24 Comments
Do you believe that your insulin has ever been less effective due to exposure to high temperatures?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
© 2023 T1D Exchange. All Rights Reserved.
Not quite sure how this question is being asked. Killed my insulin once by leaving it in a very hot car for 3-4 hours, and have had my insulin (opened and unopened vials) way less effective during a rolling brownout in southern CA while in the fridge and also the insulin in my pump going bad in that same day at Disneyland.
What is “unopened insulin?” Is it a bottle with the orange cap on?
Similar here.
I am only certain of the insulin still in boxes being affected by heat. I don’t think insulin being used has been affected as I am not fond of the heat.
Don’t know
I’m not sure about high temperatures. We had a hurricane a few years ago, and turned our refrigerator to the coldest temperature, so our food might last longer. Turned out we froze my insulin. It became ineffective, and I had to throw it all out. Lesson learned.
actually did happen once but many years ago. the insulin was cloudy so I knew how too keep using it-. This was when I was outside all day in the summer once about 1985 when I ws using multiple injections per day.
I’m not sure.
There are so many factors that play into “insulin effectiveness” that assessment of temperature is practically impossible. What I have noticed this summer with “record heat” recordings is that my insulin needs have decreased. My eating has remained constant at about 230 grams of daily carbs, my daily morning walk has dropped to only 4 miles, and I still spend most of my daylight hours outside rather than in cooled indoors; I’ve lived on the Florida coast for 24 years where this year most days the temps held between 84 – 96 [nighttime – daytime]. Once an insulin vial is opened, I never refrigerate; NOTE that I only use analog insulin in my pump.
No, but I would throw out insulin I thought was exposed to high temps like a hot car. SO as far as I know, I have not used insulin that I suspected had been exposed to extreme temps, or was a half used for more than 2 months. I have been on a pump for 40+ years, so I am only dealing with vials not pens, and only one type of insulin.
My InPen will tell me if pen is too hot. But I still think sometimes my insulin loses potency. I live in Arizona so have to be careful. Use a Frio if I go out to a ball game. We have club ball on weekends. Been ok so far.
If it gets hot, yes. I keep mine refrigerated all the time, except the insulin that’s in my pump. I try to stay out of the heat anyway, because I’m very sensitive to heat. When I would go on motorcycle rides it was kept cool by the frozen blue ice blocks I would buy.
Took me a while to figure it out. Definitely go through more infusion sets in the summer. Either my insulin goes bad or I sweat them off. Oh yeah it freaks out the auto mode on my pump too. Need to build an a/c unit for my pump.
Not sure. Several years ago, after many years of pumping, went on a tropical vacation. Was worried about my insulin cooking on the beach while swimming. My Endo gave me a prescription for long-acting Lantus so I could go without my pump during the day. It didn’t seem to touch my blood sugars. At the time, questioned whether it may have spoiled during unrefrigerated flight/travel. But looking back on a Lantus’s active time, my plan to switch between it and my pump was probably flawed.
I don’t know because I have no way of knowing how the vials were protected during transport from mfg to pharmacy and in storage at pharmacy. Been taking insulin for the past 68 years. This summer has been the hottest I’ve ever experienced. Except for the insulin in the pump cartridge that I’m wearing, all other insulin is refrigerated. I’ve stayed in our A/C cooled apartment during the hottest part of the day. Intense heat causes my glucose level to plummet, so if I don’t need to be out, I’m not.
“Unsure” (My insulin has never been exposed to high temperatures.)
I would guess probably, but have no data for proof.
High temps no, freeze yes.
I’m not sure whether this question is referring to insulin once it’s been injected or insulin that’s not been kept cool prior to injection.
I have never allowed my insulin to not be stored in an un-cool place so I can’t comment on that, but after insulin has been injected I KNOW that temperature DOES play a significant part in how effectively it works. High temperatures potentiate the effects of insulin. i.e. high temperatures make insulin work more effectively. (I’ve personally experienced countless hypoglycaemic [hypoglycemic] events during summer months, especially if there’s been an unexpected rise in outside temperatures.)
I just used the last of the only vial of insulin I’ve ever had that I thought had lost effectiveness.
I thought it was maybe going bad more than a month ago when my BG stayed high no matter how much Novolog I took, so I started using insulin from a fresh vial.
But then when that vial was empty, instead of getting another fresh vial, I tried filling my pump with some Novolog from the vial I’d thought was going bad a month earlier and it seemed to work just as well as the new insulin from the new vial had worked, so I used the last of the insulin from the vial I thought was losing effectiveness one vial ago and what was left in that now 3 month old vial of Novolog (3 months unrefrigerated since first use), worked just as well as the vial of fresh insulin I used when I initially thought this vial was losing effectiveness, seemed to work just as well as the insulin from the new vial all the way until the last cartridge fill from the old vial, but I was able to use all the insulin from the vial anyway by simply increasing my pump rates to 150% of what they had been.
I’m now on another fresh vial of insulin so pump is back to the normal settings, but I saved the other profile settings titled “unknown” since this last time needed was possibly due to insulin loss of effectiveness, but it could have also been pain stress related BG elevation because so far today, it doesn’t look like the fresh insulin is keeping me any lower than the last cartridge fill from that 3 months unrefrigerated vial did. So at this point, I still can’t say for sure whether it was really any effect of the insulin having lost effectiveness or if it was just stress related BG elevations all along?
Mine definitely has been less effective and has not even worked when exposed to direct sunlight for long periods of time. I’ve purchase a pelican brand water right case to put in the cooler while at the beach or pool. And then at sporting events i got a hard shell case that fits 2 insulin pens that sit on a frozen mold. Works great and both are compacts so they are easy to carry around!
Once the fridge door was not shut properly and the insulin was stored on the top door shelf, adjacent to the light. The heat from the light was enough to reduce efficacy. The lesson, do not store the insulin near the fridge light and make sure the door is shut.
There are time when on the third day the Glucose numbers stay high until my set is changed.
Nope, not per se. Not stored/shipped correctly, the insulin definitely degraded long prior to its formal expiration
Once I feared heat would impact my insulin, but did not. Due to a raft of circumstances our luggage was left in t.he truck of a car for an entire day in an open Panama parking lot. The day was stifling hot, but the insulin, both long and short acting, worked fine. As we were on holiday without prescriptions we might have been in trouble, but we’re not
Room temperature insulin is less painful I was told at some point after I’d been keeping it in fridge. And after reading the results of a study someone posted here, I found I could exceed 28 day vial-limit at room temperature. BUT sometimes I think I need LESS insulin on really hot days because my body is burning more calories to keep me cool. Yet when seasons change & ambient temperatures drop, then I need LESS insulin because my body is burning more calories to keep me warm. Sleeping in a bed w/o covers in winter time definitely results in lower morning blood glucose than with covers as measured by Dexcom 6. In summertime I must sleep without blankets.