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Broken Fridge

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coco4

Well-Known Member
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Hi everyone. Hope you are all ok. I wonder if anyone has any advice. I am a Type 1 diabetic and store my Novo Rapid and Lantus in the fridge. My fridge has not been working properly since last Saturday and has finally broken down altogether today. My insulin has been stored since Saturday at between 10 and 14 degrees C. I rang the pharmacy at my GPs' and she was rather vague as to what to do, but if I decide to throw my existing insulin away I won't get anymore until Thursday. Diabetes UK helpline says to ere on the the side of caution and throw it all away. Customer Service at Novo Nordisk say that consider it to be "in use" and it will be okay to use up to 28 days. This whole situation has really stressed me out and I cannot keep it in perspective. I have only been diagnosed just over a year and am feeling really anxious and nervous, thanks Carole
 
Hi Carole,
Dont do the stress, your nova rapid at 10c to 14c will be fine for at least 28 days, and could begin to be less effective after that,
If you consider that many of us carry around insulin in use that is near to room temp whist the pen is in use, and that it can be "in use" for up to 28 days,

It is also worth considering puting a supply of insulin at some one elses as an emergency supply just incase you cant get to or forgot your primary source , also dont forget to put some needles withit,
This "emergency supply" needs to be swapped over and used periodically as there is a use by date of about 2 years on a correctly stored supply,

Hope this helps :thumbup:
 
coco4 said:
Hi everyone. Hope you are all ok. I wonder if anyone has any advice. I am a Type 1 diabetic and store my Novo Rapid and Lantus in the fridge. My fridge has not been working properly since last Saturday and has finally broken down altogether today. My insulin has been stored since Saturday at between 10 and 14 degrees C. I rang the pharmacy at my GPs' and she was rather vague as to what to do, but if I decide to throw my existing insulin away I won't get anymore until Thursday. Diabetes UK helpline says to ere on the the side of caution and throw it all away. Customer Service at Novo Nordisk say that consider it to be "in use" and it will be okay to use up to 28 days. This whole situation has really stressed me out and I cannot keep it in perspective. I have only been diagnosed just over a year and am feeling really anxious and nervous, thanks Carole
Click to expand...

Hi Carole, your insulin will be fine for 28 days out of a fridge.
Have you a freezer with some ice in it? If so use a cool box and store your insulin it until sorted.
I once had no fridge for almost a year and kept my insulin just fine like that.
 
If you are picking up your perscription and using it all every month, there is no need to overly worry about a fridge in this country, unless we have a freak period of hot weather, then just do what my old granny use to do, place in bucket of cold water and keep topping up.
 
coco4 said:
Diabetes UK helpline says to ere on the the side of caution and throw it all away. Customer Service at Novo Nordisk say that consider it to be "in use" and it will be okay to use up to 28 days.
Click to expand...


As others have stated the insulin will be fine up to 28 days, that said if you are concerned just order some fresh supplies this Thursday from your surgery.
 
Although I think your insulin will be fine, you can make a "cooler", simply by wrapping your insulin packages in wet tea towels and leaving uout on an open surface. If you lay the towel on a shallow plate or baking tray of water, cooling by evaporation will continue. If you're afraid of things getting wet, put them all into a poly bag firmly fastened or a fridge storage box, before wrapping
Hana
 
Hi thanks for some more useful tips and advice. I have the insulin in cold water together with a pint of milk lol. :lol: I won't try injecting the milk. Have also noticed that my slightly raised BGs are starting to come down after sharing my "problem" with you and have been able to put the situation into perspective. It's amazing and disappointing how this horrid condition can make me so stressed and illogical at times :?
 
Hi there, when we were traveling on a long distant flight I needed to have something to keep my unused insulin pens in. If you look on Amazon there is a cooling bag for keeping spare insulin pens. It comes in different sizes and all you do is soak it in water for a ce
rtain amount of minutes according to size, and the crystals inside swell up and you just pop your pens inside and then in an outer bag. It is supposed to last about 48 hours before you need to soak it again. Check out the site as they have a good range of useful items.
Good luck
 
Hi adl301269 thanks for recommending the cooling bag. I did not realise such things existed :thumbup: This would have been useful last year when I went to Canada for Christmas and there wasn't a fridge at the hotel. Have a good weekend 8)
 
Hi everyone, I recently purchased a mini fridge for my dorm room, since my old one broke. This site helped me a lot in making a decision: http://www.minifridge24.com/

Hope you guys will find it useful as well.
 
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