January 5, 2004
Blood Tests and Insulin Injections, Insulin Analogs
Question from Lombard, Illinois, USA:
We are currently switching from NPH to Lantus. Since Lantus is clear, is there a reason we couldn’t use a squirt of food color to inject into the Lantus so that it stands apart from his Humalog? I would imagine the most obvious answer is that the food color would not be sterile. However, is this that much of a concern? We have been dealing with this disease for over 16 years now, so I am not overly concerned that my son will not be able to keep the two apart. If anything, we could always mark the bottle with a black marker. I just sure wouldn’t want him to accidently inject 30 units of Humalog at bedtime in place of his Lantus. Why hasn’t the manufacturer done something to make it more obvious, or is it that difficult to do?
Answer:
Don’t put any food coloring or anything else into the insulin bottle. Not only would it not be sterile any longer but whatever chemicals you place in the insulin may interfere with the insulin itself. The bottle of Lantus is tall and skinny compared to other fast acting insulin vials so it would be fairly easy to avoid mix ups. The labels are also different compared to either NovoLog or Humalog analog bottles. Taking an extra few seconds before placing insulin into syringes would also be wise. Some of our patients place a sticker or use a magic marker to make the bottles look even more different from each other as well.
SB
