Refrigerating insulin

[hawkeyegirl]

Hey all. It's me, with my stupid newbie question for the night.

We were told that insulin (we use NPH and Humalog) lasts 30 days non-refrigerated. We were also told that we could refrigerate it and get it to last longer, but that insulin hurts more when it is cold.

What do most of you do? Keep it in the fridge, or keep it in a drawer and toss it after 30 days? Does insurance give you grief if you are getting new insulin every 30 days?

Thanks for your insights. I'm slowly getting the hang of this.

Karla

[wilf]

Refrigerated and unopened, insulin can be stored for a very long time. As soon as it is opened, you can store at room temp and should throw whatever is left out after 30 days.

Make sure it doesn't get too cold (below about 40 degrees) or too warm (above about 80) or it may stop working properly. We had both happen, and have days of high numbers before we figured it out..

[Bsbllmom]

I actually forgot to toss the insulin once for a couple of weeks. I didn't have any problems and Christian's numbers were good. Our refills are on automatic refills so the insurance doesn't say anything. They know that they are only good for 30 days.;)

[hughsfan30]

We have always refrigerated both Jacob's insulins, but never kept it longer than 30 days. He's never told us it hurt more either way, I will have to ask him now ;)

[Mama2H]

Yep, once you open it the insulin is only ever good for 30 days. We go through 2 1/2 to 3 vials a month and the insurance has never said a word about it. We keep opened insulin in the diabetes cupboard and unopened in the fridge. The couple of times we had to give cold Hailey said it hurt BAD.

[hughsfan30]

By the way..no question is a stupid question, only a question left unasked ;)

[Barry]

Straight from the scientist at the Novolog "factory" (spoke to her myself).

Shelf life unopened in the fridge....until expiration date
opened in the fridge...28 days
open at room temp...28 days
Heres the tricky ...UNOPENED at room temp...you can STOP the degradation (s/p) if you put it in fridge but when you take it back out the count starts where you left off

I'm sure it has been studied to death and plenty of reports out there...get this...they wont share them...not public

How great would it be it you could stick a test strip in a meter (like a calibration) and test the strength on a half empty bottle of insulin!!!

[hawkeyegirl]

Thanks, all. This is one of the things that I know they told us in the hospital that I just didn't process, because my brain had gone numb. I'm so glad you guys are around to help!

[Kaylee's Mommy]

unopened and refridgerated insulin is good until is experation date.. once opened it has 28 days no matter if its in the fridge or out in room temp.. if you want to keep it in the fridge you can alway draw up the needle and hold it between your fingers for a few sec to warm it up.. that should take the sting away..

if you happen to leave UNopened insuli out in room temp its still good (as long as it hasn't been out for 30 days) just put it back in the fridge.. BUT you need to subtract the time it was out in room temp from the 28days its good when opened.. so if you forgot it out overnight by mistake.. stick it back in the fridge.. but when you take it out to use it.. you need to subtract that day.. so it'll only be good for 27 days...

and there are no stupid questions.. ;)

[Heather(CA)]

Ins. does not give us any grief, we get 2 bottles of each kind every month

I keep it in the fridge during the summer, sometimes in the winter, but not for sure, in the winter were more relaxed about it

[Sarah Maddie's Mom]

We have always stored all insulin, opened and unopened in the fridge. However, it doesn't take long to warm a filled syringe by rolling it gently between the palms of your hands. BUT, I would always draw more cold, warm syringe a bit then correct amount in syringe looking out for air bubbles.

[twodoor2]

As soon as we started keeping it at room temperature, and not taking it from the refrigerator, she stopped complaining about the pain, so I assume it must sting less. Also if the insulin is lantus, it tends to sting more than other insulins, so it's always good to leave it at a normal room temperature. If you don't have air conditioning and you live in a hot climate, than I would refrigerate it.

[hawkeyegirl]

As soon as we started keeping it at room temperature, and not taking it from the refrigerator, she stopped complaining about the pain, so I assume it must sting less. Also if the insulin is lantus, it tends to sting more than other insulins, so it's always good to leave it at a normal room temperature. If you don't have air conditioning and you live in a hot climate, than I would refrigerate it.

Fortunately (now - it used to annoy the crap out of me), my husband has a personal comfort range of about plus or minus 3 degrees. So our house is always somewhere between 68 and 72 degrees F. That insulin should do fine in our temperature-controlled pod! :D

[clb1968]

Ok, this is just my personal 17 year experiences. I have never had a bottle of insulin , NPH, REG, Lantus, Humalog or Novolg, go bad. I keep unopened ones in my refridgerator. The open ones, I carry in the bag with my meter. I have left that bag in my car all afternoon, in Texas's HOT summers and no problems. A bottle of any kind usually does not last me over a month so don't know about how good past 28 or 30 days.

Just my experiences though and YDMV .

[twodoor2]

I would also keep it in a dark place. Don't leave it on the kitchen counter for instance where the sunlight from the window would get to it. I'm sure the stuff has better shelf life than the drug manufacturers attest to, but it's better to be safe than sorry. It's a pity really since my daughter uses so little insulin that we throw out so much every month. She only uses about 5 units of the fast acting a day, and 3 units of the long lasting. By the time the month is over, we have a bottle 3/4 full.