My current insurance company only pays $500 a year for medications. Since I go through a couple bottles of Humalog and month and a bottle costs $150, I hit the limit really quickly, and I’ve started ordering Humalog from a Canadian pharmacy (so much cheaper!). They actually sent the Humalog from Turkey, for some reason, and I’m kind of unsure about this insulin. It is labelled Humalog, but it doesn’t seem as fast-acting as the Humalog I used to use - it seems to almost act at the same speed as Regular. (I could be imagining this though.)
I just wanted to ask if anyone else had ordered Humalog (or other insulins) through the mail and if they seemed to act at the same rate as the insulin they get locally?
Wierd. I have no idea, but my first thought is about how the insulin was stored and shipped. Maybe the humalogs activity has been diminished. Was it refrigerated in storage (in Turkey) or was it left in a hot shipping doc for extended periods of time? Humalog (in the US) is U100 concentration, I would double check to see that this is on there.
I agree with Chad, our insulin here in Canada is identical to the stuff you have in the States.
Hopefully you did your research on the pharmacy you ordered from, as a lot of those sites are kind of shady and trying to scam people. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them really would just stick a Humalog label on a vial of regular … The fact that it was shipped from Turkey would make me highly suspicious, personally. Shouldn’t a mail-order pharmacy in Canada selling Canadian products be shipping from Canada?
I hate to say this, but you probably did not get authentic insulin. I believe licensed Canadian pharmacies can sell Rx to Canadian and US customers, but those products must be law be shipped from Canada (and shipment to the US is actually a bit hazy). Transhipment such as you experienced is illegal. Pharmacies are licensed by provinces in Canada, you can verify the authenticity through the province. But there is also an organization of Canadian pharmacies, but their seal has been widely abused. You need to check their web site to see if a company is valid or on the list of known scammers. Your best bet is to purchase through a verified and reputable company, even if it does cost a little more.
As a follow-up: does anyone know which Canadian pharmacies are recommended or how to find out? Every site gets a warning message that is most likely created by American manufacturers, so I don’t know which ones actually are trustworthy and which ones are not.
I have been using the Humalog vials from Turkey for several years now and have had no problems with it. The humalog is produced by Eli Lilly the same manufacturer that produces the one I buy at my local Wmart and know several other that also use it with no problem. Canadian humalog has recently takena price hike I now pay $289.00 for 5 vials but it is still cheaper than $107.00 per vial that I pay locally. Hope this helps
