Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Davidrr07 on May 31, 2009 at 8:22am

I've never had defective insulin. Does your insulin come in the mail or from a local pharmacy?

I sometimes have a bad set. Did you look at the old set when you removed it? Was it kinked or have any blood in it?

Was your tubing connected to the set "all the way"?

david

Permalink Reply by David C Weisberg on May 31, 2009 at 1:19pm

There was a problem with my infusion set, but then I changed everything, chose a new site and a new reservoir. I filled the reservoir from a new vial of insulin which I bought from my local drugstore. The insulin was flowing cleanly. No kinks, no problems with the infusion set. My blood sugar just kept going up, despite many boluses, when my BG hit 460, I called my pump trainer. She told me to change every thing including the insulin bottle and my BG came rapidlly under control. My trainer told me that it was bad insulin and that she had had the same experience herself.

Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Steinman on May 31, 2009 at 4:04pm

there's a chance that the new site kinked when you put it in, or it just went into a bad spot, an area that didn't absorb the insulin very well

Permalink Reply by Carolyn Deans on May 31, 2009 at 8:41am

In my own personal 16+ years with diabetes, I''ve never seen a bad bottle of insulin. I have, however, in 3 years on the pump, seen MANY bad infusion sites for various reasons - usually a kink in the catheter. Are you new to pumping by any chance? If so, I would guess that your problem was probably a bad infusion site and not bad insulin. You might try changing the infusion site with the same insulin if it happens again. Best of luck to you.

Permalink Reply by David C Weisberg on May 31, 2009 at 1:20pm

I am really afraid to try that bottle of insulin again. When I changed my infusion site there was no problem except the insulin wasn't working.

Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Steinman on May 31, 2009 at 4:06pm

don't risk it, if you can't afford to just trash the vial, go back to your pharmacy or call the manufacturer, and try to get one fo them to replace it

Permalink Reply by Geoffrey Steinman on May 31, 2009 at 4:04pm

from time to time this will happen... often in the summer time, if i take my pump off to swim or play, and leave it in the sun, the cartridge will go bad, or i'll have a bad vial (either from getting too hot or too cold) - it's happened to me 2 or 3 times

Permalink Reply by BILL on March 15, 2012 at 7:19pm

I have this happen to me once in a while.I start off by changing the tubing, resevoir, etc etc and when this doesn't work I try a new bottle of insulin but it takes awhile to realize what really is the problem. I also try an direct injection using the original bottle of insulin and if that all fails, then i try a fresh bottle of insulin-no real positive answer except that my sugars are sky high till i figure it all out-defnitely not a good thing.

Permalink Reply by SickOfIt on March 17, 2012 at 5:39pm

It happens often to me :( its either the whole vial or wen i use the last insulin in it :( U just never know :(

Permalink Reply by Katie on May 3, 2012 at 6:31am

I had this problem last year with a bottle of humilog. I had never considered the insulin being defected so like yourself i kept switching and changing out everything but the insulin. Unfortunately i wound up in the hospital for a week because my sugars were insanely high and my oxygen levels plummeted to near death levels. Always check your insulin if it looks cloudy!

Permalink Reply by Joan on May 3, 2012 at 2:37pm

I had some insulin go bad when I was travelling. I put the insulin in a refrigerator in my hotel room and it was too cold. I was also camping and it was extremely hot. The extreme temperatures damaged the insulin and it went cloudy. I was on on a 30/70 mix, injecting twice a day and it was the long acting insulin that was damaged. The result was that I was going into some terrible lows until I realized what had happened. I am now on a pump and carry my insulin in a frio pack and never trust a hotel refrigerator.

Permalink Reply by Timothy on May 3, 2012 at 3:22pm

The analog insulins are more sensitive to temperature.
I have gone to pick up insulin at the pharmacy and could see that it was sitting on the counter for pick up. It probably had been there for days.

I buy 3 bottles at a time so the third bottle will be a month away from use, When I see this happen I insist that they get me new bottles. You never know what happens before you get it.

I only had it go bad once. It still worked but I needed to bolus almost twice my usual. I switched to a new bottle and it was fine.

I know that Novolog will send you a free coupon for a bottle if you send them an email and tell them your bottle went bad. That is what I did with mine.

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