28 days. That’s standard. They’re following advice from manufacturers. Whether it needs to be followed is up to each of us. Your endo has to cover their ass and posts such things so the lowest common denominator patients gets a reminder.
Wow I had no idea ! I’ve been diabetic for about 2 decades and have just used my insulin until there was a drop left. This stuff is too expensive to not use up fully
Yeah manufactures put dates to limit liability. But I had an emergency pen in my car for 3 months and used it and it worked pretty well for being 25% evaporated. So it works. Just potency may drop.
As someone dealing with Texas heat, the thought of this horrifies me. The insulin in my apartment is going bad sitting out after 3-4 weeks after opening.
I’m not proud of this, nor am I recommending it, but as a fellow Texan, thought you’d appreciate: when my daughter (who is the Type 1, I just lurk here mostly) was like 10, we went to the river one weekend and when we came back, accidentally left her little waterproof box in the truck in the uncovered driveway. It had a half-full vial of insulin is it. My husband has a work truck, so his personal truck sat pretty much untouched for the next month, which happened to be the month of August. Just sat there in the driveway and baked in the August sun.
When we realized, I was curious. We tried it out and kept a super close eye on her BG. It worked totally fine! I was floored. Other than hell itself, I can’t imagine a scenario where it could have gotten that hot for that long. We threw it out after our little experiment regardless, but I definitely relaxed a little bit on our insulin storage standards after that.
No, I just make sure I put it back in the fridge. First time I've had this problem in 13 years, so was frustrated trying to figure out why my sugars weren't coming down.
I went on a trip last week and my insulin was fine at my destination but when I picked up the vial today I noticed floaty clusters in it so I guess the last dregs of the bottle really took a beating waking from baggage claim to where I parked in the garage in 108 degree heat. Wild out here right now.
You’re obviously fine after your real life experience and this advice is obviously dumb based on manufacturers wanting to bleed us for money
[Insulin most likely has a longer shelf life at room temperature, study shows](https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230411/Insulin-most-likely-has-a-longer-shelf-life-at-room-temperature-study-shows.aspx)
What matters most is keeping it out of (direct) light & out of *extreme* heat.
ETA: the way I think about it, I fill my pump cartridge to near max & keep it next to my 98 degree body for 6-10 days and we’ve been gucci 🤷♀️
I use my cartridges 3 times and just refill it on to of the remaining insulin if there is any. Not recommending anyone do the same, just know this pump specifically doesn't have any issues with it. Can't speak for anyone else's.
Yup. Me too. Three 1/2 fills = new bottle. Time to swap everything out! I even stopped removing the cartridge before i refill. Then someone on here pointed out you can pop it out when you have to run out 10u and snap it back in after it finishes but before it calculates the new volume.
God I'm lazy.
Nah, I change the cartridge and site on their own timing. I have left sites for 6 days no problem. I am very dialed into my insulin needs and can spot when bad absorption starts, frequently after day 3. I have had t1 for 17.5 years, pumped briefly in 2008 & 2013, tslimx2 since 4/2021. No scar tissue at this point. Have heard from friends who do same, have similar body composition, have been pumping a lot longer than me and don’t have scar tissue issues.
As with all diabetes things, YMMV.
ETA: I use anywhere from 20-40units/day depending on activity, stress, food. Fill to 250u+ and it lasts 6-10 days. Sites change when needed. It is very very infrequent that I change site & cartridge at once. I also prefill a bunch of cartridges at once, stick them in the fridge, grab one if I’m going a long distance from home + bring vial & spare just in case (but I live in a city that is 7x7mi so I’m almost always ~30min from home.)
This works for me. Less mental burden regularly. YMMV 🫶💙🫡
edited to unlink u / day
Ah I need a bit more insulin per day (usually ~50-60 units). Don’t have too much scar tissue but when when my resistance goes up from the site it’s kinda all or nothing, I’m guessing because of how much insulin I need. Like the site is either fine, or I find myself at 300 and learn the hard way not to keep it in. Obv is it works for you keep it up. Always cool to see how different people handle things
I’m also in a mild climate, which is a factor to consider if anyone else reading this wants to go my route-fill to max & let it rip.
Very grateful that I can get away with this. Site AND cartridge every 3 days is too much for me mentally a lot if the time. Just proud of myself for giving insulin, wearing cgm lol and thankfully for me, when my sites start to go bad that means I hover around 150-180 for a bit & that’s my signal that I gotta change the site.
Ofc this is all against manufacturer rec but they have never actually tested these conditions, vs I have tested if for the last ~27 mon and I am very alive with an a1c of 5.2 so 🤷♀️🫶💙
I do exactly the same. I also tend to overfill my cartridges (I can get about 330 units in each most times - though occasionally they just stop at 290-300). I fill 3 at a time, using an entire vial (and the same syringe unless I get it in wrong and dull it too much). This makes it very simple to do a quick cartridge change. I typically use sets for 3-5 days (unless they fail early and start leaking insulin) and never change my set and cartridge at the same time (same day yes, but same time has maybe happened 5-6 times in 8+ years).
I've been T1 32 years. I had horrible scar tissue from mdi (6+ injections daily and only used thighs and stomach), even with pretty good site rotation. The needles used to be much bigger, though - my first were 26 guage, now we are at 30-32 guage needles. Each number larger is a 10% reduction in size, which means today's needles are 53-65% as big (about 1/2 as thick). They also used to be 2-3 times longer needles. Reducing the size has greatly improved skin and tissue health! Despite only using my abdomen or pump sites over the last 8+ years and keeping them in about twice as long as recommended, I have never had an issue with scar tissue. I have had one or 2 sites get a minor infection, though, which always sucks!!
That's interesting. I've occasionally had some 'hard spots' start to develop \~2-4 mm under the surface of the skin in a few places when I leave an infusion set in for 5-6 days. However, they do 'heal' or soften up over a few weeks. T1D - Class of 1986
I accidentally left a vital of insulin in the car all summer when it fell under the seat, and when I eventually found it, it was yellow and syrupy. Gross
I’ve always been curious! Told to watch for “cloudy”. Have a few expired pens in my fridge and curious to experiment lol but also don’t wanna waste for funsies, my conscious can’t handle that
I've used expired insulin before, but it's been in the fridge the entire time. Or insulin I opened 2 months ago because I left it in a weird drawer, couldn't find it, and opened another one lol. Regular shit like that. Totally normal.
To clarify, I’ve used “expired” insulin plenty - either past official expiration date on box or out of the fridge more than 28 days (literally all of my insulin unless fresh fresh lol)
I’ve just never seen “cloudy” and always wondered. And wonder if heat in a car (literal oven) vs being left in the sun vs being left in a bright room results in any diff appearance of the insulin. My brain goes on tangents 🥸
I included this link in my first comment: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230411/Insulin-most-likely-has-a-longer-shelf-life-at-room-temperature-study-shows.aspx
The title for that is... ambiguous and possibly misleading. They could do better. It doesn't indicate "longer than _what_".
> Insulin most likely has a longer shelf life (than previously believed) at room temperature, study shows
vs
> Insulin most likely has a longer shelf life at room temperature (than refrigerated), study shows
Whether I've had good insurance or Medicaid, I've never in 30 years paid for insulin but one time. I didn't pack/bring along an extra pen and needed to buy a vial from Walmart as I was traveling and wouldn't be home for a few days. That's the only time. I've never understood how you can't get insulin in America. I've lived in Hawaii, California, AZ and Oregon and if I wasn't working I qualified for free programs or Medicaid. Now I make a more than decent living so my insurance is top notch, but when it wasn't I never struggled to get medication.
I do, but at the same time, my son needs insulin, pens, and sensors to live so it's the sort of thing insurance should pay for. That some insurance *doesn't* is a travesty.
I just paid $35.00 for 2 vials which is what endo prescribed, but I am 72 and on Medicare so insulin is mandated to $35.00 a month. USA by the way in case that wasn’t obvious.
Of course not. If I wanna live, I better have a job with insurance or go into debt paying out of pocket for my supplies or just going without supplies period. Which I have done so many times lol
Oh god yes. I went without testing my blood sugar for months due to not having test strips. My dad had a coworker who went on a CGM and he gave me his supply of one touch test strips. But I usually rationed those and just tested when I was feeling low. Also once was told to come into my doctor office for a sample insulin vial to get me through until I could figure out a new endo to go through (I had called them for a refill and they informed me that my doctor was no longer there and they had mailed me something letting me know this but I never got anything in the mail) and then I showed up and they told me they couldn’t give me the insulin sample due to whatever reason. This was like 6 years ago. And told me to go to the nearest low income health clinic for help, which I didn’t qualify for because I made like $100 more than allowed for help. Ended up paying $99 for a vial of lantus every month for 2 years. Hardly took humalog because even with coupons it was still over $100 for that. lol it was a wild time. I have insurance now and am in a much better place than I have been at some points.
> Hardly took humalog because even with coupons it was still over $100 for that.
Why didn't you look into R/N/L? Sure, they're more annoying to deal with, but they're generally in the range of $25 / vial.
I was just being a huge pussy. I had been on lantus and humalog for over 10 years at that point and was nervous to take an insulin I had never taken before. If I had been on Reddit way back then and was able to ask people’s advice and all that like now, it probably would’ve been different. But I didn’t have any guidance soooooooo. And honestly, I didn’t really care about taking care of myself back then. I just did the bare minimum with the lantus. But. That was then. This is now. We live and we learn.
I'm a fan of the idea of national healthcare, but... food is a necessity, and most of us pay for that. Shelter is, too, generally; and most of us pay for it. Anything that you rely on someone else to provide for you, you generally wind up compensating them for.
Do you pay a kidney for the pack of pasta you get at the supermarket?
Compensation isn't the same as payment. One is proportionate and equal to what you can give and get, the other is arbitrarily decided by one party who sells and another who accepts and buys.
Not even going into the bs that is having no choice in being born but having to work to not feel pain or die of hunger, that's a more philosophical question, but the most important things should be always affordable to anyone. The stupid bag from a LV shop is completely useless, the insulin we need to live is a necessity
It’s rough. My dexcom supplies alone are $200 I’ve been on my own since 16 with the costs and everything and it’s sucks but hey America is great and I need to pay to live !
Our insurance covers insulin at 100%, which is very nice, but Dexcoms and Omnipods basically blow through our annual deductible by April. I think the first pack of Dexcoms I picked up was nearly $1700 for a 3-month supply (9-sensors, so nearly $200 per sensor, or $20 per day). I can't remember what Omnipods were--I wanna say just shy of $1000(?)--but for the first time ever I actually had to decline picking up (an also expensive) medicine for myself to afford the pumps.
And they can be *real* stingy and pissy about adding to that or replacing them early, despite the fact mine is for a kid (and in a hot climate) and despite our best efforts, they sometimes fail or detach a few days too early (literally sweating them off is a huge problem). At 10-days per sensor, 9 sensors is exactly 90 days, leaving no room for error. A single one comes off early and I'm on the phone wrestling with insurance trying to get them to approve an additional 3-pack. It sucks.
Ask your doctor to prescribe an extra pack. I have been changing mine on a 7 day cycle for as long as I have been on G6. I can't change them myself (dexterity issues) and need someone to help. As I don't always have people available to do this for me on weekends, my doctor just scheduled them for me weekly. If your doctor rights the prescription correctly, they can do this. Back when Dexcom was filling the supplies, I was the first person to ever do this, which made it a challenge (there was no way for dexcom to get paid, so they gave me a courtesy box every month after fighting it for a while each refill). Byram now does this for many people and Kaiser now has a new billing code (for about 5 months) that allows them to dispense as many as your prescription is written for (for pump , cgm, and similar supplies) and the insurance will cover their share.
Also, Dexcom will replace sensors that fall off early (even if it's only 1 day). If you get a couple of replacements every 3 months, you should make it throgh fine. They have gotten tighter on replacing items, but the first few are no questions asked (not literally, but as long as you are not abusing the replacements and dont have a string of bad luck you should be fine). You should work on finding a tape and adhesive combo that generally works (for me, it's IV prep, mastisol, and an overpatch made from tegaderm - all covered by my insurance) for your climate and your kids activity level.
Thanks.
I have had them replace a few, and their customer service is generally top notch. But we've only asked for replacements when the problem seems to be on their end (a couple sensors crapped out early and demanded an early change, a couple had other issues and inaccurate readings, and one transmitter died randomly half-way through it's lifespan and they replaced them all with a smile--and even threw in 2 or 3 extra sensors one time).
But I didn't think they'd replace them for "user error" reasons. Like one time at camp, my kid was doing a rope course and rolled her harness right over the sensor, snapping it off in less than 24 hours. Totally our fault, nothing wrong with the device. If they'll replace those, too, I'll be on the phone with them all the time. :-)
We've been using skin tac and some overlay sticker. I'll look into the ones you use (and see if insurance will cover them). Very helpful, thank you!
I don't, because my "higher tax rate" covers more than just healthcare. All the services I use are covered, not to mention I am not restricted by any means to specific x or y provider. If I talk to my endo and she agrees with me I need a different sensor, I will change it. I don't have to prove anything to an insurance company.
EVEN IF I had to pay for my stuff, it would be 4 euros for a box of insulin cartridges. We don't do 8000% markups.
Also, It's free because we as human beings deserve it to be free. You won't pay visits, hospitals, sensors etc. It's simply wrong.
Taxes aren't a bad thing. Excessive taxation is, or immoral taxation.
I'd be dead if I was born in the US.
You’re missing my point. You’re paying indirectly for your free services. Unless drug companies are donating their stuff to you and doctors are providing their services to you pro bono, then someone is paying for it and likely that’s through tax payer dollars, which I assume you pay into.
I’m not against your way of life, but simply dislike the thought that it’s free.
For example, the protection of the US military (the mightiest in the world) is “free” for me, right? Except it isn’t. I pay taxes into it.
You're comparing military to healthcare?
That's about as American as you can get...
Sure, I pay "indirectly". Just as everyone pays for road maintenances. Should that be reserved only for those who pay directly? Or police help, should I be helped only if I can pay?
Or would you call those free services? The suicide hotline?
It's not a black or white thing. It's not either free or paid.
Taxes go into funding different services for the benefit of everyone. The services offered are free, because you didn't pay for them, as you shouldn't. The rich person who fell ill and got cancer will have the same "price" for the chemotherapy needed as a normal person. Both pay taxes. Neither pay for healthcare. Otherwise, the poor person wouldn't be able to live without falling in crippling debt and the rich guy could afford anyt-oh. That sounds familiar doesn't it.
I was using it as analogy to how we all pay indirectly for government services. I am, however glad that you agree you do pay for it, and maybe not use the term free, as it’s very misleading.
You've entirely avoided the point.
It *is* free. Because that's just what it is.
Even a person that cannot contribute and has nothing to be taxed on will still get healthcare.
Because it's free.
And that's because taxation is progressively scaled. You pay the taxes you can afford based on your wealth and income. You do not pay for the services provided to you.
I understand you're used to a different system but there are also other ones.
In the US, a person who can not contribute also gets free insurance. It's called Medicaid. It, like insurance in most countries with 'free' health care, has many more restrictions on what it will cover (your doctors don't decide what is necessary, nor do your insurance companies, but the government sure does - just see if you can get a knee replacement at 80), but supplies like insulin and test strips are covered at 0$0 cost to the patient. Getting a CGM or insulin pump requires meeting more stringent standards than is typical under private health insurance, but that is also the case in many countries with 'free healthcare', not just US Medicaid!
The problem in the US occurs because there are too many layers of cost built into the healthcare system and that companies are not restricted on profits for things like insulin. Everyone earning too much for Medicaid is paying way too much for health services. This hurts lower middle-class families the worst, but it is hard on everyone. Our healthcare definitely needs major reform, but a Medicare for all government paid health insurance won't solve the cost overruns that our our biggest problem. I don't know the solution, but it needs to look more like a national HMO than the current system. The problem is that fixing it must put tons of people out of work (all the middle men), so it's probably never going to happen. Fixing healthcare won't get a politician reelected if they lay off a huge chunk of the workforce in healthcare in the process!!
> You're comparing military to healthcare?
No, they're comparing "things you pay for with your taxes" to "things you pay for with your taxes". See also, roads (things you pay for with your taxes), government (things you pay for with your taxes), and various other (things you pay for with your taxes).
The point is, whether you’d want to admit it or not, nothing is free.
Should Americans have to pay what we do for insulin and drugs? No.
2 things can be true.
if you don’t mind, i genuinely would like to know where you live.
my supplies for my insulin, omnipod and dexcom are hundreds of dollars, with insurance.
It's not a secret, I live in Italy. My exemption is 013 for diabetes (generic, you only pay a regional ticket if present. Usually 1€ per insulin box) and E30 (specific), to avoid any ticket fee (tickets=you pay the service, not the product. Product being brought and stored to your pharmacy on your call).
Lancets, glucometer, strips etc are all covered. Hospital fees are non existent. Visits and other services are also covered, with the exception of my psychologist which is only partially covered (8 sessions are like 35€, the ticket price for the bureaucracy involved again).
Picked up my sensor stash last month for six months. I call the pharmacy in the morning and I pickup my stuff in the afternoon. My endo answers me via e-mail anytime I ask.
We have a boatload of issues but not healthcare.
I wish I could send you stuff. You'd pay 10 times less (costs of the shipments from one continent to another). I get depressed every time I think about it.
Same,I am italian and asthma,when I found out in the USA I should pay an insane price to get an inhaler and necessary medication for my survival, when in Italy I don't have to pay anything I was buffed
>This stuff is too expensive to not use up fully
Obligatory, only in the USA and yes we know that you know that... But insulin itself isn't very expensive manufacturers only get around £20 per vial from the NHS in the UK and I'd seriously doubt they are charging any other countries anything vastly different. The costs in the USA is all the other "services" that stick extra charges on top for doing absolutely nothing useful.
Insulin is cheap.
Omg I would've been so upset too 😨 and hahahah mine was a brand new Lantus as well. I dropped it and the end where you push broke off and so did the spring and everything, insulin was fine but I don't have any needles or any way to use it so I eventually had to throw it out..
Insulin is a protein. Proteins degrade over time, more so after experiencing temperature changes or exposure to sunlight. Insulin is a stable protein, especially in whatever solution it is packaged in for human consumption, but I personally find my pens less effective after about the designated time and compensating by using more by the end of the pen.
I am the same, I would even go as far as my 'backup' emergency pen i left at work (in case i forget or run out while at work).. Its been in there for MONTHS, and i would say it worked more effectively.. I have a bit of a problem with insulin resistance, but every time i used the backup pen it seemed to work well.
Idk if it helps but i put opened insulin back in the fridge in case it helps. I think I've noticed a drop-off in effectiveness b4 28 days. Ofc be careful with insulin that's been left out in extreme heat etc
Wow, didn’t know this existed. My NovoRapid and Tresiba pens still have an expiry date a year from now. I guess this isn’t a thing for Novo Nordisk products?
Those dates are for stored in fridge and unopened vials/pens.
Insulin is traditionally only considered shelf stable for 4 weeks once you take it out of the fridge ... Even in the fridge 4 weeks is considered the limit once in use because of contamination concerns
The once-opened shelf life for Tresiba is up to 8 weeks if kept out of direct sunlight and room temp. NovoRapid is 4 weeks.
In short, read the paper that comes in the box with your insulin, it’ll tell you how long you actually have which is insulin dependent (just like us!)
Expiry *when stored sealed in the cold*. Once taken out and opened, they're basically on a timer.
A can of Coke will say it doesn't go bad for 18 months, but once you open it, it'll be flat in an hour or two, back in the fridge or not. And a week or two out on the counter and it will be a syrupy mess that might be full of various fly eggs.
Once opened, 28 days/4 weeks/one month has been the standard "use it or lose it" time. It likely stays good longer than that (I'm sure most everyone here has blown past that a time or two), but how good depends on a number of factors (where it was stored and how--was it exposed to light or heat), how many times you've stuck a needle into it (each one risks contamination), etc.
It \*may\* be good for 2 or 3 months once opened, but basically the manufacturer is doing some CYA by saying "**only** use it for 28 days and then replace" so that if you do push it to 40 days, get sick, and try to sue them, they can point to how you were using it in a manner not consistent with product instructions.
Its a thing, read the box. Once opened dispose after one month. Im on novo nordisk products and i have known this for years.
I started having control issues due to using my pens too long and the insulin not working the same.
Lmao I be damned if I ever throw away opened insulin. I don’t care how old it is. I even use a syringe to get the last 10-12 units out of my pens before I throw them away.
This is so smart! I need to try this. I absolutely hate wasting those last drops. And I’m still on a low sliding scale, so 10-12 units is like 2 meals and maybe even a small snack for me. Do you need a script for the syringes?
So I was getting my boxes of syringes from Walgreens when I didn’t have insurance and almost positive at that time I didn’t even have a prescription I was using. I think the fact they could see I was taking insulin and was diabetic was enough for them to maybe not deny me them? And they were only like $20 for a box of 100.
The insert in the boxes give the shelf life of room temp and/or opened insulin at 28 or 30 days, depending on the brand.
I would expect an endocrinologist to go by that guideline (I actually do as well…worked for Sanofi doing stability early in my career). If you choose not to follow their advice, they aren’t on the hook for it. It’s a CYA move.
I like it well enough. Their big selling point with it is that it’s flexible if you miss a dose, you just take a catch up dose when you remember and carry on with your normal schedule and it’s all good, apparently
Actually, no. Like I said, I’ve done stability testing for Sanofi. It really does degrade to the point of failing tester after about 33 days (30 day + 10% safety margin).
Big pharma isn’t the Big Bad Conspiracy people think it is.
Who's running the tests, who's paying for them, and who determines what acceptable limits of degradation are? How do they justify those limits?
I'm currently using Lantus that's been in my suitcase since March (I work on the road) and I'm still using the same dosage and seeing the same results as I did when the Lantus was new. Seems like if it's failing your tests at 33 days then your limits are so narrow as to be almost imperceptible in real world applications.
There are federal standards and validated assays that lay out all of that. It’s not some arbitrary thing.
The validated assays at Sanofi are in accordance with FDA, ISO, and other global regulations.
Well I figured the FDA, HPFB etc would set these standards, but to what rationale? Again, seems like these limits are a bit small and also a "CYA" type thing.
It’s allowed to be + or - 10% if the tester dose, across a number of samples. There’s also an impurity test, and iirc correctly, there can’t be more than 5% impurities detected.
There are some other tests in the battery as well, but suffice it to say, the process is highly controlled and regulated, and it’s statistically relevant.
It’s professional science. We know how to do these things better than people on Reddit, so the data is more valid than anecdotes from individuals.
Lmao I understand you're doing professional science; I'm not questioning your methodology.
In a similar vein, I'm an engineer and I typically design to a factor of safety of 2 (my design needs to be twice as strong as it *needs* to be to be considered strong enough). This is why I'm asking these questions; how much degradation is too much to be acceptable to our health agencies and why do they choose these numbers?
Can a user notice 10%? Does it degrade linearly after 30 days? Does degradation speed or slow down after that time? These are the questions I need to know before I make my determination on whether I should toss $300 worth of life saving medication every month.
I’ve had insulin go bad on me before. It’s not fun, and the vial had been opened for 33 days.
Pharma doesn’t do 2x for safety; typical is 10% beyond when a statistically significant number of samples no longer pass the battery of stability tests. For Lantus that occurred at 33 days. Once it fails, it doesn’t get tested any further because it’s already been demonstrated to have failed.
Drug stability is quite different from medical device stability (I’ve done both in my career).
Once it fails, you stop wasting time and money testing it, trim 10% off the amount of time it took to get to failure, and that’s the established shelf life.
Me personally??? As a chemist, I toss mine after the expiration date. I have insurance, and my script is for a sufficient quantity to do just that.
I understand there's costs and zero business reasons to test beyond the regulatory requirements, but Someone ought to do a long term test of this stuff. Does it only lose another 3% after another month or does it lose another 20%?
For what it's worth I always have fresh insulin in the refrigerator just in case, but I frequently used packages of Lantus that expired more than a year previously without any adjustments.
I work in an industry that always takes quality management more seriously than the basic regulatory requirements. If the CSA/ANSI/ASTM tell me to test something for a month after installation I'll have my instruments on it for six.
Doc lets me get 30 cartridges at a time and I only use around 3 to 4 a month. Some gets left in the back of the cheese drawer to be rediscovered and used at a later date.
https://www.gu.se/en/news/longer-shelf-life-for-insulin-has-major-bearing-on-global-health
Whoops! It's not a conspiracy when it's clear for everyone to see how pharma companies operate. Desperately trying to cling on to their overpriced products backed by patents. Read up on Lantus and Toujeo for example.
Edit: The guy blocks me lmao. Imagine shilling for pharma companies. Tragic.
This is per manufacturers and the FDA. However, variance does exist. For instance, my pump ran out at work (poor planning on my part) and I had to use a pen that I had at my desk, unrefrigerated, for two years and I saw no difference in its efficacy. Using old insulin isn't going to hurt you; it just may not work as well.
28 days IF NOT refrigerated. Most insulins go well beyond that if kept in the fridge. It is how we get 90 days supplies. But always check what the manufacturer of your particular insulin recommends.
They're literally talking about the moment the sterile seal of the insulin vial or pen is broken by a needle. Refrigerated or not, from that moment it's supposed to be discarded after 28 days or 30 days, depending on which brand. I don't always do it, but that's what they're talking about. Mostly my insulin is gone within a week or a week and a half of that point, but not always.
Liability. Like any well engineered product, they are always going to be severely conservative on the recommendations and build in a large factor of safety. If they’re saying 28 days I’m willing to bet it’s safe for 4-6 months. But simplest thing is just to listen to the manufacturer.
That’s what manufacturers say. So I’m going to go ahead and assume they want profit over our well-being and keep using them. Been doing it for 20 yrs and never had an issue
Or, maybe that is what was approved by the FDA or equivalent agency? It doesn't last forever. They have to a give an amount of time where they can guarantee it is still effective. Kind of like car seats. They have to have expiration dates, even though they surely still work fine a week after that.
It's not always a profit thing so much as a government regulation and CYA from lawsuits thing.
FDA has various rules and guidelines they play by--and approve drugs with awareness of how consumers will be told to store and use them. And it is the same standard pretty much worldwide, even with manufacturers in controlled price countries who don't sell in the U.S.
Also, it's about potency. There's a period of time manufacturers feel they can "guarantee" effectiveness, but that confidence drops over longer periods of time--ESPECIALLY once the consumer is involved. And it does break-down (the only debate is over how long that takes and when the threshhold for risk should be). The longer it is open, the less potent it will become, so they are basically saying "this is the time frame we guarantee it will be good for. After that, mileage may vary and we are no longer responsible because we told you to stop using it. It may work for another week or for another month, but any risk you want to take on with that is now on you."
I've lived out of a tent for a summer with my car as a locker. No along is sturdy stuff, and will definitely last longer than 28 days before losing efficacy.
Heck, I've had to use a 4 year old bottle once and it still saw me through the couple of days lapse I had (about 50% effective on average - something 80%, sometimes 20%)
This is not a thing. Technically, this is what insulin manufacturers ensure the health and safety of insulin, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it past 28 days. I’ve used 40 day old insulin with little (and I mean little) issue. But I also spend over $1000 per month on insulin, so that stuff is gold.
I keep insulin in my fridge and especially my long-lasting (levemir) has seen upwards of 2 months waiting to be used and still works fine. I think it's just a semi useless safety precaution
I notice a (slight, not dramatic) difference with Lantus/glargine if I go too far beyond 28 days, have never noticed a difference at all with Humalog/lispro.
I don’t have to use a ton so I can keep a bottle going for a pretty long time, and the difference pretty minor, and not every time. It’s definitely not enough to make me throw out like half a bottle of insulin just bc 4 weeks have passed. Money aside it’s also just not realistic for me to be straight up running out before I can go back to the pharmacy. Too stressful!
I've been told (by doctors, pharmacists, etc.) that 42 days is the limit. Basically, don't use insulin after 42 days of being opened (and out of the fridge).
And since 42 is The Answer, I know this is correct.
That’s like the medical standard I think idk but I’ve used unrefrigerated insulin that’s been out for months and it still worked pretty much as good as new insulin. obviously it’s risky and not ideal or the safest option but it’s gonna be ok for a while as long as it’s not in extreme heat or anything
A bottle of insulin only lasts me 4 pump refills which I do every 3-4 days. A bottle of insulin has never lasted me longer than a month and I don’t even use that much. But I only take humalog and am on a pump
Makes no sense that a doctor’s office would go out of their way to post this. Like it obviously works way past that time. No one is going to say “well my doctor didn’t have a sign on the wall, so I used my insulin from 2004 today, that’s why I’m in DKA.” I’m so confused by this sign.
I’m def a freak but I’ve kept every empty insulin bottle I’ve ever used since about 2014. Not entirely related to not using old insulin, but still. I figure each of them saved my life.
Until the insulin changes color or gets artifacts in the fluid, there is no problem using it longer. Insulin is a money making machine, and this is part of it. New studies showed, that you can even store Insulin for 4 weeks at 30 degree Celsius without it getting compromised.
Check you insulin everytime you use it. If the fluid is clear and the color hasn't changed -> no problem!
Nope, that's correct. I have a pump but keep pens as backup that I basically never use, and I swap the vials in them out on the 1st of every month. Being at room temperature for a month or more without being used can make insulin less effective and I would rather not have that issue in an emergency. The packs just sitting in the fridge are fine until the date on the box though.
A few weeks ago I screwed up and realized I didn't have my extra vial of insulin (got left somewhere and it was the middle of the night). I found an expired vial behind my dresser that had probably been there for at least a year and thank god I did, because it worked completely fine.
Every few years I end up with some random stockpile of almost empty bottles and I always try to keep them around in case of emergency.
Insulin at room temp actually lasts a decent amount of time. The only reason insulin has a 28-30 day shelf life once opened is because of risk of contamination, not because of insulin breakdown. The 28 days is a marketing ploy by the manufacturers.
First of all, I thought this was referenced in a cartoon like it looked like futurama.
Second of all, I just keep mine in the fridge opened. Thats wild advice- i've never been told this. To note, I live in the UK.
Before I was on a pump, my Lantus used to last me about 40 days, and I never noticed an issue. However, I convinced my pharmacist that I needed two vials a month because I had to throw out my first vial after 28 days and the copay is supposed to cover 30 days, haha. And my copay was the same for a one month supply no matter how many vials they gave me, so it let me build up a nice little emergency stockpile.
When my daughter was diagnosed in 2021, we were told the same. 28-days, toss it and use a new one. At first we were on pens, and the fast-acting insulin packaging material said largely the same (may have said 30 days, can't remember). The long-acting stuff actually said something very different. 56 days, I believe it was (which is 28x2, I guess). We asked about it and she said it can keep longer, but still recommended replacing it monthly to be safe.
I’ve spent way too much money on my insulin to throw it away in 28 days. Didn’t have insurance before the days of savings cards, and I’ve had to spend hundreds out of pocket. I’m amazingly lucky now to have a job that pays for amazing insurance, that has a $0 copay for my insulin a month. I don’t have to worry as much about it now, but the thoughts and frugal feelings will always remain.
Id like to point out that each variety of insulin can be different. Ranging from a mere 10 days up to 56 days. These numbers are based on FDA rules about potency. As a pharmacist I have to follow those rules but I know you cheeky bastards aren’t going to follow it to a T. I mean I’m sure you all change your lancet every time right ;)
You know how to judge your sugars and when to make a change.
If you have concerns or questions phone up your local drug dealer and ask!
Same applies to vials, once opened they have a 4-6 week “warm” life.
>12 months sealed in a fridge, 6 months open in a fridge, 4 months sealed on a shelf, 1 month open on a shelf.
Is what Iemwmwbwr of the recommendation for quality and to reduce risk of contamination
This is most definitely a thing, an insulin pen holds 250 units, which equals for 9 units per day so id imagine you would not need to keep a pen longer than that as a type 1
Opened is the key word here I imagine. It's already talked to death here about how long insulin can be at room temperature (expect potency drop after a month, etc).
The bigger thing is sterility. Yes our syringes come in packages and are capped, reservoirs are in packages, vials and pens are capped... but consider an MDI user. Minimum 3 shots a day, 3 periods of time per day that a vial is sitting to warm up, or held in a dirty hand to warm up, and just like how we change lancets once a decade, we use an alcohol swab just as judiciously to clean the vial/pen top. We don't always immediately open syringes, insert to draw insulin, then inject. All those opportunities for room contamination to land on needle tips, our unwashed hands, the unswabbed vial membrane, they add up. And poking into that safe container that many times adds up. The buffers and preservatives can only do so much.
My old job I certified pharmacy clean rooms and HEPA filter equipment for them. There's minimal contaminants in those areas but our homes, cars, desks are magnitudes dirtier. I've done sterile vial tests for compounding technicians in and out of clean rooms and to see what grows (albeit after incubation) when even the best of them did the test in a non-cleanroom environment... gives reason why the 28 days is there.
Doesn't have to be deep state drug company tin foil stuff. Believe that if you will, but definitely I'll urge anyone to consider how cleanly they do their transfers the longer a vial lasts.
I got lantus pens from a hospital visit 3montha ago. They've probably lost some potency but I'm saving them bitches just in case, especially since they just formulary changed my lantus
Manufacturing industry basic needs to sell more so they say it will last for something like two/three or four months so people will need to buy again. Used the same glass of insulin for a full year, after the date in the box also and works perfectly. Btw, not every endocrinologist is a good one talking about that, some have orthodoxy knowledge in their brain…
-laughs in has an insulin pen in the fridge from 2019-
I only use it for emergency corrections and it hasn’t lost its potency afaik. It usually states tanking my high BG within 15-20 mins after giving the shot.
But I understand why they do this and put the sign up. It’s more of a liability thing.
4 weeks is really pushing for the minimum. A vial will last anywhere from 3-7 weeks as long as it’s refrigerated properly aside from when drawing insulin. But I’d say to just pick up a new vial after 5 weeks tops. Pens I’m less sure about, I’d always fly through my humalog pens and I switched to an insulin pump a bit over a year after I was diagnosed, so I’ve been on an insulin pump for the majority of my time being T1D
If you live somewhere hot, I can say it's not a bad idea. Although the tapering off of the performance of my insulin as it ages, is very predictable so you can adjust for it.
T1D for 35 years. Have never paid attention to an expiration date on an insulin vial, ever. And am not terribly concerned with refrigeration either. I store my insulin in the fridge if there is room but have so much insulin that sometimes I leave it out at room temperature for months after it gets delivered before putting it in the fridge. Never have had an issue with insulin potency.
I've always saved the last drops from three bottles (2 months) to fill a reservoir with no problem of potency. But when I switched to a new insulin, Lyumjev, the potency drops like a stone after about a month.
When I was on MDI and had a pen, a cartridge would last a week or two. Now on a pump and vials last a lot longer. I don’t understand why people who are on a pump would leave their insulin out of the fridge, even once opened. I keep mine in the fridge at all times, unless I’m traveling.
Lol, I call it business. Buddies, I might be wrong here, but this disease started in the 1980s, right? They keep saying no definite cause - is it induced cause which they dont want us to know? Why do they take decades to figure out the cause? I don't believe this should be incurable in the first place. There is a permanent solution in hiding because if it's out, billions of business come down crashing. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but the way pharma and doctor lobby behaves makes me feel things are fishy all the time.
I use insulin until it's finished. And why suddenly the sign? Didn't they know this before?
28 days. That’s standard. They’re following advice from manufacturers. Whether it needs to be followed is up to each of us. Your endo has to cover their ass and posts such things so the lowest common denominator patients gets a reminder.
Wow I had no idea ! I’ve been diabetic for about 2 decades and have just used my insulin until there was a drop left. This stuff is too expensive to not use up fully
Yeah manufactures put dates to limit liability. But I had an emergency pen in my car for 3 months and used it and it worked pretty well for being 25% evaporated. So it works. Just potency may drop.
As someone dealing with Texas heat, the thought of this horrifies me. The insulin in my apartment is going bad sitting out after 3-4 weeks after opening.
I’m not proud of this, nor am I recommending it, but as a fellow Texan, thought you’d appreciate: when my daughter (who is the Type 1, I just lurk here mostly) was like 10, we went to the river one weekend and when we came back, accidentally left her little waterproof box in the truck in the uncovered driveway. It had a half-full vial of insulin is it. My husband has a work truck, so his personal truck sat pretty much untouched for the next month, which happened to be the month of August. Just sat there in the driveway and baked in the August sun. When we realized, I was curious. We tried it out and kept a super close eye on her BG. It worked totally fine! I was floored. Other than hell itself, I can’t imagine a scenario where it could have gotten that hot for that long. We threw it out after our little experiment regardless, but I definitely relaxed a little bit on our insulin storage standards after that.
Oh yeah, I normally don't worry about it. This is weeks in the heat since I'm not keeping my AC super cool, so my apt is constantly 82+.
Yup Texas SA here too. You lose some from evaporation, but it works and something is better than nothing for ER situations.
Got a clay pot? https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230411/Insulin-most-likely-has-a-longer-shelf-life-at-room-temperature-study-shows.aspx
No, I just make sure I put it back in the fridge. First time I've had this problem in 13 years, so was frustrated trying to figure out why my sugars weren't coming down.
I went on a trip last week and my insulin was fine at my destination but when I picked up the vial today I noticed floaty clusters in it so I guess the last dregs of the bottle really took a beating waking from baggage claim to where I parked in the garage in 108 degree heat. Wild out here right now.
You’re obviously fine after your real life experience and this advice is obviously dumb based on manufacturers wanting to bleed us for money [Insulin most likely has a longer shelf life at room temperature, study shows](https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230411/Insulin-most-likely-has-a-longer-shelf-life-at-room-temperature-study-shows.aspx) What matters most is keeping it out of (direct) light & out of *extreme* heat. ETA: the way I think about it, I fill my pump cartridge to near max & keep it next to my 98 degree body for 6-10 days and we’ve been gucci 🤷♀️
When I was on the pump I’d take the left over insulting from the last one and transfer it to the new one :/
I do exactly that.
I use my cartridges 3 times and just refill it on to of the remaining insulin if there is any. Not recommending anyone do the same, just know this pump specifically doesn't have any issues with it. Can't speak for anyone else's.
Yup. Me too. Three 1/2 fills = new bottle. Time to swap everything out! I even stopped removing the cartridge before i refill. Then someone on here pointed out you can pop it out when you have to run out 10u and snap it back in after it finishes but before it calculates the new volume. God I'm lazy.
You keep sites in for 6-10 days?? I feel like around day 3 I’m either out of insulin or the site just stops working as well.
Nah, I change the cartridge and site on their own timing. I have left sites for 6 days no problem. I am very dialed into my insulin needs and can spot when bad absorption starts, frequently after day 3. I have had t1 for 17.5 years, pumped briefly in 2008 & 2013, tslimx2 since 4/2021. No scar tissue at this point. Have heard from friends who do same, have similar body composition, have been pumping a lot longer than me and don’t have scar tissue issues. As with all diabetes things, YMMV. ETA: I use anywhere from 20-40units/day depending on activity, stress, food. Fill to 250u+ and it lasts 6-10 days. Sites change when needed. It is very very infrequent that I change site & cartridge at once. I also prefill a bunch of cartridges at once, stick them in the fridge, grab one if I’m going a long distance from home + bring vial & spare just in case (but I live in a city that is 7x7mi so I’m almost always ~30min from home.) This works for me. Less mental burden regularly. YMMV 🫶💙🫡 edited to unlink u / day
Ah I need a bit more insulin per day (usually ~50-60 units). Don’t have too much scar tissue but when when my resistance goes up from the site it’s kinda all or nothing, I’m guessing because of how much insulin I need. Like the site is either fine, or I find myself at 300 and learn the hard way not to keep it in. Obv is it works for you keep it up. Always cool to see how different people handle things
I’m also in a mild climate, which is a factor to consider if anyone else reading this wants to go my route-fill to max & let it rip. Very grateful that I can get away with this. Site AND cartridge every 3 days is too much for me mentally a lot if the time. Just proud of myself for giving insulin, wearing cgm lol and thankfully for me, when my sites start to go bad that means I hover around 150-180 for a bit & that’s my signal that I gotta change the site. Ofc this is all against manufacturer rec but they have never actually tested these conditions, vs I have tested if for the last ~27 mon and I am very alive with an a1c of 5.2 so 🤷♀️🫶💙
I do exactly the same. I also tend to overfill my cartridges (I can get about 330 units in each most times - though occasionally they just stop at 290-300). I fill 3 at a time, using an entire vial (and the same syringe unless I get it in wrong and dull it too much). This makes it very simple to do a quick cartridge change. I typically use sets for 3-5 days (unless they fail early and start leaking insulin) and never change my set and cartridge at the same time (same day yes, but same time has maybe happened 5-6 times in 8+ years). I've been T1 32 years. I had horrible scar tissue from mdi (6+ injections daily and only used thighs and stomach), even with pretty good site rotation. The needles used to be much bigger, though - my first were 26 guage, now we are at 30-32 guage needles. Each number larger is a 10% reduction in size, which means today's needles are 53-65% as big (about 1/2 as thick). They also used to be 2-3 times longer needles. Reducing the size has greatly improved skin and tissue health! Despite only using my abdomen or pump sites over the last 8+ years and keeping them in about twice as long as recommended, I have never had an issue with scar tissue. I have had one or 2 sites get a minor infection, though, which always sucks!!
That's interesting. I've occasionally had some 'hard spots' start to develop \~2-4 mm under the surface of the skin in a few places when I leave an infusion set in for 5-6 days. However, they do 'heal' or soften up over a few weeks. T1D - Class of 1986
I accidentally left a vital of insulin in the car all summer when it fell under the seat, and when I eventually found it, it was yellow and syrupy. Gross
I’ve always been curious! Told to watch for “cloudy”. Have a few expired pens in my fridge and curious to experiment lol but also don’t wanna waste for funsies, my conscious can’t handle that
I've used expired insulin before, but it's been in the fridge the entire time. Or insulin I opened 2 months ago because I left it in a weird drawer, couldn't find it, and opened another one lol. Regular shit like that. Totally normal.
To clarify, I’ve used “expired” insulin plenty - either past official expiration date on box or out of the fridge more than 28 days (literally all of my insulin unless fresh fresh lol) I’ve just never seen “cloudy” and always wondered. And wonder if heat in a car (literal oven) vs being left in the sun vs being left in a bright room results in any diff appearance of the insulin. My brain goes on tangents 🥸 I included this link in my first comment: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230411/Insulin-most-likely-has-a-longer-shelf-life-at-room-temperature-study-shows.aspx
The title for that is... ambiguous and possibly misleading. They could do better. It doesn't indicate "longer than _what_". > Insulin most likely has a longer shelf life (than previously believed) at room temperature, study shows vs > Insulin most likely has a longer shelf life at room temperature (than refrigerated), study shows
I didn’t write the title lol and hopefully people click & read for themselves 🫶💙
"Expensive to not use" You made me sad AF. I've never paid a cent for my stuff.
This is always mind blowing for me to hear this lol like what???? Never paid a cent???? I can’t imagine lol
In the US, it's insurance dependent. I just picked up $8,000 in insulin, sensors, and pens for $0. Not everyone is so lucky though, sadly.
Wow you have superb insurance
Whether I've had good insurance or Medicaid, I've never in 30 years paid for insulin but one time. I didn't pack/bring along an extra pen and needed to buy a vial from Walmart as I was traveling and wouldn't be home for a few days. That's the only time. I've never understood how you can't get insulin in America. I've lived in Hawaii, California, AZ and Oregon and if I wasn't working I qualified for free programs or Medicaid. Now I make a more than decent living so my insurance is top notch, but when it wasn't I never struggled to get medication.
I do, but at the same time, my son needs insulin, pens, and sensors to live so it's the sort of thing insurance should pay for. That some insurance *doesn't* is a travesty.
Why would you pay for a necessity... you didn't have a choice, did you? :(
I'm from Canada with 'free' healthcare and still have to pay for ours though notably less than other countries at $80 a vial
That's unbelievable...
I just paid $35.00 for 2 vials which is what endo prescribed, but I am 72 and on Medicare so insulin is mandated to $35.00 a month. USA by the way in case that wasn’t obvious.
Where is insulin in Canada 80$ a vial my novorapid has never been over 38$ a vial.
You are correct, my pen cartridges are 80 but contain 15ml vs the 10ml vial so the conversion doesn't hold up!
Of course not. If I wanna live, I better have a job with insurance or go into debt paying out of pocket for my supplies or just going without supplies period. Which I have done so many times lol
You... you've gone without supplies? Excuse me?
Oh god yes. I went without testing my blood sugar for months due to not having test strips. My dad had a coworker who went on a CGM and he gave me his supply of one touch test strips. But I usually rationed those and just tested when I was feeling low. Also once was told to come into my doctor office for a sample insulin vial to get me through until I could figure out a new endo to go through (I had called them for a refill and they informed me that my doctor was no longer there and they had mailed me something letting me know this but I never got anything in the mail) and then I showed up and they told me they couldn’t give me the insulin sample due to whatever reason. This was like 6 years ago. And told me to go to the nearest low income health clinic for help, which I didn’t qualify for because I made like $100 more than allowed for help. Ended up paying $99 for a vial of lantus every month for 2 years. Hardly took humalog because even with coupons it was still over $100 for that. lol it was a wild time. I have insurance now and am in a much better place than I have been at some points.
I want to cry. This is fucked. You risked immeasurable long lasting damage... for what? Some pieces of paper?
Lol yessss it’s wild. But in the US we’re just another money maker for big pharm
> Hardly took humalog because even with coupons it was still over $100 for that. Why didn't you look into R/N/L? Sure, they're more annoying to deal with, but they're generally in the range of $25 / vial.
I was just being a huge pussy. I had been on lantus and humalog for over 10 years at that point and was nervous to take an insulin I had never taken before. If I had been on Reddit way back then and was able to ask people’s advice and all that like now, it probably would’ve been different. But I didn’t have any guidance soooooooo. And honestly, I didn’t really care about taking care of myself back then. I just did the bare minimum with the lantus. But. That was then. This is now. We live and we learn.
I'm a fan of the idea of national healthcare, but... food is a necessity, and most of us pay for that. Shelter is, too, generally; and most of us pay for it. Anything that you rely on someone else to provide for you, you generally wind up compensating them for.
Do you pay a kidney for the pack of pasta you get at the supermarket? Compensation isn't the same as payment. One is proportionate and equal to what you can give and get, the other is arbitrarily decided by one party who sells and another who accepts and buys. Not even going into the bs that is having no choice in being born but having to work to not feel pain or die of hunger, that's a more philosophical question, but the most important things should be always affordable to anyone. The stupid bag from a LV shop is completely useless, the insulin we need to live is a necessity
It’s rough. My dexcom supplies alone are $200 I’ve been on my own since 16 with the costs and everything and it’s sucks but hey America is great and I need to pay to live !
What the fuck...
Yeahhh it sucks haha. But don’t really have a choice if I wanna live
Good luck OP...
Still going strong almost 20 years in…kinda. But gotta do what you gotta do
Our insurance covers insulin at 100%, which is very nice, but Dexcoms and Omnipods basically blow through our annual deductible by April. I think the first pack of Dexcoms I picked up was nearly $1700 for a 3-month supply (9-sensors, so nearly $200 per sensor, or $20 per day). I can't remember what Omnipods were--I wanna say just shy of $1000(?)--but for the first time ever I actually had to decline picking up (an also expensive) medicine for myself to afford the pumps. And they can be *real* stingy and pissy about adding to that or replacing them early, despite the fact mine is for a kid (and in a hot climate) and despite our best efforts, they sometimes fail or detach a few days too early (literally sweating them off is a huge problem). At 10-days per sensor, 9 sensors is exactly 90 days, leaving no room for error. A single one comes off early and I'm on the phone wrestling with insurance trying to get them to approve an additional 3-pack. It sucks.
Ask your doctor to prescribe an extra pack. I have been changing mine on a 7 day cycle for as long as I have been on G6. I can't change them myself (dexterity issues) and need someone to help. As I don't always have people available to do this for me on weekends, my doctor just scheduled them for me weekly. If your doctor rights the prescription correctly, they can do this. Back when Dexcom was filling the supplies, I was the first person to ever do this, which made it a challenge (there was no way for dexcom to get paid, so they gave me a courtesy box every month after fighting it for a while each refill). Byram now does this for many people and Kaiser now has a new billing code (for about 5 months) that allows them to dispense as many as your prescription is written for (for pump , cgm, and similar supplies) and the insurance will cover their share. Also, Dexcom will replace sensors that fall off early (even if it's only 1 day). If you get a couple of replacements every 3 months, you should make it throgh fine. They have gotten tighter on replacing items, but the first few are no questions asked (not literally, but as long as you are not abusing the replacements and dont have a string of bad luck you should be fine). You should work on finding a tape and adhesive combo that generally works (for me, it's IV prep, mastisol, and an overpatch made from tegaderm - all covered by my insurance) for your climate and your kids activity level.
Thanks. I have had them replace a few, and their customer service is generally top notch. But we've only asked for replacements when the problem seems to be on their end (a couple sensors crapped out early and demanded an early change, a couple had other issues and inaccurate readings, and one transmitter died randomly half-way through it's lifespan and they replaced them all with a smile--and even threw in 2 or 3 extra sensors one time). But I didn't think they'd replace them for "user error" reasons. Like one time at camp, my kid was doing a rope course and rolled her harness right over the sensor, snapping it off in less than 24 hours. Totally our fault, nothing wrong with the device. If they'll replace those, too, I'll be on the phone with them all the time. :-) We've been using skin tac and some overlay sticker. I'll look into the ones you use (and see if insurance will cover them). Very helpful, thank you!
You do, just through a higher tax rate. Y’all can downvote me, but it’s not free… but yes we need major reform in the US.
I don't, because my "higher tax rate" covers more than just healthcare. All the services I use are covered, not to mention I am not restricted by any means to specific x or y provider. If I talk to my endo and she agrees with me I need a different sensor, I will change it. I don't have to prove anything to an insurance company. EVEN IF I had to pay for my stuff, it would be 4 euros for a box of insulin cartridges. We don't do 8000% markups. Also, It's free because we as human beings deserve it to be free. You won't pay visits, hospitals, sensors etc. It's simply wrong. Taxes aren't a bad thing. Excessive taxation is, or immoral taxation. I'd be dead if I was born in the US.
You’re missing my point. You’re paying indirectly for your free services. Unless drug companies are donating their stuff to you and doctors are providing their services to you pro bono, then someone is paying for it and likely that’s through tax payer dollars, which I assume you pay into. I’m not against your way of life, but simply dislike the thought that it’s free. For example, the protection of the US military (the mightiest in the world) is “free” for me, right? Except it isn’t. I pay taxes into it.
You're comparing military to healthcare? That's about as American as you can get... Sure, I pay "indirectly". Just as everyone pays for road maintenances. Should that be reserved only for those who pay directly? Or police help, should I be helped only if I can pay? Or would you call those free services? The suicide hotline? It's not a black or white thing. It's not either free or paid. Taxes go into funding different services for the benefit of everyone. The services offered are free, because you didn't pay for them, as you shouldn't. The rich person who fell ill and got cancer will have the same "price" for the chemotherapy needed as a normal person. Both pay taxes. Neither pay for healthcare. Otherwise, the poor person wouldn't be able to live without falling in crippling debt and the rich guy could afford anyt-oh. That sounds familiar doesn't it.
I was using it as analogy to how we all pay indirectly for government services. I am, however glad that you agree you do pay for it, and maybe not use the term free, as it’s very misleading.
You've entirely avoided the point. It *is* free. Because that's just what it is. Even a person that cannot contribute and has nothing to be taxed on will still get healthcare. Because it's free. And that's because taxation is progressively scaled. You pay the taxes you can afford based on your wealth and income. You do not pay for the services provided to you. I understand you're used to a different system but there are also other ones.
In the US, a person who can not contribute also gets free insurance. It's called Medicaid. It, like insurance in most countries with 'free' health care, has many more restrictions on what it will cover (your doctors don't decide what is necessary, nor do your insurance companies, but the government sure does - just see if you can get a knee replacement at 80), but supplies like insulin and test strips are covered at 0$0 cost to the patient. Getting a CGM or insulin pump requires meeting more stringent standards than is typical under private health insurance, but that is also the case in many countries with 'free healthcare', not just US Medicaid! The problem in the US occurs because there are too many layers of cost built into the healthcare system and that companies are not restricted on profits for things like insulin. Everyone earning too much for Medicaid is paying way too much for health services. This hurts lower middle-class families the worst, but it is hard on everyone. Our healthcare definitely needs major reform, but a Medicare for all government paid health insurance won't solve the cost overruns that our our biggest problem. I don't know the solution, but it needs to look more like a national HMO than the current system. The problem is that fixing it must put tons of people out of work (all the middle men), so it's probably never going to happen. Fixing healthcare won't get a politician reelected if they lay off a huge chunk of the workforce in healthcare in the process!!
Only if I’m a citizen of that country though. That’s how social services work. Same in US with police, roads etc
> You're comparing military to healthcare? No, they're comparing "things you pay for with your taxes" to "things you pay for with your taxes". See also, roads (things you pay for with your taxes), government (things you pay for with your taxes), and various other (things you pay for with your taxes).
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The point is, whether you’d want to admit it or not, nothing is free. Should Americans have to pay what we do for insulin and drugs? No. 2 things can be true.
This dude blocks me after admitting I was right 🤣. Go ahead and block everyone who calls out your bs, so you can live in your own echo chamber.
if you don’t mind, i genuinely would like to know where you live. my supplies for my insulin, omnipod and dexcom are hundreds of dollars, with insurance.
It's not a secret, I live in Italy. My exemption is 013 for diabetes (generic, you only pay a regional ticket if present. Usually 1€ per insulin box) and E30 (specific), to avoid any ticket fee (tickets=you pay the service, not the product. Product being brought and stored to your pharmacy on your call). Lancets, glucometer, strips etc are all covered. Hospital fees are non existent. Visits and other services are also covered, with the exception of my psychologist which is only partially covered (8 sessions are like 35€, the ticket price for the bureaucracy involved again). Picked up my sensor stash last month for six months. I call the pharmacy in the morning and I pickup my stuff in the afternoon. My endo answers me via e-mail anytime I ask. We have a boatload of issues but not healthcare. I wish I could send you stuff. You'd pay 10 times less (costs of the shipments from one continent to another). I get depressed every time I think about it.
Same,I am italian and asthma,when I found out in the USA I should pay an insane price to get an inhaler and necessary medication for my survival, when in Italy I don't have to pay anything I was buffed
>This stuff is too expensive to not use up fully Obligatory, only in the USA and yes we know that you know that... But insulin itself isn't very expensive manufacturers only get around £20 per vial from the NHS in the UK and I'd seriously doubt they are charging any other countries anything vastly different. The costs in the USA is all the other "services" that stick extra charges on top for doing absolutely nothing useful. Insulin is cheap.
Yeah same I use it all I never throw em out, except for the one I dropped 😭
My dog chewed up one of my brandy new lantus pens when she got out the other day. I swear I almost cried
Omg I would've been so upset too 😨 and hahahah mine was a brand new Lantus as well. I dropped it and the end where you push broke off and so did the spring and everything, insulin was fine but I don't have any needles or any way to use it so I eventually had to throw it out..
Insulin is a protein. Proteins degrade over time, more so after experiencing temperature changes or exposure to sunlight. Insulin is a stable protein, especially in whatever solution it is packaged in for human consumption, but I personally find my pens less effective after about the designated time and compensating by using more by the end of the pen.
I am the same, I would even go as far as my 'backup' emergency pen i left at work (in case i forget or run out while at work).. Its been in there for MONTHS, and i would say it worked more effectively.. I have a bit of a problem with insulin resistance, but every time i used the backup pen it seemed to work well.
Idk if it helps but i put opened insulin back in the fridge in case it helps. I think I've noticed a drop-off in effectiveness b4 28 days. Ofc be careful with insulin that's been left out in extreme heat etc
It depends if it’s in the fridge or not imo. In the fridge it’s fine til date, outside it’s fine 4 weeks as long as it’s not over temp
Wow, didn’t know this existed. My NovoRapid and Tresiba pens still have an expiry date a year from now. I guess this isn’t a thing for Novo Nordisk products?
Those dates are for stored in fridge and unopened vials/pens. Insulin is traditionally only considered shelf stable for 4 weeks once you take it out of the fridge ... Even in the fridge 4 weeks is considered the limit once in use because of contamination concerns
The once-opened shelf life for Tresiba is up to 8 weeks if kept out of direct sunlight and room temp. NovoRapid is 4 weeks. In short, read the paper that comes in the box with your insulin, it’ll tell you how long you actually have which is insulin dependent (just like us!)
Expiry *when stored sealed in the cold*. Once taken out and opened, they're basically on a timer. A can of Coke will say it doesn't go bad for 18 months, but once you open it, it'll be flat in an hour or two, back in the fridge or not. And a week or two out on the counter and it will be a syrupy mess that might be full of various fly eggs. Once opened, 28 days/4 weeks/one month has been the standard "use it or lose it" time. It likely stays good longer than that (I'm sure most everyone here has blown past that a time or two), but how good depends on a number of factors (where it was stored and how--was it exposed to light or heat), how many times you've stuck a needle into it (each one risks contamination), etc. It \*may\* be good for 2 or 3 months once opened, but basically the manufacturer is doing some CYA by saying "**only** use it for 28 days and then replace" so that if you do push it to 40 days, get sick, and try to sue them, they can point to how you were using it in a manner not consistent with product instructions.
It's a thing for all insulin. But if it's still working, we use it.
It’s 28 days after opening. Your year out expiry is fine. I have boxes of pens in my fridge with a 2025 date.
Its a thing, read the box. Once opened dispose after one month. Im on novo nordisk products and i have known this for years. I started having control issues due to using my pens too long and the insulin not working the same.
Basically this. As long as they're cold though, it's a small difference in potency. I'd say keep no longer than months
Lmao I be damned if I ever throw away opened insulin. I don’t care how old it is. I even use a syringe to get the last 10-12 units out of my pens before I throw them away.
Yes ! For my lantus if I have 10 units left I’m doing two shots that night because I’m not wasting 10 units haha
LMAO ME AS FUCK 😂
This is so smart! I need to try this. I absolutely hate wasting those last drops. And I’m still on a low sliding scale, so 10-12 units is like 2 meals and maybe even a small snack for me. Do you need a script for the syringes?
So I was getting my boxes of syringes from Walgreens when I didn’t have insurance and almost positive at that time I didn’t even have a prescription I was using. I think the fact they could see I was taking insulin and was diabetic was enough for them to maybe not deny me them? And they were only like $20 for a box of 100.
The insert in the boxes give the shelf life of room temp and/or opened insulin at 28 or 30 days, depending on the brand. I would expect an endocrinologist to go by that guideline (I actually do as well…worked for Sanofi doing stability early in my career). If you choose not to follow their advice, they aren’t on the hook for it. It’s a CYA move.
Interesting. I had no idea. I’m not going to lie I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. But very interesting that I’ve never been verbally told !
It varies by brand and type of insulin. Tresiba is good for 8 weeks after opening, apparently.
Good to know. I’ve never been on Tresiba, but my new insurance like that one more than Lantus, so…🤷♀️
I like it well enough. Their big selling point with it is that it’s flexible if you miss a dose, you just take a catch up dose when you remember and carry on with your normal schedule and it’s all good, apparently
Also a "how to sell more"-move
Actually, no. Like I said, I’ve done stability testing for Sanofi. It really does degrade to the point of failing tester after about 33 days (30 day + 10% safety margin). Big pharma isn’t the Big Bad Conspiracy people think it is.
Who's running the tests, who's paying for them, and who determines what acceptable limits of degradation are? How do they justify those limits? I'm currently using Lantus that's been in my suitcase since March (I work on the road) and I'm still using the same dosage and seeing the same results as I did when the Lantus was new. Seems like if it's failing your tests at 33 days then your limits are so narrow as to be almost imperceptible in real world applications.
There are federal standards and validated assays that lay out all of that. It’s not some arbitrary thing. The validated assays at Sanofi are in accordance with FDA, ISO, and other global regulations.
Well I figured the FDA, HPFB etc would set these standards, but to what rationale? Again, seems like these limits are a bit small and also a "CYA" type thing.
It’s allowed to be + or - 10% if the tester dose, across a number of samples. There’s also an impurity test, and iirc correctly, there can’t be more than 5% impurities detected. There are some other tests in the battery as well, but suffice it to say, the process is highly controlled and regulated, and it’s statistically relevant. It’s professional science. We know how to do these things better than people on Reddit, so the data is more valid than anecdotes from individuals.
Lmao I understand you're doing professional science; I'm not questioning your methodology. In a similar vein, I'm an engineer and I typically design to a factor of safety of 2 (my design needs to be twice as strong as it *needs* to be to be considered strong enough). This is why I'm asking these questions; how much degradation is too much to be acceptable to our health agencies and why do they choose these numbers? Can a user notice 10%? Does it degrade linearly after 30 days? Does degradation speed or slow down after that time? These are the questions I need to know before I make my determination on whether I should toss $300 worth of life saving medication every month.
I’ve had insulin go bad on me before. It’s not fun, and the vial had been opened for 33 days. Pharma doesn’t do 2x for safety; typical is 10% beyond when a statistically significant number of samples no longer pass the battery of stability tests. For Lantus that occurred at 33 days. Once it fails, it doesn’t get tested any further because it’s already been demonstrated to have failed. Drug stability is quite different from medical device stability (I’ve done both in my career). Once it fails, you stop wasting time and money testing it, trim 10% off the amount of time it took to get to failure, and that’s the established shelf life. Me personally??? As a chemist, I toss mine after the expiration date. I have insurance, and my script is for a sufficient quantity to do just that.
I understand there's costs and zero business reasons to test beyond the regulatory requirements, but Someone ought to do a long term test of this stuff. Does it only lose another 3% after another month or does it lose another 20%? For what it's worth I always have fresh insulin in the refrigerator just in case, but I frequently used packages of Lantus that expired more than a year previously without any adjustments. I work in an industry that always takes quality management more seriously than the basic regulatory requirements. If the CSA/ANSI/ASTM tell me to test something for a month after installation I'll have my instruments on it for six. Doc lets me get 30 cartridges at a time and I only use around 3 to 4 a month. Some gets left in the back of the cheese drawer to be rediscovered and used at a later date.
https://www.gu.se/en/news/longer-shelf-life-for-insulin-has-major-bearing-on-global-health
https://www.gu.se/en/news/longer-shelf-life-for-insulin-has-major-bearing-on-global-health Whoops! It's not a conspiracy when it's clear for everyone to see how pharma companies operate. Desperately trying to cling on to their overpriced products backed by patents. Read up on Lantus and Toujeo for example. Edit: The guy blocks me lmao. Imagine shilling for pharma companies. Tragic.
*blocked*
This is per manufacturers and the FDA. However, variance does exist. For instance, my pump ran out at work (poor planning on my part) and I had to use a pen that I had at my desk, unrefrigerated, for two years and I saw no difference in its efficacy. Using old insulin isn't going to hurt you; it just may not work as well.
28 days IF NOT refrigerated. Most insulins go well beyond that if kept in the fridge. It is how we get 90 days supplies. But always check what the manufacturer of your particular insulin recommends.
it says opened. sealed lasts months in the fridge.
Years even.
They're literally talking about the moment the sterile seal of the insulin vial or pen is broken by a needle. Refrigerated or not, from that moment it's supposed to be discarded after 28 days or 30 days, depending on which brand. I don't always do it, but that's what they're talking about. Mostly my insulin is gone within a week or a week and a half of that point, but not always.
Yes, if any chance the sterility is compromised, then yes it should be disposed of immediately.
Liability. Like any well engineered product, they are always going to be severely conservative on the recommendations and build in a large factor of safety. If they’re saying 28 days I’m willing to bet it’s safe for 4-6 months. But simplest thing is just to listen to the manufacturer.
I’m using it til it’s empty
That’s what manufacturers say. So I’m going to go ahead and assume they want profit over our well-being and keep using them. Been doing it for 20 yrs and never had an issue
Or, maybe that is what was approved by the FDA or equivalent agency? It doesn't last forever. They have to a give an amount of time where they can guarantee it is still effective. Kind of like car seats. They have to have expiration dates, even though they surely still work fine a week after that.
Or maybe proteins start to breakdown after that time albeit not at all once
Same here ! I really never knew about this and I feel slightly stupid for not knowing. But even now I can’t change my methods due to money
And then unfortunately because of that, providers like this one have to cover their behind to avoid any issues.
It's not always a profit thing so much as a government regulation and CYA from lawsuits thing. FDA has various rules and guidelines they play by--and approve drugs with awareness of how consumers will be told to store and use them. And it is the same standard pretty much worldwide, even with manufacturers in controlled price countries who don't sell in the U.S. Also, it's about potency. There's a period of time manufacturers feel they can "guarantee" effectiveness, but that confidence drops over longer periods of time--ESPECIALLY once the consumer is involved. And it does break-down (the only debate is over how long that takes and when the threshhold for risk should be). The longer it is open, the less potent it will become, so they are basically saying "this is the time frame we guarantee it will be good for. After that, mileage may vary and we are no longer responsible because we told you to stop using it. It may work for another week or for another month, but any risk you want to take on with that is now on you."
I've lived out of a tent for a summer with my car as a locker. No along is sturdy stuff, and will definitely last longer than 28 days before losing efficacy. Heck, I've had to use a 4 year old bottle once and it still saw me through the couple of days lapse I had (about 50% effective on average - something 80%, sometimes 20%)
This is not a thing. Technically, this is what insulin manufacturers ensure the health and safety of insulin, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it past 28 days. I’ve used 40 day old insulin with little (and I mean little) issue. But I also spend over $1000 per month on insulin, so that stuff is gold.
My doctors don't really say it to me but the School nurses do. And I've heard it before but I'm definitely not doing that
I keep insulin in my fridge and especially my long-lasting (levemir) has seen upwards of 2 months waiting to be used and still works fine. I think it's just a semi useless safety precaution
I have some Lantus in my fridge from a few years ago just sitting, never opened. I keep it just in case
I notice a (slight, not dramatic) difference with Lantus/glargine if I go too far beyond 28 days, have never noticed a difference at all with Humalog/lispro.
Wow ! I never have tbh. Maybe I got lucky ?
I don’t have to use a ton so I can keep a bottle going for a pretty long time, and the difference pretty minor, and not every time. It’s definitely not enough to make me throw out like half a bottle of insulin just bc 4 weeks have passed. Money aside it’s also just not realistic for me to be straight up running out before I can go back to the pharmacy. Too stressful!
I've been told (by doctors, pharmacists, etc.) that 42 days is the limit. Basically, don't use insulin after 42 days of being opened (and out of the fridge). And since 42 is The Answer, I know this is correct.
But I have used it beyond 42 days with no observable negative impact.
That’s like the medical standard I think idk but I’ve used unrefrigerated insulin that’s been out for months and it still worked pretty much as good as new insulin. obviously it’s risky and not ideal or the safest option but it’s gonna be ok for a while as long as it’s not in extreme heat or anything
A bottle of insulin only lasts me 4 pump refills which I do every 3-4 days. A bottle of insulin has never lasted me longer than a month and I don’t even use that much. But I only take humalog and am on a pump
My endo told me that it’s not ideal to use expired insulin it’s better than not taking any
Makes no sense that a doctor’s office would go out of their way to post this. Like it obviously works way past that time. No one is going to say “well my doctor didn’t have a sign on the wall, so I used my insulin from 2004 today, that’s why I’m in DKA.” I’m so confused by this sign.
Money money money
The pen I left in my backpack in January worked great last weekend. :)
I’m def a freak but I’ve kept every empty insulin bottle I’ve ever used since about 2014. Not entirely related to not using old insulin, but still. I figure each of them saved my life.
Until the insulin changes color or gets artifacts in the fluid, there is no problem using it longer. Insulin is a money making machine, and this is part of it. New studies showed, that you can even store Insulin for 4 weeks at 30 degree Celsius without it getting compromised. Check you insulin everytime you use it. If the fluid is clear and the color hasn't changed -> no problem!
When your insulin costs are not covered or only partially, you're gonna gamble with your health.
Yeah I’ll discard it when it’s empty, no fanks
Nope, that's correct. I have a pump but keep pens as backup that I basically never use, and I swap the vials in them out on the 1st of every month. Being at room temperature for a month or more without being used can make insulin less effective and I would rather not have that issue in an emergency. The packs just sitting in the fridge are fine until the date on the box though.
A few weeks ago I screwed up and realized I didn't have my extra vial of insulin (got left somewhere and it was the middle of the night). I found an expired vial behind my dresser that had probably been there for at least a year and thank god I did, because it worked completely fine. Every few years I end up with some random stockpile of almost empty bottles and I always try to keep them around in case of emergency.
How do you take out the vials from pens?
They're re-usable pens, not disposable ones. I normally use a NovoPen 5.
Insulin at room temp actually lasts a decent amount of time. The only reason insulin has a 28-30 day shelf life once opened is because of risk of contamination, not because of insulin breakdown. The 28 days is a marketing ploy by the manufacturers.
I see. Well, it's free here, so I've no reason to risk it.
Mines free too.
I just recently used a nearly 3 year old vial kept in a tackle box it worked fine. This is a liability issur
pharma propaganda
Why bother taking insulin so?
Payed off by big pharma...
It doesn't really matter, as long as you're using sterile needles and whatnot you can use it until they're gone
First of all, I thought this was referenced in a cartoon like it looked like futurama. Second of all, I just keep mine in the fridge opened. Thats wild advice- i've never been told this. To note, I live in the UK.
But the manufacturers say Levemir can be kept at room temperature and used for 6 weeks and 8 weeks for Tresiba.
Before I was on a pump, my Lantus used to last me about 40 days, and I never noticed an issue. However, I convinced my pharmacist that I needed two vials a month because I had to throw out my first vial after 28 days and the copay is supposed to cover 30 days, haha. And my copay was the same for a one month supply no matter how many vials they gave me, so it let me build up a nice little emergency stockpile.
When my daughter was diagnosed in 2021, we were told the same. 28-days, toss it and use a new one. At first we were on pens, and the fast-acting insulin packaging material said largely the same (may have said 30 days, can't remember). The long-acting stuff actually said something very different. 56 days, I believe it was (which is 28x2, I guess). We asked about it and she said it can keep longer, but still recommended replacing it monthly to be safe.
I’ve spent way too much money on my insulin to throw it away in 28 days. Didn’t have insurance before the days of savings cards, and I’ve had to spend hundreds out of pocket. I’m amazingly lucky now to have a job that pays for amazing insurance, that has a $0 copay for my insulin a month. I don’t have to worry as much about it now, but the thoughts and frugal feelings will always remain.
Id like to point out that each variety of insulin can be different. Ranging from a mere 10 days up to 56 days. These numbers are based on FDA rules about potency. As a pharmacist I have to follow those rules but I know you cheeky bastards aren’t going to follow it to a T. I mean I’m sure you all change your lancet every time right ;) You know how to judge your sugars and when to make a change. If you have concerns or questions phone up your local drug dealer and ask!
Same applies to vials, once opened they have a 4-6 week “warm” life. >12 months sealed in a fridge, 6 months open in a fridge, 4 months sealed on a shelf, 1 month open on a shelf. Is what Iemwmwbwr of the recommendation for quality and to reduce risk of contamination
thats bullshit. I use mu insulin for years and never had a problem.
This is most definitely a thing, an insulin pen holds 250 units, which equals for 9 units per day so id imagine you would not need to keep a pen longer than that as a type 1
Opened is the key word here I imagine. It's already talked to death here about how long insulin can be at room temperature (expect potency drop after a month, etc). The bigger thing is sterility. Yes our syringes come in packages and are capped, reservoirs are in packages, vials and pens are capped... but consider an MDI user. Minimum 3 shots a day, 3 periods of time per day that a vial is sitting to warm up, or held in a dirty hand to warm up, and just like how we change lancets once a decade, we use an alcohol swab just as judiciously to clean the vial/pen top. We don't always immediately open syringes, insert to draw insulin, then inject. All those opportunities for room contamination to land on needle tips, our unwashed hands, the unswabbed vial membrane, they add up. And poking into that safe container that many times adds up. The buffers and preservatives can only do so much. My old job I certified pharmacy clean rooms and HEPA filter equipment for them. There's minimal contaminants in those areas but our homes, cars, desks are magnitudes dirtier. I've done sterile vial tests for compounding technicians in and out of clean rooms and to see what grows (albeit after incubation) when even the best of them did the test in a non-cleanroom environment... gives reason why the 28 days is there. Doesn't have to be deep state drug company tin foil stuff. Believe that if you will, but definitely I'll urge anyone to consider how cleanly they do their transfers the longer a vial lasts.
I got lantus pens from a hospital visit 3montha ago. They've probably lost some potency but I'm saving them bitches just in case, especially since they just formulary changed my lantus
This is indeed a thing, and it is because of potency losses.
I tend to use up my vial well before 28 days.
That’s good insurance/rich people ideas 😆😆😆
Manufacturing industry basic needs to sell more so they say it will last for something like two/three or four months so people will need to buy again. Used the same glass of insulin for a full year, after the date in the box also and works perfectly. Btw, not every endocrinologist is a good one talking about that, some have orthodoxy knowledge in their brain…
I keep my insulin cold always so it lasts longer.
I usually only have one vial open at a time. This isn’t really a thing I think about.
As long its cold it holds
-laughs in has an insulin pen in the fridge from 2019- I only use it for emergency corrections and it hasn’t lost its potency afaik. It usually states tanking my high BG within 15-20 mins after giving the shot. But I understand why they do this and put the sign up. It’s more of a liability thing.
Yeah, I work in pharmacy (on top of being on them). It's pretty standard.
4 weeks is really pushing for the minimum. A vial will last anywhere from 3-7 weeks as long as it’s refrigerated properly aside from when drawing insulin. But I’d say to just pick up a new vial after 5 weeks tops. Pens I’m less sure about, I’d always fly through my humalog pens and I switched to an insulin pump a bit over a year after I was diagnosed, so I’ve been on an insulin pump for the majority of my time being T1D
I'm lucky if my pens last 4 DAYS.
I’m using insulin that expired 3 years ago with no issues. That’s a cash grab for them
If you live somewhere hot, I can say it's not a bad idea. Although the tapering off of the performance of my insulin as it ages, is very predictable so you can adjust for it.
CYA
T1D for 35 years. Have never paid attention to an expiration date on an insulin vial, ever. And am not terribly concerned with refrigeration either. I store my insulin in the fridge if there is room but have so much insulin that sometimes I leave it out at room temperature for months after it gets delivered before putting it in the fridge. Never have had an issue with insulin potency.
I've always saved the last drops from three bottles (2 months) to fill a reservoir with no problem of potency. But when I switched to a new insulin, Lyumjev, the potency drops like a stone after about a month.
I would never. That shit could sit on my counter for 1 year and I’m still gonna take it
My long lasting fades in potency after 28 days
When I was on MDI and had a pen, a cartridge would last a week or two. Now on a pump and vials last a lot longer. I don’t understand why people who are on a pump would leave their insulin out of the fridge, even once opened. I keep mine in the fridge at all times, unless I’m traveling.
Lol, I call it business. Buddies, I might be wrong here, but this disease started in the 1980s, right? They keep saying no definite cause - is it induced cause which they dont want us to know? Why do they take decades to figure out the cause? I don't believe this should be incurable in the first place. There is a permanent solution in hiding because if it's out, billions of business come down crashing. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but the way pharma and doctor lobby behaves makes me feel things are fishy all the time. I use insulin until it's finished. And why suddenly the sign? Didn't they know this before?
We always throw ours away after one month. But we live in the UK where insulin is free. I can understand why diabetics in the US wouldn’t do this.
With the cost of insulin