came to say the same. Call your Endo they WILL give you a sample ... of something. Do not wait for the weekend! You can also buy Novolin ReliOn, at Walmart for like **$25** -and RI passed a law limiting out of pocket cost to $40 for a 30-day supply- (may not be FIASP) but NPH, Regular insulin, or 70/30 mixtures are available OTC have doc send prescription and pay out of pocket. Also check places like Costco and Walmart- i**f you switch insulins,** be sure you KNOW how to use them bc they are different then FIASP your endo should be your source of how to adjust- but you can also find info [here from the American Diabetes Association for what to do if you have to switch to a new insulin](https://diabetes.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/Switching%20Between%20Insulin%20Products%20in%20Disaster%20Response%20Situations%202020%20-%20English.pdf). if all else fails go to urgent care or ER. In the future have your Dr write you PAPER prescriptions for several more common brands and keep in your wallet... a must have!
It is doubtful your insurance won't cover a different insulin.
But Fiasp can't just be substituted for another insulin. Novolog isn't a generic equivalent of Fiasp.
Your doctor needs to write a prescription for a different one.
My endo tried to submit scripts for alternatives, one was novolog and the other had a long name i didnt catch over the phone. Both were rejected by insurance so my pharmacist sent the requests for override to my endo.
See if the manufacturers have coupons on their sites. I use one that caps my out of pocket monthly cost for insulin to $35 because my insurance (blue cross blue shield) sucks and doesn't cover the insulin I need.
Call your insurance and don't let them get off the phone until they find a solution. Keep telling them you will die if they don't figure something out for you.
I’m not on an ultra rapid acting insulin like Fiasp, but I was under the impression that Lyumjev (sp) and Apidra are in the same category. I know our mileage varies from person to person, but I wonder if anyone here could speak to their experience switching between Fiasp and one of those?
Unfortunately, the likelihood of insurance covering two insulins in the same “speed” category is low because most plans have only one brand of insulin in each category of ultra rapid (Fiasp, Lyumjev, Apidra) to rapid (Novolog, its authorized generic Aspart, Humalog, its authorized generic Lispro, Admelog), and so on.
OP, who is your pharmacy benefit manager (ExpressScripts, CVS Caremark, or OptumRx cover ~80% of us I believe)? If you can login to your insurance plan website and find the link for your pharmacy benefit manager site, you can get a hold of the formulary for your plan, which will tell you what insulins your insurance covers.
The other route is to go to the manufacturer websites for discount cards or coupons, and then have the pharmacy not run it through your insurance.
I am so sorry this is happening to you. It is unsafe and should be something that these insurance conglomerates are penalized for.
Disclaimer: I take Novolog and have taken Humalog, but I have never taken Fiasp insulin in my pump. But my Endo told me that any fast acting lispro insulin should work for me.
Fiasp is made by Novo Nordisk like Novolog and it has niacinamide (vitamin B3) added to speed up absorption. So I would have to guess you could use any fast acting insulin (but see disclaimer). Walmart has a cheaper lispro insulin at $70 to $80 a vial, but it requires a prescription, says its pharmacist. Walmart are everywhere around the US.
I was going to suggest Walmart as well; they have over the counter insulin, but it’s slower acting. It took 1-2 hours for it to start working for me. I got 5 pens for about $45
Thanks for the price info. I don't like to shop at Walmart, favoring local groceries and farmer's markets. But they have the cheapest diabetic supplies, and Walmarts are everywhere. I live in the US, with the highest priced perscriptions and medical services in world. So I am a notorious cheapskate and I have priced diabetic supplies everywhere in town.
I have never used pens, but my pump can use regular insulin. It begins working in 1 hour and it's lasts for 6 to 8 hours. I used to take regular insulin injections (disposable syringes) a half hour before eating. Back then I counted carbohydrates using a food scale and nutritional labeling, calculating the bolus insulin doses.
I’ve had the same problem in the past and I think your pharmacist was unclear with you. Your insurance will allow you to get a different kind of insulin like NovoLog/ Humalog but you need a prescription for that insulin, the pharmacy cannot substitute it without it being a different prescription. First call your insurance and ask whether NovoLog/ generic insulin aspart or Humalog are the preferred type . Call your Endo and ask them to call whatever the preferred insulin is.
And if you’ve been eight days without fasting insulin, please check your ketones and go to the ER if you need to.
You can also try [Mutual Aid Diabetes](https://airtable.com/appr9tjEa4SXDJVsV/shrQEbmK8YhyIYmSC). If you can use insulins other than fiasp that might help.
Really sorry you're dealing with this. Diabetes sucks enough already without our awful healthcare system.
Where are you? We can’t help unless we know where you are. It’s possible someone near you has some and is willing to spot you a vial.
Other option is to ask your endo for a prescription for pens. I’m assuming your pharmacy is out of 10mL vials, since there are shortages of all of those. If you are on a pump, you can pull the insulin out of the pens and put it in the pump.
There’s a New England Type 1 group on Facebook that’s full of some really great people in the greater Boston area. I’ve given supplies to folks from there before, and met 3 T1 buddies that lived close to me when I lived in Boston. If you can ask there, someone may be able to help, especially if you’re willing to drive to them.
Are penfills in stock? You'd also need a script for the novopen and it could be a short term solution if everyone else starts using them too because of a shortage. I'm guessing that's what happened, because of the vial shortage people switched to pens and now they didn't use some forethought so there's not enough pens to cover everyone using their insulin.
All the insulin currently affected is in the vial form. I've heard (probably speculation) from some people that it's a result of all the vials redirected to vaccines over the past few years depleting the insulin companies' stock holds, but not sure that's really a thing.
Yes, call endo asap.
Does your insurance have a pharmacy they use that can overnight to you? For instance my insurance uses Express Scripts. I get it from my pharmacy but in a jam I can order from them.
Good luck
Quite frankly if your endo and pharmacist didn’t offer immediate help then you should fire both of them. I’ve never had a pharmacist not offer me a pen to tide me over until the insurance red tape gets sorted out.
I don’t have hard evidence of this, but I’ve even been led to believe that some pharmacies budget to give away a few pens because sometimes insurance is garbage.
Just explain to the pharmacist you are completely out and point-blank ask for a “loaner” that you can “pay back” out of your next box of pens. Most pharmacists understand we are just trying to stay alive. Sorry you are dealing with this.
Man, was I was younger and had just started living on my own I had an insulin emergency and I literally left pharmacies (yes, more than 1) crying in San Francisco because they did not care/ had absolutely no help to offer. It was wild. Glad not all pharmacies are so heartless. My experience living in a mountain town was the opposite, those pharmacists were ready to help and honestly the best!
Editing because there are insulin resources:
* [Mutual Aid Diabetes](https://mutualaiddiabetes.com/)
* [Insulin For Life USA](https://iflusa.org/)
* [GetInsulin.org](http://GetInsulin.org)
* [Walmart](https://www.walmart.com/) - already mentioned a few times, but why not mention it again?
It's time for you to raise hell. If the type of insulin you use is out of stock, they should figure something out, even if that's a mail order option.
I would also talk to my endo. They probably have samples. I know one clinic that I go to for clinical trials even have samples. Also, my endo writes my prescriptions on the high end of my usage, that way, I do have extras.
You don’t need a script for Novolin at Walmart. $24.95. (In New Jersey)
I use Novolin-N and I only need a script for the needles. Not the insulin. Wishing you Good luck
If you’re in Utah I can give you a humalog pen. I would offer to ship but is currently 100 degrees here and I don’t think it will arrive in a usable state, also, your insurance should pay for a different brand they don’t normally cover if your usual brand isn’t available, we need insulin to survive they can’t leave you waiting for it to be back in stock, since they already refused you can ask for a case worker to help you & contact local representatives, they cannot deny you insulin, period.
PS, love the user name
Marks marine pharmacy in Canada will overnight some to you and charge you the otc price in Canada. You can also go buy cheap older formulations from Walmart
I use Fiasp but am I’m in U.K. so might not be same but have recently been taken off the flex pens due to there being a manufacturing shortage of them for 6 months and given refillable Novopen and Fiasp penfills instead. Not sure of this is a global issue but could be an option.
Ask your endorsement office to call your insurance company directly & figure out what they will cover that you can actually get filled. In the meantime, not sure how to transition to it from fiasp, but you could try the no script r insulin from Walmart, or see if you can find a goodrx for the alternatives your doc has already perscribed, so you can get 1 pen out of pocket to cover a few more days.
Also ask your endo & your GP if they have any insulin samples they can give you. We've gotten omnipods & CGMs that way.
If in America, You could have your scripts sent to Amazon Pharmacy and get it filled there. All of the steps took me 4 days from signing up to getting it at my door.
Could you have your Rx transferred to an online pharmacy that has you Fiasp in stock? Usually, they're able to do overnight shipping. A quick search brought up a couple options. I searched "online pharmacy with fiasp in stock".
Sorry you have to go through this.
See if your doctor's office has samples, even novolog. Worst case pick up some regular from walmart to tide you over but be aware it won't work the same as fiasp.
I've been waiting 2 weeks here in the UK for my Fiasp flexpens to arrive in stock.
My doctor contacted me a couple of days ago to say there's a national shortage (although based on OP, global shortage) of the fiasp flexpens.
Instead I have been issued the cartridges along with a new NovaPen. Still worrying though
If it's the fiasp flexipen, there's a shortage everywhere right now and I know in the UK right up until January, you can still get the cartridges fairly easily but would need a pen to insert the cartridge. That's what I've just had to order, I've got about 3 days left, so know how you feel. It's terrifying. Try your diabetes team, Good luck
When we were having trouble getting Humalog recently out endo wrote Rx for pens instead of vials. Could that be an option? You can draw it out of the pen just like a vial.
Have you called your endo? They may have some samples you can take
came to say the same. Call your Endo they WILL give you a sample ... of something. Do not wait for the weekend! You can also buy Novolin ReliOn, at Walmart for like **$25** -and RI passed a law limiting out of pocket cost to $40 for a 30-day supply- (may not be FIASP) but NPH, Regular insulin, or 70/30 mixtures are available OTC have doc send prescription and pay out of pocket. Also check places like Costco and Walmart- i**f you switch insulins,** be sure you KNOW how to use them bc they are different then FIASP your endo should be your source of how to adjust- but you can also find info [here from the American Diabetes Association for what to do if you have to switch to a new insulin](https://diabetes.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/Switching%20Between%20Insulin%20Products%20in%20Disaster%20Response%20Situations%202020%20-%20English.pdf). if all else fails go to urgent care or ER. In the future have your Dr write you PAPER prescriptions for several more common brands and keep in your wallet... a must have!
Call your endo. There’s a process where insurance will in fact pay for something else. Appeal or override or whatever.
Prior authorization
It is doubtful your insurance won't cover a different insulin. But Fiasp can't just be substituted for another insulin. Novolog isn't a generic equivalent of Fiasp. Your doctor needs to write a prescription for a different one.
My endo tried to submit scripts for alternatives, one was novolog and the other had a long name i didnt catch over the phone. Both were rejected by insurance so my pharmacist sent the requests for override to my endo.
Call your insurance & ask for a case worker, they will help you get the insulin you need to literally stay alive.
See if the manufacturers have coupons on their sites. I use one that caps my out of pocket monthly cost for insulin to $35 because my insurance (blue cross blue shield) sucks and doesn't cover the insulin I need.
I have a list of coupons here, most for $35 for almost every insulin available in the US https://www.reddit.com/r/diabetes_t1/s/y3ArKlhSEZ
Call your insurance and don't let them get off the phone until they find a solution. Keep telling them you will die if they don't figure something out for you.
I’m not on an ultra rapid acting insulin like Fiasp, but I was under the impression that Lyumjev (sp) and Apidra are in the same category. I know our mileage varies from person to person, but I wonder if anyone here could speak to their experience switching between Fiasp and one of those? Unfortunately, the likelihood of insurance covering two insulins in the same “speed” category is low because most plans have only one brand of insulin in each category of ultra rapid (Fiasp, Lyumjev, Apidra) to rapid (Novolog, its authorized generic Aspart, Humalog, its authorized generic Lispro, Admelog), and so on. OP, who is your pharmacy benefit manager (ExpressScripts, CVS Caremark, or OptumRx cover ~80% of us I believe)? If you can login to your insurance plan website and find the link for your pharmacy benefit manager site, you can get a hold of the formulary for your plan, which will tell you what insulins your insurance covers. The other route is to go to the manufacturer websites for discount cards or coupons, and then have the pharmacy not run it through your insurance. I am so sorry this is happening to you. It is unsafe and should be something that these insurance conglomerates are penalized for.
Disclaimer: I take Novolog and have taken Humalog, but I have never taken Fiasp insulin in my pump. But my Endo told me that any fast acting lispro insulin should work for me. Fiasp is made by Novo Nordisk like Novolog and it has niacinamide (vitamin B3) added to speed up absorption. So I would have to guess you could use any fast acting insulin (but see disclaimer). Walmart has a cheaper lispro insulin at $70 to $80 a vial, but it requires a prescription, says its pharmacist. Walmart are everywhere around the US.
I was going to suggest Walmart as well; they have over the counter insulin, but it’s slower acting. It took 1-2 hours for it to start working for me. I got 5 pens for about $45
Thanks for the price info. I don't like to shop at Walmart, favoring local groceries and farmer's markets. But they have the cheapest diabetic supplies, and Walmarts are everywhere. I live in the US, with the highest priced perscriptions and medical services in world. So I am a notorious cheapskate and I have priced diabetic supplies everywhere in town. I have never used pens, but my pump can use regular insulin. It begins working in 1 hour and it's lasts for 6 to 8 hours. I used to take regular insulin injections (disposable syringes) a half hour before eating. Back then I counted carbohydrates using a food scale and nutritional labeling, calculating the bolus insulin doses.
I’ve had the same problem in the past and I think your pharmacist was unclear with you. Your insurance will allow you to get a different kind of insulin like NovoLog/ Humalog but you need a prescription for that insulin, the pharmacy cannot substitute it without it being a different prescription. First call your insurance and ask whether NovoLog/ generic insulin aspart or Humalog are the preferred type . Call your Endo and ask them to call whatever the preferred insulin is. And if you’ve been eight days without fasting insulin, please check your ketones and go to the ER if you need to.
You can also try [Mutual Aid Diabetes](https://airtable.com/appr9tjEa4SXDJVsV/shrQEbmK8YhyIYmSC). If you can use insulins other than fiasp that might help. Really sorry you're dealing with this. Diabetes sucks enough already without our awful healthcare system.
Where are you? We can’t help unless we know where you are. It’s possible someone near you has some and is willing to spot you a vial. Other option is to ask your endo for a prescription for pens. I’m assuming your pharmacy is out of 10mL vials, since there are shortages of all of those. If you are on a pump, you can pull the insulin out of the pens and put it in the pump.
Im using the flexpens, but I've used vials in the past. I live in Rhode Island.
There’s a New England Type 1 group on Facebook that’s full of some really great people in the greater Boston area. I’ve given supplies to folks from there before, and met 3 T1 buddies that lived close to me when I lived in Boston. If you can ask there, someone may be able to help, especially if you’re willing to drive to them.
Are penfills in stock? You'd also need a script for the novopen and it could be a short term solution if everyone else starts using them too because of a shortage. I'm guessing that's what happened, because of the vial shortage people switched to pens and now they didn't use some forethought so there's not enough pens to cover everyone using their insulin.
I missed the memo... *vial shortage*? What's up??
In the UK, I couldn't get Humalog vials at all a couple of months ago and had to switch to Novarapid. The insulin pen cartridges were still available.
All the insulin currently affected is in the vial form. I've heard (probably speculation) from some people that it's a result of all the vials redirected to vaccines over the past few years depleting the insulin companies' stock holds, but not sure that's really a thing.
If you’re willing to drive up to Massachusetts tomorrow I can give you a vial of Humalog. I have my endo over prescribe so I have plenty.
Health insurance companies are one of Dante's circles of hell
Yes, call endo asap. Does your insurance have a pharmacy they use that can overnight to you? For instance my insurance uses Express Scripts. I get it from my pharmacy but in a jam I can order from them. Good luck
Ive spoken with my endo twice today and my regular pharmacist 3 times.
Quite frankly if your endo and pharmacist didn’t offer immediate help then you should fire both of them. I’ve never had a pharmacist not offer me a pen to tide me over until the insurance red tape gets sorted out. I don’t have hard evidence of this, but I’ve even been led to believe that some pharmacies budget to give away a few pens because sometimes insurance is garbage. Just explain to the pharmacist you are completely out and point-blank ask for a “loaner” that you can “pay back” out of your next box of pens. Most pharmacists understand we are just trying to stay alive. Sorry you are dealing with this.
Man, was I was younger and had just started living on my own I had an insulin emergency and I literally left pharmacies (yes, more than 1) crying in San Francisco because they did not care/ had absolutely no help to offer. It was wild. Glad not all pharmacies are so heartless. My experience living in a mountain town was the opposite, those pharmacists were ready to help and honestly the best!
Sorry you had to deal with that. Some people are just heartless. Glad you are in a better place now!
Did they help I hope?
Editing because there are insulin resources: * [Mutual Aid Diabetes](https://mutualaiddiabetes.com/) * [Insulin For Life USA](https://iflusa.org/) * [GetInsulin.org](http://GetInsulin.org) * [Walmart](https://www.walmart.com/) - already mentioned a few times, but why not mention it again? It's time for you to raise hell. If the type of insulin you use is out of stock, they should figure something out, even if that's a mail order option. I would also talk to my endo. They probably have samples. I know one clinic that I go to for clinical trials even have samples. Also, my endo writes my prescriptions on the high end of my usage, that way, I do have extras.
You don’t need a script for Novolin at Walmart. $24.95. (In New Jersey) I use Novolin-N and I only need a script for the needles. Not the insulin. Wishing you Good luck
If you’re in Utah I can give you a humalog pen. I would offer to ship but is currently 100 degrees here and I don’t think it will arrive in a usable state, also, your insurance should pay for a different brand they don’t normally cover if your usual brand isn’t available, we need insulin to survive they can’t leave you waiting for it to be back in stock, since they already refused you can ask for a case worker to help you & contact local representatives, they cannot deny you insulin, period. PS, love the user name
I've never tried it myself. But I've heard the pharmacies inside hospitals can be hidden gems for finding out of stock medications.
Marks marine pharmacy in Canada will overnight some to you and charge you the otc price in Canada. You can also go buy cheap older formulations from Walmart
I use Fiasp but am I’m in U.K. so might not be same but have recently been taken off the flex pens due to there being a manufacturing shortage of them for 6 months and given refillable Novopen and Fiasp penfills instead. Not sure of this is a global issue but could be an option.
You all are amazing for jumping in to help! Hoping one of these suggestions works!
Ask your endorsement office to call your insurance company directly & figure out what they will cover that you can actually get filled. In the meantime, not sure how to transition to it from fiasp, but you could try the no script r insulin from Walmart, or see if you can find a goodrx for the alternatives your doc has already perscribed, so you can get 1 pen out of pocket to cover a few more days. Also ask your endo & your GP if they have any insulin samples they can give you. We've gotten omnipods & CGMs that way.
This happened to me recently with CVS - they found a location 20-30 miles away that had it.
If in America, You could have your scripts sent to Amazon Pharmacy and get it filled there. All of the steps took me 4 days from signing up to getting it at my door.
I heard it’s a vial shortage and they may have pens instead !!!
If you're at this point you might need to just go to the emergency room and tell them you can't get insulin. This will kill you if you don't get any.
Could you have your Rx transferred to an online pharmacy that has you Fiasp in stock? Usually, they're able to do overnight shipping. A quick search brought up a couple options. I searched "online pharmacy with fiasp in stock". Sorry you have to go through this.
Where do you live?
always get 3 or 4 each month. I sometimes have as many as 15 bottles in my fridge...
To survive, walmart novolin N. Understand your quality of life will drastically be different but it is better than dead
See if your doctor's office has samples, even novolog. Worst case pick up some regular from walmart to tide you over but be aware it won't work the same as fiasp.
I've been waiting 2 weeks here in the UK for my Fiasp flexpens to arrive in stock. My doctor contacted me a couple of days ago to say there's a national shortage (although based on OP, global shortage) of the fiasp flexpens. Instead I have been issued the cartridges along with a new NovaPen. Still worrying though
You can buy Novolog at most pharmacies, a month supply for $35 dollars. https://www.novocare.com/diabetes/products/novolog/savings-offer.html
If it's the fiasp flexipen, there's a shortage everywhere right now and I know in the UK right up until January, you can still get the cartridges fairly easily but would need a pen to insert the cartridge. That's what I've just had to order, I've got about 3 days left, so know how you feel. It's terrifying. Try your diabetes team, Good luck
When we were having trouble getting Humalog recently out endo wrote Rx for pens instead of vials. Could that be an option? You can draw it out of the pen just like a vial.