Does insulin degrade if it doesn't absorb right away?

I often have 2 different types of site failures. One is where the insulin basically doesn’t absorb at all, and simply pools up under the skin. When removing the site, insulin will flow out fairly readily, or you can squeeze it out. That is pretty straight forward as to why BG would not be coming down. The other is when it seems to absorb into the skin, but apparently doesn’t absorb into the bloodstream, or if it is absorbing it does it over a long period of time. In these circumstances I can take 2-3 times as much insulin as required, but my BG doesn’t budge much at all. It is like the insulin just isn’t working. It will remain flat, but high, or slowly continue creeping up. The insulin is definitely not leaking out, and when I take the site out there will sometimes be a couple units of insulin that weren’t absorbed all the way, but clearly most of it was absorbed somewhere.

The only thing that seems to make sense is that it degrades once in the body and when it finally is diffused out into the bloodstream it has degraded to the point of not being effective anymore or something.

No, it doesn’t degrade.

What is happening is that as you surmised, it isn’t getting the proper “flow” into the bloodstream due to the nature of your tissues at the injection site; be it scar tissue, or other circumstances. Insulin takes a freaking LONG time to degrade, unless subject to too much heat–your body isn’t going to damage the insulin that may be pooling.

Remember, insulin is a natural hormone.

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This happens to me too when I’m in a spot that has scar tissue. Especially on the third day. Sometimes I’ll make corrections and corrections and it never comes down. That’s when I know I need to change my set.
I’ve never had it hit me later so I assume it breaks down.
Insulin is a giant long protein chain and is surprisingly fragile. If it breaks, it essentially becomes inactive.
Heat can cause it. Or even just getting old or open too long.
I don’t know how or why it never gets into the blood stream though.