Survival as a Type 1

If someone actually managed to cook up their own insulin at home, it’s not like it would have an expiration date :grin:
I suspect it wouldn’t last as long or be as stable as vials we can buy at the store.
I’m also going the stockpile route. I keep expired insulin (though I try to use my vials/pens in order of exp date to avoid having any) and will use it if I ever actually need to.

Perhaps your friend would feel safer with a little stockpile of R and NPH from Walmart ($20/bottle). I got some before covid hit, just for piece of mind, when I found it hard to get Humalog due to everyone filling Rx’s at once.

You friend is not going to be able to make insulin, but I understand the fear.
Maybe you should have your friend join our site and discuss concerns. Maybe someone could help walk 'em through concerns and feel more prepared.

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There is a group in Oakland CA that is bioengineering low cost insulin.

https://openinsulin.org/

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Actually one of the weak points in the supply chain this year is not the insulin in the vials, but the glass vials themselves which have high anticipated demand.

Here’s an article about scaling up production of glass vials: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/race-is-on-to-make-enough-small-glass-vials-to-deliver-coronavirus-vaccine-around-the-world/

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I would happily take my insulin in tephlon, medical grade silicone, or other container. I’m very pro non-breakable vials!

I’m not sure how the supply chain relates to whether or not homemade insulin is more stable than insulin in a vial made by an insulin manufacturer. I didn’t mean the stability of the supply chain, but the stability of the insulin… whether or not it’s working properly.

Hope the glass vial demand doesn’t become an issue for us though.

I lived through 2 major earthquakes. One where I had no wallet cause it is inside my apartment that was so damaged the police wouldn’t let me go in.
All I did was drive 50 miles north. I went to my bank and told them my story. They gave me cash from my account. And I was able to get insulin at the drug store.
I think it’s really unlikely to have a disaster so bad that you can’t get away from it. I guess unless ur killed. But then u don’t need insulin.
The idea of society totally collapsing is just not likely. And if it did we are all doomed. Not just diabetics. But the food supply is fragile. Clean water needs constant care and repair. I don’t know even penicillin shortages would kill far more people. I can’t worry too much about Armageddon. If it happens it happens but I bet u a million dollars it doesn’t happen.

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Yes, supply chain issues are more likely to be a problem than anything else. I’m sorry if my posts could somehow be interpreted as saying that COVID-19 was going to be apocalyptic. I don’t think that at all. It will certainly kill many, many people and cause intense disruption (already has!), but I think society should still be around.

I merely intended to convey that I think even expired insulin from a reputable source would be better than home cooked insulin. I think stocking up on insulin as much as you can is the best bet just in case we do end up with some supply chain problems for a time.

I hate dropping a vial and having it break! The smell is the first sign that the vial didn’t survive that drop. And of course if you have no stockpile it becomes a immediate life crisis. (See other thread where others have recovered whatever units they could from the puddle of insulin on the floor mixed with broken glass). I’ve only broken a couple vials in nearly 40 years but just thinking about those makes me wince.

We’ve had other supply chain worries in past year, especially those in the UK because of Brexit, and they may have built up decent stockpiles already.

My big worry is that my stockpile (now 1 year to 2 years worth) of insulin will become useless if we also lose electricity to run the fridge. Even been pricing out small generators that would be big enough to run the fridge. In my neighborhood we’ve lost electricity several times in winters for 2+ weeks but of course when it happens in the winter you don’t worry about cooling your insulin stockpile.

My parents had a small generator for a time that would run on gas in case electricity went out because my grandmother was on oxygen and needed to always have electricity. If you have the space in the garage, it is not a bad idea!

I live in a condo in the city so it would be a huge pain, but it is something to think about. Hopefully if you lose power it is only for a day or so- I think the insulin could tolerate that as long as the refrigerator stayed closed. Still, it’d be stressful.

I also live in an apartment, and have been thinking of getting some sort of large battery bank that could be charged by solar panels. I mostly think of it because I’d like backup power for my CPAP machine in case we lost power for a few days. But something that could also run a very small fridge to store just insulin would also be interesting…

First our well pump stopped working at about
2:00 pm yesterday and then we lost power at 4:30. Before going to bed I got my large stash of insulin and put it in an ice chest with a couple of frozen ice things. Then we put that out on the deck.

When we woke up about midnight the power was back on, so we brought the insulin back in. When we got up at 6:00 am one of the smoke alarms was going off. We found we had no 9 volt batteries.

I thought a lot about how important electricity is to diabetics.

We still have no water…we are waiting for a tornado or maybe a pandemic.

I had a Generic Battery representive to come out to give me an estimate for a whole house battery. It can run on natural gas or solar panels (extra cost). The cost was $14,000.00 to install. I live in California, east bay.

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Wow, interesting. I’ve never heard of a whole house battery! Sounds like a great idea, esp the solar option, if you live in sunny CA! :slight_smile: I have a tiny generator which runs on auto gas. It is only strong enough to charge the frig during a storm, and the gas really smells so it must be stored outdoors. Not an ideal situation esp if an outage is longterm. Occasionally outages here can be several days from storms.

My fridge broke…again. In a pinch, just throw the insulin in a bucket of water in the shade - you can throw in some gas station ice bags to cool the water down.

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Any thing u bury under ground will be about 68 degrees.
So that’s why basements are cool. But if u make a deep enough hole you could keep a cooler for insulin

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I’m not sure you’ve experienced two-week long regional power outages before. The gas stations aren’t even open, they can’t pump gas without electricity! And they can’t run their freezers either so they don’t have ice. Ever since then I’ve made sure to always have at least half a tank of gas in the car, and to always have a good stockpile of frozen gel-packs in the freezer.

Yes in previous long power outages in summer I would lug gel-packs to work and back home again each night. But that’s not an option in the coronavirus shutdown because I’m still supposed to be working form home.

An intersting option might be a GIANT evaporative-cooling Frio pack. Enough to hold my couple years stockpile.

But my office building is closed for the duration of coronavirus so I

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A Frio doesn’t actually cool what’s in it, though. It just keeps it at room temperature in hot environments and keeps it from overheating.