I recently traveled to Thailand from Los Angeles. A couple of days after arriving in Bangkok, I noticed by post meal numbers were higher than I had suspected. After reviewing my meals, I decided to check my Humalog pen to make sure it worked correctly. To my shock, all three pens I took with me had next to no pressure when I tested the pens after the first charge. In other words, the insulin dripped out rather than shot out as it is supposed to. Could this have something to do with the cabin pressure of the flight? Regardless, I was not receiving the amounts of insulin as a result. Is there a fix for this?

If you left the insulin pens in your luggage, and, if they were stowed away in the luggage compartment of the plane, this may be the reason for the malfunction. The recommendation for patients traveling with insulin is to carry it on board with you. The cabin pressure would be maintained and you would be able to secure your carry on items yourself. Homeland Security agents suggest you carry the original prescription label for your insulin, as this can be immediately verified. I am not aware of a fix for this. If there is no displacement of insulin from the pen, you should get a close approximation of insulin when injected. This would be enough for you to secure another pen. Carrying duplicate pens may help to assure you have a back-up, although it sounds like you did this by brining three pens. Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Humalog, could probably help you. There should be a customer service number on the package.

JTL
Additional comments from Brenda Hitchcock:

If you cannot find any information on the package, try Ask Lilly.

BH