2 wks ago: Opened a bottle of Novolog for my pump...My I:C was 1:20. Numbers were good for a week.
1 wk ago: Got a cold (my first since diagnosis). Numbers went crazy and until today, I have been increasing my ratio...it's now down to 1:12, and I am STILL spiking to the 150s-200's. I was spiking to the 300's before increasing it this much.
So I feel better now, my cold is pretty much completely gone....but my numbers are still high...
Could my insulin be bad? If I take a correction, it works and brings it down....but why over 1 week have my ratios changed THIS much!!! It's scary!
Would bad insulin work at ALL? Or could it just be "compromised" from unknown factors (heat, cold..although I keep it room temp for 30 days in the dark).
Yes, it could be insulin that has a reduced effectiveness. If you have another vial (especially if it is a different lot#) take your next bolus using that insulin.
Also, once insulin is opened it can (and should) still be refrigerated. Only keep your insulin out of the fridge if you have no alternative (I used to keep a vial in my desk drawer at work).
I recently had insulin in my pump go bad. I would start out the day between 70 - 110 and then spend the rest of the day pushing enormous amounts of insulin through the pump. The numbers would start to drop around 3AM and then the next day, whoa, high, high, high. First I tried changing infusion sets, no change. As soon as I changed the insulin, BAM!, back in range.
I think there are a couple of possible explanations.
Desensitization: You were giving 1:20. You got sick and increased it. Your body got better, but it had also gotten used to the 1:12 ratio and it now needs that much to operate. (This can happen surprisingly quickly.) Try what’s going on for now. If your previous ratio was correct, you might start running low and need to raise it to 1:15 or something. It could also be, since you weren’t diagnosed that long ago, that your honeymoon period is ending, and you need more insulin. (And it’s just bad luck it happened at the same time as the cold.) How were your sugars before the cold?
It’s really hard (or so I’ve found) to get insulin to go bad. However, it can become less effective. I’ve found that, after I’ve been using a bottle for a few weeks, it’s not as effective as it was when it was first opened. The insulin’s still good; I just need a little bit more.
Is anything else happening? Er, “womanly” things? Eating more? Exercising less?
Can I ask why you keep it at room temp? No frig?
Is NJ getting into the 80s?
Can you keep it in the frig, take it out to feed your pump, and put it back?
Yes it takes awhile to go back to the same I:C ratio. I usually count 2 weeks and then it’d better be there or I start a new bottle.
Thanks for the response…My sugars WERE really under control pretty well. I rarely hit 200 in the past 9 months since diagnosis…I thought about my honeymoon ending…I have been slowly changing my rates every couple weeks (at first i was at a 1:30 ratio…then 1:29…etc. until I was at 1:20. I was thinking maybe the sickness just killed off whatever remaining beta cells were there!!
I’m going to try a new vial tonight, just in case… I have never had a problem with bad insulin, but I’d like to cancel out that factor.
3.) I wish womanly things were happening-----I haven’t had a period in 9 months since diagnosis and just went back on BC pills to try and fix that…still nothing. And I am not eating more, but I am exercising less this week since I was sick and I was just trying to get better,
—I always thought you could take out a new vial from the fridge and then it would be good for 30 days…now I am hearing otherwise…my doctor doesn’t help me with anything (in the process of switching) and so I didn’t know that…thanks for the tip though!!!
—NJ is HOT!! I just went for a walk at work and i could only last for 25 minutes!!
—2 weeks, hmm. I am going on my second week now so let’s see if the new insulin/ sickness lingering helps…
I know they say you should refrigerate, but I’ve kept bottles out for more than a month and not had any problems. (Well, they’re not as effective as a newly opened bottle, but they’re as good as a bottle that’s been opened for a few days.) I’ve found it’s just easier not to refrigerate once I open the bottle; I just carry it around with me instead of using pens. As long as you use it within a month or so, it’s fine. I once found a 5 year old bottle that had been in a closet that got up to 100 °F; since I didn’t have insurance at the time, I used it, and it worked just fine.
Once I open a vial of insulin (I am a pumper, vial lasts about a month), I keep it on my dresser. When filling a pump reservoir, cold insulin causes little air bubbles, while room-temperature insulin does not. I have not had insulin go bad for the 30 days it takes me to empty the vial.
i would bet everything i have your insulin isn’t bad. why? in 50 years of buying and using insulin (starting with insulin derived from cows and pigs to today’s genetically engineered versions) i have never had a bad batch. never. and that includes spending significant time in hellishly hot places like iraq, new orleans, central america using unrefrigerated insulin. the stuff is pretty robust.
if your numbers are off base, look to the obvious – what are you eating? are you sure your bug has washed through your system? stress? there are a lot of other, more likely causes than bad insulin. it’s a crime to waste a single drop.
I hate to be the pessimist here, but my doc (t1 himself) at my last appointment told me that research is really showing that the “honeymoon” tends to last until the first sickness since diagnosis. I was diagnosed in December, and knock wood, I have not been sick yet. My insulin needs are pretty low, and he told me not to get used to this…
Basically, he told me “don’t get sick” and your honeymoon will last… Yeah, thanks doc. I’ll get right on that haha…
Hope it’s not the end of the honeymoon and your new batch does the trick!
Try an injection to see what it does, then change the site if the injection lowers your BG. Most likely it is something else besides the insulin unless you froze it or heated it up over 100 for severa minutes. With a pump, most issues with I:C are related to basal and sites.
Hey thanks…I was definitely honeymooning…not sure if I will go back to it though!!! Good point about the sickness…that ran through my mind because I was thinking about how much stress must have been put on my “good” beta cells. I was diagnosed in September…not much earlier than you! At least I made it out of college before all of this
So I opened a new vial last night anyway (don’t worry—none will go to waste because there wasnt even enough left in the old one to fill my cartridge—I will just keep that one in my meter case for emergencies.) and I went low for the first time in a while…but I still don’t know if it was the insulin becasue this morning my numbers are whacky again!!! So i THINK the insulin was still fine. THANKS EVRYONE
But this whole honeymoon thing…confusing and frustrating… AHH!!! (Wish I could scream outloud!)
I don’t refridgerate once open either. I use omnipod and you must fill the new Pod (every three days) with room temp insulin (or risk a failure and that awful alarming!) Prior to the pod, I was on MDI for 17yrs and once opened, have never put back in the fridge–cold insulin was more painful to inject. Haven’t had any issues? I actually carry it with me in my PDM case. Of course I make sure it’s always at room temp, and never in the sun.
