I’ve been traveling for work with a pretty hectic schedule for about 3 weeks now. My insulin pens have been through a more variable environment than usual… In and out if unknown mini fridges, lunchbox coolers, frio, etc-- although I’ve tried to be careful to keep pretty good care of them. For the last week or so my fasting and pre-meal levels have been creeping up… Which is not typical for me thus far. Insulin still looks nice and clear. I’m hoping that maybe something is wrong with the lantus… Or else I suppose this could be the honeymoon fading. Any insights?
Also, have increased from 7 to 9 units of lantus (a 28% increase) over the last 2 weeks or so and levels continue to rise. My sleep patterns have been extremely erratic becuse of the job I’m doing and essentially zero exercise as opposed to my usual 3 runs a week or so
Yes I have had issues with Lantus but not my dosage going up but it changing with the peak getting higher and duration getting shorter. I've had to throw away a couple bottles toward the end and returned one that started out that way? I always keep it in the refrigerator and never return any amount back into the bottle while measuring it so I am not sure why it is happening?
I used Lantus for two years before going on the pump and had it go bad only once. It was during summer, and I didn't keep it refrigerated while using it, so I think it overheated. Took me two days to figure out what was going on - basically my numbers were in the 200-300 range, would come down a bit from corrections but then just go right back up again.
While going up 2 units a day is a 28% increase, its not much extra insulin. When I'm under moderate stress my basal needs are often up 20%. I wouldn't worry too much about creeping because numbers that are creeping up can be dealt with by bumping up either your basal another unit or just doing small corrections.
Your honeymoon may be fading but those fades can take a long time. My insulin requirements have been increasing slowly for 6.5 years and I'm still probably getting at least a moderate boost from my own beta cells.
Hey Sam
I cant help you with the Lantus Question but I do know that if my overall exercise patterns change it has a major impact on overall numbers including fasting BS. If I m having a phase of inactivity for a few days or even weeks, all my numbers are higher and continue to rise for as long as I dont exercise. When I start being more active again, the insulin requirements slowly sink back down to where they started.
sam, when pens are opened they don't need to be refrigerated - hence, the reason to carry the 'pens', you probably know this so maybe you're referring to the unopened pens, no? are you doing the same with your bolus insulin and not finding a problem with your bolus while traveling(novolog, humalog, apidra, whatever you're using). i tend to think more that it could be your honeymoon ending, this is how it happened with me...just kept having to add more. less exercise would probably do it too. I've never had insulin go bad.
I know they don’t really need to be refrigerated but its kind of the best idea I’ve come up with so far because I go through such crazy temperature swings if I carry them around with me and never know how long I might be in a certain temperature environment… Sometimes I might go from a 150 degree engine room strait outside to a -30 freezing cold situation. In the past I was using very little insulin, so I justified using them a bit past the 28 days by keeping them in the fridge… Now that I’m using more I’m not so ridged about it since I use up a pen in less than a month anyway. I really hope the honeymoon isn’t crapping out everything was working so well practically on cruise control for the last 18 months or so
yeah...mine was about that long too, i only needed 2 units...then 6 units and never went above 130, then it was 8 units...now, i don't know what it's supposed to be..still trying to figure it out...ugh! i don't know..but if your bolus insulin seems to be OK with these changes in temps...I'd think lantus would hold up too...who knows? have you changed out a new pen and find it to be OK? As you know, too...it takes a good 3 - 4 days to see changes with basal. So, hope you can hold on to your honeymoon too, it's a much easier ride while you're on it..:) but as we know, all honeymoons come to an end..*sigh*.
When I was on lantus I noticed it would go bad in summer more often than in winter.
I learned that the clarity of the insulin changes a little when is starting to go. It gets sort of grainy in a weird way. You have to look at it to really notice what I mean.
It was much easier to see in the old long acting insulins like ultra Lente which was thick and cloudy. When that went bad it would get clumpy.
Next time you think you have a bad pen or bottle, compare it to a good pen and see if you can see the slight change.
On a different note, I have never had my novo log or my humalog go bad in my pump which is Unrefrigerated for 3 days and right against my body too so I assume it gets up over 90 often.
One time I opened a new bottle of regular humulin back 10 years ago and it was bright green. No one was ever able to tell me why, but the pharmacy replaced it without any trouble
I had a lantus pen leak on me and go bad and I didn't notice it until I used it a few times...and I didn't even notice it but highly suspected something was up with one of my pens as all of my numbers were off and I was swinging, I don't normally swing while taking Lantus. Turns out my pen was leaky and I didn't notice it quite well until I opened it up put the pen needle on one night and insulin got all over me when I took it off. I even let it go to the next morning to look at it in better lighting and over night the stopper was soaking wet still and my bag smelt like insulin so I pitched it and got a fresh one. I'd say if your pen looks the same as a good one and isn't leaking you might wanna talk to your doctor about your dose and see if you may need to go up a bit more than you already have and see what they think about it? If nothing else just try switching the pen to a fresh one if you can?
Yes it happens a lot to me. When I say it goes bad the duration of the insulin gets shorter and shorter. Typically it is only stable for me about 30 days even though I can’t use a bottle up in that time so I just throw it away. I use vias and keep in the refrigerator it still goes bad after 30 days. However I have had bottles go bad earlier than this and couldn’t figure out why? This is why I am excited to try out Tresiba insulin.
Mine has a warning label that say Do Not refrigerate after opening. Not sure why so I stopped keeping it in fridge?