Inhaled Insulin for Diabetes- Too much hype! Part 2

Exubera was ideal if you met the following criteria:

You only used short acting insulin to control your diabetes. Exubera was not available with longer acting insulin formulations

The inhaler was ideal for individuals who had never smoked. Smoking generally destroys the lung wall linings and there is no guarantee that that exact dose of insulin will be absorbed.

Individuals with asthma, COPD, emphysema or bronchitis generally were not good candidates for Exubera. These conditions are associated with lung damage which may prevent the insulin from getting absorbed into the blood stream.
You had no allergies to human insulin.

Most health care practitioners had to deal with lung function before prescribing the inhaled insulin and many individuals had to undergo lung functions testing- which only increased the costs.

Of the individuals who used Exubera, most remain satisfied. A number of studies showed that Exubera could control blood sugars but it still was not as good as the injectable insulin. Erratic absorption of inhaled insulin had been reported and a few individuals had developed either low or high sugars.

Exubera was only ideal for a diabetic who simply wanted to control his blood sugars after a meal. Exubera did not replace the standard long acting insulin and one still needed to get the blood sugar levels monitored on a regular basis.

As of Dec 2007, Exubera is no longer available in the USA.

Final point

The inhaling device for exubera was pretty large and cumbersome. Even though light weight it was about the size of a flashlight.

For more on diabetic supplies, please visit www.medexsupply.com