Good advice from @bangkokdiabetic and @Juicyj
On a related note, I recently went skiing and kept my pens in a backpack on the first day. What a mistake! It was -16 and it obviously killed off the insulin because it worked about as well as injecting diet coke.
J
Once they've been out of the fridge, they're OK for 4 weeks. You shouldn't put them back in the fridge, as temperature fluctuations can mess up the mechanism. If it's already gone out of temperature range, putting it back in the fridge won't solve the problem anyway, it's all about proteins being denatured - the same as an egg turning white when you boil it, and have you ever tried to un-boil an egg?
It might be ok for longer than that but don't expect any sympathy from manufacturers if you have problems - if you haven't followed storage instructions to the letter, that frees them of any responsibility...
Great idea! Thanks @Lynne C JHow about keeping your insulin pens in Grip packs once you've opened them. This works well at very hot temperatures (42C at Uluru) as well as at minus temperatures, I swear by my packs for both insulin pens and no problems at all. Good luck!
Don't worry too much about this now.Oh shoot! I put them back in the fridge but they were probably only at room temperature. I think I’ll probably go back to the pharmacist and get another set of cartridges just to be on the safe side. Thanks.
Peas are great - I love them!Just been to the pharmacy to get some more cartridges no problem (my pharmacist is awesome) HOWEVER I have to now drive to Tralee which is an hour or so each way and won’t get back to my fridge til later this afternoon.
SHOULD I BUY SOME FROZEN PEAS?
Don't worry too much about this now.
The pharma companies have of course to quote strict guidelines on their products for regulatory reasons. And then they also push those to the limit at times, just to drive as much sales (profits) back to themselves also. Take as example the thing about you always have to change your needle on your insulin pen after every single shot you take!
Most (if any) diabetics don't do that.
I typically keep mine on till the pen is empty. Only changes in-between in case I dropped it into some dirt while the cap was off, etc...
For the insulin pens themselves, the insulin is actually fairly more robust than most really think they are. But true, extreme high or extreme low temperatures are no good to them, as the insulin protein can get damaged. But its not like you shouldn't put them back into the fridge again. Yes you should, as to assure they don't turn any worse. So you merely halt any aging they may already have been exposed to suffer.
I have personally lived and worked in quite extreme weather zones. E.g. Moscow and also in Egypt. At all times I simply kept my daily pen in my pant front pockets at all times. Done that since they came on the market years back now. And even in 30+ degrees in Egypt they did just fine until the pen was empty weeks later (I don't use many units). It is only rarely I have 'problems' with them, and if so, its typically loosing some of its effectiveness. So e.g. the fast acting not able to lower the bg level as much per unit as normal. If observing that during a day (e.g. for lunch and then for dinner), well then just dump that pen out and start a new one.
So to summarize, your insulin doesn't turn all bad by having stood outside the fridge for a few days.
Especially not with the very modest temperatures that you quoted you had in your house.
Just mark the specific boxes so you can track them going forward, so as to distinguish them from newer ones you might get from your pharmacy in case you start to suspect the old ones lost their punch.
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