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What is Apidra?
Apidra is an antidiabetic agent, used to reduce the high blood sugar level in patients with diabetes mellitus. It can be administered to adults, adolescents and children from 6 years. Diabetes mellitus is a disease in which your body does not make enough insulin to control your blood sugar level.
How does it work?
Insulin glulisine is a recombinant human insulin analogue that is equipped to regular human insulin. Insulin glulisine has a faster onset of action and a shorter duration of action than regular human insulin.
The main activity of insulins and insulin analogues, where insulin glulisine is included, is the regulation of glucose metabolism. Insulins reduce blood glucose levels by stimulating peripheral glucose uptake, especially from skeletal muscle and fat, and by inhibiting hepatic glucose production. Insulin inhibits lipolysis in the adipocyte, inhibits proteolysis, and increases protein synthesis.
Studies in healthy volunteers and in patients with diabetes showed that insulin glulisine has a faster onset of action and a shorter duration of action than regular human insulin when administered subcutaneously. When insulin glulisine is injected subcutaneously, the glucose-lowering activity would begin in 10-20 minutes. After intravenous administration, faster onset and shorter duration of action, as well as a higher peak response compared to subcutaneous administration, were observed. The glucose-lowering activities of insulin glulisine and regular human insulin are equipotent when administered intravenously.
An insulin glulisine unit has the same glucose-lowering activity as a regular human insulin unit.
What are the benefits of taking it?
Apidra is obtained by biotechnology. It has a fast onset of action in 10-20 minutes and a short duration of action, around 4 hours.
How do I use it and its dosage?
Always use this medicine exactly as your doctor has told you. If in doubt, consult your doctor or pharmacist again.
Your doctor will also determine the dose of Apidra you need based on your lifestyle and the results of your blood sugar (glucose) checks and your previous insulin treatment.
Apidra is a short-acting insulin. Your doctor may direct you to use it in combination with an intermediate-acting, long-acting insulin, basal insulin, or with tablets used to treat high blood sugar levels.
If you switch from another insulin to insulin glulisine, your dose may need to be adjusted by your doctor.
Many factors can influence your blood sugar level. You should be aware of these factors as this will allow you to react correctly to changes in your blood sugar level, and to prevent it from rising or falling too low.
Administration form
Apidra is injected under the skin (subcutaneously).
Your doctor will show you in which area of the skin you should inject Apidra. Apidra can be injected into the abdominal wall, thigh, or upper arm, or by continuous perfusion into the abdominal wall. The effect will be slightly faster if insulin is injected into your abdomen. As with other insulins, injection, and infusion sites within an injection area (abdomen, thigh, or upper arm) should rotate from injection to injection.
Administration frequency
Apidra should be administered shortly (0-15 min) before or shortly after meals.
Side effects & precautions
Like all medicines, this diabetes medication can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them.
Serious side effects
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels) can be very serious. Hypoglycemia is a very frequently observed side effect (it can affect more than 1 in 10 patients).
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels) means that you do not have enough blood sugar. If your blood sugar level drops too low, you may lose consciousness. Severe hypoglycemia can damage the brain and can be life-threatening. If you have symptoms of low blood sugar, take immediate action to raise your blood sugar.
If you experience the following symptoms, contact your doctor immediately:
Systemic allergic reactions are uncommonly observed side effects (may affect up to 1 in 100 patients).
Generalized insulin allergy: Related symptoms may include large-scale skin reactions (rash and itching throughout the body), severe swelling of the skin or mucous membranes (angioedema), difficulty breathing, decreased blood pressure with fast heartbeat and sweating. These can be the symptoms of severe cases of generalized insulin allergy, including a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction.
Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels) means there is too much sugar in the blood.
The frequency of hyperglycemia cannot be estimated. If your blood sugar level is too high, this tells you that you may need more insulin than you have injected. This can be serious if your blood sugar level becomes too high.
Common side effects (may affect up to 1 in 10 people)
Allergic and skin reactions at the injection site
Injection site reactions (such as redness, unusual severe pain when injecting, itching, hives, swelling, or inflammation) may be experienced. These reactions can also spread around the injection site. Most minor insulin reactions usually resolve within a few days to a few weeks.
Rare side effects (may affect up to 1 in 1,000 patients)
Skin changes at the injection site (lipodystrophy)
If insulin is injected too frequently at the same point on the skin, the fatty tissue below this point may shrink or thicken. The insulin you inject at that location may not work well. Changing the injection site with each injection will help prevent these skin changes.
Adverse effects whose frequency cannot be estimated from the available data
Eye reactions
A significant change (improvement or worsening) in your blood sugar control can cause a temporary worsening of your vision. If you have proliferative retinopathy (a diabetes-related eye disease), severe hypoglycemic attacks can cause temporary loss of vision.
Buying Apidra online.
You can buy the Apidra Insulin Injection online through one of the UK’s leading online pharmacies, Pharmacy Planet. It's easy and convenient. You will need to fill out a short assessment and the item will be delivered directly to your door. If you want to buy this diabetes Insulin treatment online, use Pharmacy Planet, a UK pharmacy you can trust.
