February 2, 2002
Insulin
Question from Hurst, Texas, USA:
My 11 year old likes his insulin at room temperature, but the bottles are only good for 28 days. It seems so wasteful to throw away two whole bottles of insulin a month! We can hardly tell he has used any insulin at all. How many units does the bottle contain? Do the insulin companies make any smaller vials for small users?
Answer:
I suggest you use pen cartridges that contain either 150 or 300 units per cartridge. You can draw up the dose using a regular syringe if you do not have a pen device. Ask your doctor to write a special insulin prescription.
HVS
[Editor’s comment: A vial of insulin contains 1000 units which would be used by most (who have the majority of diabetes) in less than a month. So, it is not cost-effective for the manufacturers to provide it in smaller vials.
Any opened vial of insulin is only good for 28 days (refrigerated or not), and an opened cartridge only lasts a week.
SS]
