We are considering switching our 13-year-old daughter from NovoLog to Apidra to help with postprandial spikes. Have you found that it really acts faster than NovoLog or Humalog?

No, they seem similar. One thing that has been shown to help with postprandial spikes is to give the insulin about 15 to 20 minutes before eating, especially if it’s a meal with rapid carbohydrate content.

LAD
Additional comments from Dr. David Schwartz:
While my guess is that through this “unscientific polling” of the Diabetes Team experts there may be some preferences of one type of rapid acting insulin versus another, I am not aware of any clear evidence-based data that shows any clinical difference in the onset and actions of insulin lispro (Humalog), insulin aspart (NovoLog), or insulin glulisine (Apidra). Now, having said that, I certainly can imagine that in any individual patient there may be some nuances, so a switch is not unreasonable. But I wouldn’t be surprised if that the only difference is insurance coverage and/or possibly, maybe, price.

DS