Perhaps they have value to me because I'm a hoarder? Hoarding them and using them are two entirely different things and, when my pump blew up, my first stop was Walgreens to get some NPH and get it shot up to get some basal going! Oh wait, I probably shot the 'log first, as my BG was raging by the time I got home. It's totally irrational to keep them but I still have the bowl there. I doubt I'd ever use them. Although *checks bowl...*, they don't seem to "expire" until 2013!
I do the same thing and probably for the same reason. Having been down to my last vial and waiting nervously for the mail to come in hopes that more insulin has arrived can be nerve wracking. I know it isn't rational but fear of running out is why I do it.
To avoid it I reorder when I'm down to my next to last vial. It helps, but it doesn't solve the problem completely.
Fear is a great motivator in managing diabetes and this is but yet another example of how it guides behavior for us.
Yep, I hoard insulin. I have found that as insulin passes its expiration date, it doesn't always go bad, provided it has been refrigerated the whole time. Also, the older insulin is sometimes a bit weaker, which I actually prefer to use if I need to correct a high and don't want to come down too fast.
Given the price of insulin, I am careful not to waste a single drop.
I think everyone is being quite forthcoming. I understand hoarding, it is perhaps a life protecting behavior. But perhaps we need a dose of logic.
Typically, insulin has 1-2 year expiration dates. If you are rotating your insulin and still have a stockpile of unopened equivalent to 1-2 years, perhaps it is time to consider my suggestion of donations to Insulinforlife.
ps. Perhaps I am confusing what people are saying about expiration (which is about unopened vials and pens) with recommended in use storage periods.
pps. Perhaps I am wrong and everyone here is some sort of survivalist.
Although let me also qualify my previous statement, the problem of insulin polymerizing and separating is 10 times worse for basal. Rapid insulins will tend to denature which is often less prone to spreading (although it can happen).
(...smile...) Yep, those cottage cheese, margarine, yogurt, sour cream containers are sooooooo hoardable: "Just look at how sturdy they are, with lids that are around here...somewhere...I'm sure I have one that will fit..." LOL My first step out of that madness was insisting that I match up every one with a lid. Out went about half of them. Then I insisted that they all had to fit into a particular kitchen drawer. Out went another stack. Then I rejected any old ones before I could bring in new ones. Eventually I got into the habit of recycling them and...whew...addiction broken. Now I don't have a single one. Thank goodness for the "good moral use" component of hoarding! I was able to convince myself that the "good moral use" of recycling relieves me of my responsibility to not throw aways something that can "still be used". Whew. Keeping a box for Goodwill always running next to the recycle bin is a neat trick, too. Lots of the hoarding instinct is about now wanting to send something useable to the landfill. Now I can either recycle it or give it to a charity. Voila. Guilt resolved!
Here are some ideas, Brunetta:
Set a timer. Sort papers for :20 at a time and then give your brain a rest -- it's the decision-makeing that wears us out. During the first pass, break them out into categories:
-- To File (be brutal with this stack, most non-tax stuff doesn't need to be kept more than two years at the outside)
-- To Recycle (99.99% of magazines, brochures and fliers go here. Really. If you want to keep just the name/address from the brochure, tear it off and file it. Prices, items, services change quickly. A seven-year-old brochure from an artist's show or a gadget-maker at the diabetes show is pretty much useless -- just keep the contact info.)
-- To Shred (tax stuff older than nine years, credit card stuff, etc. Use a sturdy cross-cut shredder. Cheap strip shredders create paper than can be re-assembled to get confidential numbers and info. To speed this process, I tear of the shreddable part and recycle the rest of the sheet.)
-- Trash (there will be a surprising amount of trash stuff in-between the piles of paper -- things like old kleenex, apple cores and plastic magazine covers like to hide there.)
-- Strong Emotional Attachment (photos, tickets, stuff for a scrapbook)
If you're like most of us, a calm, forthright and honest winnowing will result in about 90 to 95 percent in the recycle bin or the shredder.
(Whispers: psssst...I think maybe we are talking with survivalists.) Heh.
thanks, Jean , so much for the suggestions!! yes, it is the thought that I HAVE TO DECIDE that overwhelms me. So I stop the process and get on Tudiabetes.
HAHA How did you KNOW that I do this, Personal experience?: Trash (there will be a surprising amount of trash stuff in-between the piles of paper -- things like old kleenex, apple cores and plastic magazine covers like to hide there.)
Again, Thanks. I will save your info in a word document.
God Bless,
Brunetta
Here is my in use storage. . I the keep two resevoirs filled , one for current pump usage, and one to go. So every 3-4 days a week,. I use and toss, use and toss.
I always use my Apidra down to the last drop per bottle, but I will keep an unopened vial for months. That is why the stock-up is in line NOW that it is free until March 30.
So I do not think I am that much of a survivalist. Really do not know why I saved the 2008 Lantus bottle?( It is gone since I appeared on this post this am)
Have a great day.
God Bless,
Brunetta
I tend to have an idealistic view of many aspects of my life, and I am pretty sure I am holding into the insulin because I tell myself “surely it works”! I just haven’t needed to find out yet.
I don’t see myself as being a hoarder, and that was not my initial intention with this post, even though that is the direction it spun off on. I am being a “survivalist”. A person who doesn’t have insurance, and is self employed, in her second year of diabetes. I am lucky enough to be participating in a 3 year long study that helps me with my meds, but then what?
To paraphrase the fabulous furry freak brothers, insulin will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no insulin…
Stocking up in your situation is perhaps prudent. In my case, I really need to do something to avoid my self directed "survivalist" accusation. I have 15 NPH pens, a vial of NPH and two vials of R, all unopened. At this point, they are not part of my regime and they won't even fit in my butter compartment. If my wife actually knew how much I don't need this stuff, she would rip me a new one.
I have the exact same reaction to that show! I can't watch it because I'll spend the next 2 hrs afterwards cleaning my house in nit-picky detail. I've always been disorganized, and a little cluttered. That show gives me anxiety that I'm going to turn into one of them!
Just out of curiosity, why do you have multiple opened bottles of insulin?
I would recommend dating your vials when you open them. Toss them if they've been in the fridge for X number of months (say 12 months). Insulin is a protein and does break down over time. Also every time you stick a needle into the vial (or inject from a pen) you're introducing bacteria into the system. Bacteria like protein and also contribute to breakdown of the insulin. Some of those vials are likely useless and growing bacteria. Throw them out! :)
I use a very small amount of insulin, generally 8-12 units of levemir and 4-8 units of novolog. I have opened bottles, because I never use them up in time, before the supposed 1-1.5 month expiration after beginning use. I have closed bottles too 
I think being a "survivalist" when it comes to something you can't live without is appropriate. If you doubt me I have one word for you, "Katrina"
Personal experience? Oh, yeah!
Hi Frankie Sloane. I'm sorry if I hijacked your thread into darker waters. I was mostly kidding but also thinking about how easy it is to get into trouble with out-of-date meds -- either zero efficacy when you NEED it to work or else contaminated/yucky/bad for you. I have vision problems so I am in the habit of getting out my magnifying reader when I buy meds and putting a BIG sticker with the discard date on them where I can easily read it: e.g. 02/2013 in 24-point red numbers. I really discard all medications, lotions, eye-drops, etc. on-schedule.
Now that my insulin price WITH insurance just skyrocketed, I hear your dilemma more than ever. It sounds like you have a year to figure it out. Since melanoma, I have had to make "having insurance" a number-one priority. I actually moved across the country to ensure that I could get it (WA state is one of the few where if you have "continuous coverage" e.g. COBRA after a job ends, then insurance companies cannot exclude pre-existing conditions when you convert to an individual plan.) Our medical system makes people do drastic things, like take a job just for the insurance or get married just for the insurance. It happens all the time.