I'm way overstocked with lantus (long acting/night insulin), and I fear that much of my lantus will expire before I use them. This is mainly because when I was insured, I used to get both Actrapid and Lantus in equal quantities (and of course, actrapid was used a lot more frequently even to this day).
Considering that Lantus is extremely expensive where I am now, and it would be horrible just to let a lot of them expire, I was wondering whether it would be possible to use lantus as an alternative to short-acting insulin. Or perhaps if there was just another way around using Lantus which would make my insulin consumption more sustainable.
Currently I use 18ml of lantus per night. Is there a way to substitute lantus with actrapid? I have no worries if it's complex.
I just don't see any way you will get Lantus to work as a rapid. If you have extra Lantus you could consider donating it to Insulin For Life. Another option is to contact your endo and ofer to donate it to them so that they can provide it freely to others in need.
Sorry that isn't really what you wanted to hear. I face the same problem with a dozen pens of NPH in my fridge.
If you know the drug rep for Lantus, Sanofi and ask the rep to exchange some of the bottles for Aprida, He or she might be able to do it. If that does not work, then I suggest donating it to a place that gives insulin to people who can not afford it.
At least someone gets the benefit of a very expensive pharmaceutical.
Thanks a lot for all your replies!!! Very helpful.
I indeed will donate some either to my endo or some hospital perhaps. I already have some that expired in May unfortunately, and assume they're unusable now.
Don't know what to tell you bud... wouldn't reccomend mixing and matching. I keep ziplock bag in my fridge that I keep all expired pens that have any left in them in... clearly labeled "expired- emergency use only" and with each pen within clearly labaled with the date the seal was broken. Seems wise to me to save insulin even if it is expired, for emergency, in case there ever is an interruption to the supply chain, etc... I had just finished reading the book "One Second After" when I was DX'd...
I’ll keep some extra then just for this purpose, unless it really is too dangerous to use expired insulin…?