I understand that there are millions of people who take insulin with little or no reactions, but knowing that every human being is different and from my personal experience, I know I have had severe reactions to Ultralente, Humalog, and Novolog. I developed type 1 diabetes at age 27 (I was a healthy, nonsmoking, non drinking, normal weight, health conscious medical resident without a family history of diabetes, although I know none of that matters from a medical standpoint, I thought people would wonder.) . A few days after starting Ultralente and Regular insulin, I developed a full body rash. My internist told me that it was an allergy to the preservatives and told me to keep taking the insulin and it would be like taking “allergy shots” and my body would get used to it. Well, the rash went away, but over the next few months, I developed joint pain, swelling and disfunction and was eventually diagnosed with “rheumatoid arthritis” although it was not the typical smaller joint involvement and was not symmetrical. My condition worsened over the years until I was completely debilitated, with severe skin involvement, episcleritis, retinal swelling and severed subglottic stenosis that was biopsied and found to be “inflammatory.” I was at the point of suicide because of the constant pain (I refused to take narcotics) and inability to sleep, dress or care for myself. I did an experiment recently and went on a strict carb free diet only taking minute amounts of Novolog through my pump for a basal insulin and I felt much better. My joints improved, my activity was better and I could sleep again. I did that for a month and then fell off the wagon due to boredom with the diet and got a skin rash all over my body and had worsening joint pain. I have now returned to my carb free diet and limit any food with phenol and am feeling 80% better. I am now only taking small amounts of Lantus by shots. I know that the phenol and m cresol are affecting my body and my life in a negative way. So, imagine this… toxins are toxic…wow…they affect some people worse than others. I understand that they are necessary to prevent microbial spoilage of the vials and I also understand the risks of prolonged hyperglycemia. I am a board certified Otolaryngologist. BUT, do not scoff at people who have genetics that cause them to react more negatively to toxic substances than others. IT IS REAL…
I totally agree with you. Phenol and m cresol ARE TOXINS. That is why they are used as preservatives, they kill living organisms. The organisms they are targeting are bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc…BUT they also have the ability to cause negative effects in humans, especially those who are genetically sensitive to them. I am a board certified Otolaryngologist, (who does not golf, BTW) and I have had severe and life threatening inflammatory responses to the preservatives in insulin. Don’t let ANYONE bully you. You know what you know about your own body. We are not talking “Hayfever” here. I have gotten to the point of being completely disabled by joint, skin, airway and muscle involvement from my reaction to the preservatives in Humalog and Novolog. These symptoms only improve when I go on a strict carb free, phenol free diet and take minute amounts of Lantus as a basal dose. I understand anger, tears and frustration and it doesn’t help to have people making fun of you…Hang in there, my friend…
Are you a board-certified otolaryngologist? I’m not sure I heard you the first two times …
I’m truly sorry that you have an extreme sensitivity to the preservatives used in insulin. But resurrecting this “insulin contains toxins/medical establishment conspiracy theory/homeopathy is legitimate” discussion is irresponsible fear-mongering, plain and simple, and you as a physician should know better. Shame on you!
You are a mean spirited person. I don’t want to respond to you, but let me just say this. I am not sure what kind of advanced degree you have to have all of the answers in the world, but I think I will call NASA, maybe they could use you. Frankly, Insulin DOES CONTAIN TOXINS, LOOK THEM UP!!! Read the Wiki article on PHENOL. It was used in WWII by the Nazis to KILL PEOPLE. I hope your child never has to deal with adverse reactions to the preservatives in insulin, but you must understand that SOME PEOPLE DO. So try to be less judgmental and a little more kind. WOW…You are unreal!!! I know it is hard having a child with a chronic illness like diabetes. I live with it everyday. I am sorry that the facts bother you. I wish you peace. Have a nice day. Oh…I see you are also a physician…well, you are one of the types of physicians who feel the “medical establishment” and big Pharma could never do wrong… well, remember Thalidomide. We used to “bleed” people to heal disease, and get children with Asthma out of class to smoke cigarettes, as well as use x rays to “cure acne.” I hope you aren’t as closed minded and overly officious with your patients.
I agree with you . I have the same problem. Joint swelling and pain, skin lesions and fatigue. My endocrinologist and now an allergist believe that it is the phenol in the insulin. I am trying a carb free diet and small doses of Lantus to keep my blood sugars under control. Don’t be bullied by these people who have some strange agenda to disprove that toxic substances can’t causes problems in certain people, even at small doses.
And I am NOT trying to get people to stop taking insulin, We have NO Choice but to continue. I hope that if people who have a sensitivity to phenol/ and or m cresol speak up, maybe insulin will be manufactured in a safer way that is better for everyone, but tolerable by those of us who desperately need it, but have severe adverse reactions to it. It took a while for my worse symptoms to show up, imagine if your child became one of those people who no longer tolerates the barrage of toxins being injected into his/her body over a long period of time.
Well I know that there are toxic substances in insulin, phenol and M-Cresol. The manufacturers are gradually increasing the amounts unnecessarily over the years. I am an intelligent research driven individual and I have done my research on the topic. My diabetes is in great control and I exercise and follow a good healthy diet. Being that I have other immune related issues is what makes this issue a concern for me. Inflammation is the cause of most of our health problems. They are toxic substances. Alternatives could and should be explored. We should have the option to use insulin without these substances. We should have choices.
Thanks Elizabeth!
It is actually a responsible conversation to begin having.
I asked previously what you were on and then read the entire post (sorry , learning to navigate here).
So you take Lantus now, how long have you been doing this and what do you think so far?
I understand that this stuff can be nasty in larger amounts, but it is used in small amounts in a variety of medical and household materials that we are often exposed to, even something as simple as air fresheners or zipper bags. It is in insulin to help protect the insulin in the vial from getting contaminated by the air we inject into the vial to offset the liquid drawn out. The reality is that few things can destroy the body as much as chronically high blood glucose over time, trust me. So managing BG levels as much as possible is job one. And I would prefer to use a “human” insulin that is identical to the DNA of actual human insulin than insulin from a pig or cow, which still needs these preservatives anyway, and they work better. We need insulin to live, and we need whatever amount that is needed to keep our BG in range. We are exposed to chemicals and toxins constantly, so try not to worry about factors that you can’t realistically avoid, just do the best you can. Diabetes is complicated enough to manage, and there is some risk you will need to accept just to have a full and successful life.
Do not get the point of contaminated needles, would you please explain it further, so you are saying that we should use the needle only once ?
Thanks
Whatever the preservatives are they work for me. Thanks to Banting and Best for the discovery that kept me alive for the last 45 years. I stopped using rubbing alcohol before taking my insulin shots more than 30 years ago. I have reused my needles for 45 years. I can’t feel a difference between the first and second use so why not reuse them. If I was going to introduce nasty bacteria from my dirty skin into the sterile insulin it would have already happened. But it never has. I have carried insulin with me for the past 25 years. It is only refrigerated until I start using a new vial. Some may think it is full of poisons. I agree with John_Smith1 - the additives are there as buffers to maintain pH so that the active ingredient remains functional. My insulin remains functional and I live another day 
If you are sensitive to one kind chat with your Dr or Endo and try another kind. I suppose you can decide to stop taking insulin, but I suspect you will die from complications long before any cancer would form in your body from additives.
Coincidentally, today is the 4th anniversary of my cancer diagnosis (non Hodgkins Bcell follicular lymphoma). I was prescribed 6 months of chemo. The chemo worked. I continue to see my oncologists every 3 months with extensive bloodwork and regular CT scans. There is no trace of lymphoma or any other cancer in me. My family doc tells me I am a very healthy guy for someone who has been type 1 45 years and survived lymphoma.
FWIW, I use a syringe for about a week before replacing it. I do wipe down the needle with alcohol after each use, but that’s only to make sure no old stale insulin is clinging to the needle the next time it’s reinserted into the vial. That could potentially cause the insulin in the vial to polymerize and become useless. It hasn’t ever happened and I’d like to maintain that record.
Homeopathy certainly works. I have seen it! Quantum physics confirms it. Cool that you have success with percussed insulin.
Can you explain how quantum physics has confirmed that homeopathy works?
Well there is a book I read called “The Field”. That explained the manner in which homeopathy achieves its effects. I am not a physicist (though my major in college was a choice between physics and art… I chose art.) In this book, the author explains why it works. I knew it works because I used it throughout my two kids’yy early years. When my daughter was 2 she got what turned out to be strep throat. The MD gave her antibiotics, which worked fine, over several days. A year later she got sick again, with the same symptoms. I had taken a homeopathy workshop and read her “picture” as covered by the remedy Belladonna. When I gave it to her it took about 20 minutes until she popped up off the couch and was fine and ready to play. She relapsed around bedtime, so I gave the remedy again, as I was taught. Again she recovered, and that was it, she was fine! I saw this effect over and over with my kids.
We read the book many years later, and I was pleased to see homeopathic action explained in terms of physics, instead of new age flakiness. Thanks for asking!
I looked at the book “The Field” at amazon. I’m surprised you would say it is about physics. It is catalogued by Amazon as Religion and Spirituality, Occult and Paranormal and as New Age. Homeopathy has been around a long time and is based on the idea that you can treat conditions with dilutions. Sometimes those dilutions are so tremendous that you cannot be assured that even a single molecule of the substance remains. For instance a 30C solution would have one molecule of the substance for every 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules of water, which is about 30,000,000,000 times the size of the Earth.
I am pleased that you have success with Homeopathy, we can do tremendous things with our belief, our faith and our minds, but I remain unconvinced that science and physics substantiates any of the claims of Homeopathy. If one of my kids was terribly sick with strep throat I would want them treated by an Allopathic doctor with antibiotics. And I certainly wouldn’t turn to a dilution to treat my diabetes.
Neither is the author. She has no background in physics. I would take anything she tries to teach me about physics, let alone quantum physics, with a grain of salt. Especially if it is meant to persuade me to make dangerous medical decisions.
Hi Brian! I don’t know why it worked well for me. I am not a new age priestess or anything Ha! I am open minded though, and disinclined to reject different views of reality without exploring them. Sometimes I even try them on, to see if I get any useful results. Usually I don’t! With homeopathy, I did. I’d never quit taking my insulin or encourage anyone else to do stupid things.
If my daughter hadn’t gotten better so fast, I’d have taken her to the MD immediately. Surprised the hell out of me! It continued to surprise me with my horses and son and self. Otherwise I’d have dropped it like a hot potato!
Yes, the “remedies” that homeopathy uses, have not even one atom of the original substance left in them past a few dilutions. They say it works in an energetic way, not a physical way. I would explain more of the way it is described in their textbooks, but I know it pushes people’s Woo Woo buttons.
I don’t want to change your mind. I just don’t like being told I’m wrong/bad by folks who’ve never investigated it yet feel they already know all about it. Maybe you didn’t mean it that way.