August 29, 2002
Insulin
Question from New Jersey, USA:
My child, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes four months ago, and is on pork NPH and Humalog. I inquired as to switching from regular injections to a pen and was told that pork NPH is not available for these pens. The reason I inquired is that a bottle of insulin doesn’t seem to last the full month for us, as we travel occasionally. It doesn’t seem to last as long, when it goes from refrigerator to ice cooler and then back to the fridge. Do most doctors still use pork NPH for children? I have also heard that the pork is soon going to be not available any more. Is this true?
Answer:
I haven’t used animal source insulin in nearly 10 years so I am not a good person to answer the question. I know that animal source insulin isn’t available in any other form than in vials. I also know insulin doesn’t last a month when used. That is why for many of my little ones I use the pen cartridges even when the family is using syringes. I then get five months or nearly of use. It also is less anxiety-provoking to toss a small cartridge than a whole vial, especially when it seems it got hot and spoiled on the second day.
LD