following.

Test #1 SUSHI

I felt pretty confident going into my first shot with Fiasp (no pun intended). A few weeks ago, we went to the same all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant and I bolused somewhat successfully for 120g of carbs (crap, that’s a lot). I feel like it is accurate to say I ate basically the same amount this time too. A nice controlled test. So what happened with Fiasp?

I went in with a stable 131 BG, and one hour later I was at 175, two hours after 173, and finally, three hours later I was at 236. WHAT? That was not what I expected. I am impressed with the initial relatively low spike, 44 mg/dl isn’t horrible. However, ending at 236 quite surprised me. It seems that Fiasp might be more effective used via pump, or a dual injection. It kept me stable the first two hours, but gave up when my body wanted to spike one more time. A double injection, perhaps about one hour into eating, would have been better. And for those who say I didn’t bolus enough, nope. My previous experience eating at this same restaurant tells me I bolused correctly.

*correction dose at 15:33 was given via pump (Novorapid), not Fiasp.

Test #2 Keto Porridge

Fiasp shot number two was used for Keto Porridge. I also ate this prior to using Fiasp, so I knew what to expect with carb counting. With Novorapid/Novolog, I bolus successfully for 15g of carbs (2 servings of this recipe, yeah I’m hungry in the morning). This time with Fiasp, I chose to add a dollop of Nutella, because why not? So I took enough Fiasp to cover 30g of carbs. Results?

Importantly, I had a stable BG before eating. Again, I took the 3 units RIGHT before my first bite. One hour after eating, I was at 88, only a 9mg/dl rise. WOW! Two hours after meal, I went up a bit to 134, and finally, ending three hours later at 154. Again, Fiasp held off spiking immediately, but ended with a raised BG. I am quite surprised with the result of the Keto Porridge experiment, as it is a low glycemic index food, minus the Nutella. I honestly was not expecting to end at 154 and I really don’t know why this happened. It could be a fluke, we all know how diabetes is. Any thoughts?

To summarize, Fiasp keeps my BGs somewhat stable for the first two hours, without pre-bolusing. However, by hour three I spike. Of course, this was my experience after only two attempts at Fiasp. I am really looking forward to more experiments, and possibly using Fiasp in my pump, as I believe a dual bolus would be more beneficial.

What are your thoughts and/or analysis of my results? 

What questions do you have about Fiasp?

Honestly, all thoughts are welcome!