Insulin storage in the fridge.

kitan · Jul 30, 2019

Hello,

I had the problem with an insulin since I moved into new house January 2017. I thought it's been caused by the end of my honeymoon period and I need more insulin. But the real problem started in may this year, sometimes I noticed that my insulin has slowed down peak, eg. my sugar after two hours was 10.1, at 3rd hour dropped down to 4.2. And I was also injecting more insulin which was causing a hypos more often.

Yesterday I left a thermometer with min, max temperatures indicator. When I checked it today I was shocked. Temperature dropped to 0.5 celcius, which is not good to keep an insulin inside (storage temperature should be between 2 - 6).

Two years I've been struggling with my BGs, even the doctor said last year (my HBA1C was 6.0 %) that is caused by end of my honeymoon period, and I need more insulin.

Muneeb · Jul 30, 2019

Unless its actually frozen and then melted, I don't believe going down to 0.5 degrees should cause your insulin to act erratically (especially given the normal range is 2-8 degrees for most insulin) so its not that far out. I may be wrong though.

kitan · Jul 30, 2019

Knikki said:
As @Muneeb says so long as it has not frozen then thawed you should be OK, so long as it is clear not cloudy and does not look like something has dropped out of solution. But like all things if your not sure get some new stuff.

As for BG levels if you have gone past the end of your honeymoon period then you will need to change your insulin regime, its just one of those things I'm afraid.

One suggestion is to look up Basel Testing, get the basel right and it makes the rest easier to deal with

Good luck.

2 hours ago I had around 70 grams of carbs, injected 14u of novorapid, two hours after my bg was 11.9. Really strange.

Antje77 · Jul 30, 2019

kitan said:
2 hours ago I had around 70 grams of carbs, injected 14u of novorapid, two hours after my bg was 11.9. Really strange.

Why is that strange?

kitan · Jul 30, 2019

helensaramay said:
What you ate makes a big difference because carbs are not "born equal" but NovoRapid works at the same rate most of the time*. A healthy pancreas can release insulin to match the carb absorption rate for all different types of carbs but replicating this process, which has been evolved over millions of years, with a single fast acting insulin injection is near on impossible.

For example, if you ate 70g of carbs in candy, this would be absorbed at a much faster rate than 70g of carbs on pasta with a creamy sauce.
To match the insulin peak with the carb absorption peak, the injection for candy would need to be taken much earlier than the injection for the pasta.

(And, injecting for 70g of carbs from candy would probably need to consider, after eating that much candy, you may not be feeling very well.)

*insulin absorption rate may be dependent on where it is injected and what exercise is done

When I wake up my sugar is fantastic, but after 5 minutes when I walk out from the bed it raises to 9.4 - 10 for no reason.
I inject 18u of Levemir at 10pm.
Today I had a scrumbled egg and whole wheat toast, injected also 1u:5g of carbs radio and my sugar was 11.

kitan · Jul 30, 2019

helensaramay said:
This rise is not uncommon.
It is a liver dump for your body to get going after resting/sleeping.
It is usually called "foot on the floor" (FoF).
The difference between this and dawn phenomenon (DP) seems to be timing. DP usually happens at the same time whereas FoF happens whatever time you get up.
Both DP and FoF have been discussed in other threads on the forum - you should be able to find them using the Search function in the top right of the page.

Is this different to your recent fridge problem? Or were you thinking the fridge issue was causing the morning rise?

Thank you. You are very helpful.

I was thinking the morning sugar rise was caused by the fridge issue. But you explained me everything.

How would you explain BG drops after eating? Eg. 2hrs 10.1, 3hrs 4.2 (sometimes a hypo).

NaijaChick · Jul 30, 2019

You need to find out when your insulin peaks. It looks like yours is peaking at the three hour mark. Speak to your Dteam and ask them. Good luck.

Antje77 · Jul 30, 2019

kitan said:
How would you explain BG drops after eating? Eg. 2hrs 10.1, 3hrs 4.2 (sometimes a hypo).

Are you on fixed doses for meals, regardless of what your meals are?

kitan · Jul 30, 2019

Antje77 said:
Are you on fixed doses for meals, regardless of what your meals are?

I count carbs, even now my reading is 12.8 (6.5before meal) after tuna salad, ceasar dressing (~15g) and poppy seed roll with ham (38g carbs) . It was around 50g carbs, I injected 9u of Novo.

MeiChanski · Jul 30, 2019

I think some other things you could consider is: I don't know whether you know about splitting your levemir - levemir works better and gives better coverage if you split dose it. Carb counting - have you done a carb counting course? Some T1s have experienced they need different ratios through out the day. I am a bit insulin resistant in the morning either because of DP or hormones, so I find I need a bit more insulin. Carb counting course might help you learn to adjust according to your food, routine, hormones, DP, illnesses, exercises etc. Also correction doses and hypo treatments.
No two days are the same for me, I've been eating the same breakfast for the past 4 months and I can either be good, high or low.
Another thing is we all spike after eating, depending on the carbs. Low carb gives me a slight spike whereas full on carbs gives me a huge spike, so trying to learn when your insulin peaks might help or figure out your timing for prebolus. Also some T1s have found that novorapid takes too long to work, some have changed to fiasp which is more quicker than novorapid. Again with all of this, you need to speak with your team to enquire about everything.

Bill_St · Jul 31, 2019

It is not just your fridge that should concern you.
Does everyone really think that the U.K. has so much better insulin distribution than America?

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1932296817747292

Has insulin efficacy even been tested in the U.K. at the chemists?

ChrissiStar · Aug 1, 2019

MeiChanski said:
Also some T1s have found that novorapid takes too long to work, some have changed to fiasp which is more quicker than novorapid. Again with all of this, you need to speak with your team to enquire about everything.

For me Novorapid is taking up to an hour to kick in, will definitely be enquiring about fiasp at my next checkup as it’s driving me mad!

Insulin storage in the fridge.

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