We all know where we keep insulin… Egg department of our fridge! Lol but…
Where do you keep the vial of insulin you are using? Do you actually keep it cold? it take me a couple week or 4 omnipods to use an entire vial. Is it ok to keep it out of the fridge for the month?
In short the answer is yes. All three rapid acting insulin analogs can be kept at room temperature for 28 days.
No, no, no, ktbrodie! Your insulin will go bad within 24 hours if you don’t keep it in the butter compartment in your fridge, not the egg compartment! Didn’t they teach you anything when you were diagnosed?!?!?
But seriously, Brian is correct, but I’d add the caveat (which I’m certain must be covered in his link) that a great deal depends on the “room temperature” of the particular room.
You should check out Frio pouches (even though I know Sam holds little to no faith in them); they’ve worked well for us. Just Google “Frio pouch” and you’ll find 'em. (On an iPhone and too tired and lazy to list a proper link. )
And just to add, insulin should be kept away from light sources, direct sunlight can damage insulin. Which makes a frio even more useful.
Adding a couple of brief comments . . .
I have been using Frios for years and I have not have one single vial of insulin ever go bad. Not one. Ever.
While it’s true that insulin is just fine for 28 days at a reasonable room temperature, I hate throwing away partially used vials. So does my bank account. Consequently I keep all my insulin refrigerated all the time, even the active vials. Depending on circumstances, I typically get 60 days or more from a vial, and the limiting factor is simply how quickly the insulin gets used up. I’ve never had one go bad.
Just food for thought.
Okay here is the top question that is begging to be asked. How do you know that your insulin has gone bad. Always wanted to ask this.
That’s an easy one. You bolus normally based on food and current BG, and when you test you discover that nothing’s happening. It hasn’t come down as it should (maybe not at all). Then, you open a new vial and try that and it works perfectly. Q.E.D.
That’s the practical everyday test. A lab can also analyze it and prove it chemically, but that’s using an H-bomb to kill a mosquito.
There are certain things which are bad signs. These apply to rapid which should be clear:
- Anything floating in the insulin
- If it appears at all lumpy and not of the same viscosity
- If it has anything precipated
- If it is cloudy
- If it is frozen solid
- If it is years beyond expiration date
And of course also if it just doesn’t work
I keep mine in my diabetes bag. It’s just a makeup bag that holds all the things I keep with me. When I’m at home, it sits out where ever, right now it’s on my kitchen counter. While I’m out it stays in my purse and I take care not to leave it in the car. I have had insulin go bad, but it took close to 8 weeks, and even that is a once Ina while type of thing. I figured it out by my insulin not working, even with an injection (meaning it wasn’t my pump).