
August 14, 2003
Insulin
Question from Hartland, Maine, USA:
How long can you let mixed NPH and Regular sit in the syringe before it is safe to give the injection? Do you have to give the injection right away or can you wait to give the injection?
Answer:
This theme has been explored a number of times in studies that are now mostly over ten years old. The answer is that when Regular insulin is mixed with Lente insulin there seems to be a clear impairment of the effect of the Regular. With respect to Regular and NPH, when the pattern of blood glucose is compared between separately injected and premixed Regular and NPH insulins there seems to be no difference in effect for up to as long as 48 hours.
Just the same, it is normal practise to give Regular and NPH insulin injections immediately after mixing.
DOB