How many have had bad vials of Levemir?

[Gangrel]

It's been ages since I've had a diabetes question, but here's one.

How many of you have come across bad vials, or "suspected" bad vials of Levemir?

I believe I have found my second one in a year, and to me it seems strange to have this sort of failure rate given I don't think I've ever had bad Humalog, or NPH... (or maybe I just didn't notice)

Anyway, coinciding with my last vial change, I've been running high ever since, and for no reason. Either my liver has gone haywire at the same time, or the Levemir isn't working at full strength.

I keep my Levemir in the fridge until it goes on my pen, then it's usually at room temperature.

I think I may have kept the box of Levemir at room temp for the week I was in Toronto, but even if i shortened it's life by a week, it shouldn't be "dead" right off the bat.

Or is Levemir's structure so "delicate" that it can't handle any kind of weird storage?

I'm just curious if others have had this same problem or not.

[xMenace]

How many injections with the new vial? Could it be simple poor absorption?

[Gangrel]

As of this moment, I'm on probably my 9th injection, as I think I switch the vial last Thursday. Which I can tell by looking at the graph on my Ultrasmart and seeing a sudden shift in readings.

Maybe it might be an absorption thing, but I'm sure I have used other spots aside from my stomach this weekend, but maybe not.

[soso]

I had a similar thing happen with a vial of Novorapid I took to England and back as a spare..when I went to use it, it was OK at first but about half way through the vial, I was getting much higher numbers all of a sudden and every meal.. I changed the vial and things went back to normal.

[Funnygrl]

Man, I have a bottle of Levemir that's a year old that still works. I thought that stuff was eternal.

[Gangrel]

Well, last night I changed vials after picking a new box up at Shoppers from the Drug Store Beotch... (oh how customer service has plummeted)

Today seems to be normal now. Woke up at 13.2 (i know why) and corrected with 4 units of Humalog. Four hours later I'm 4.9!

Yesterday was a similar situation... I woke up at 17! and took 6 units to correct, and was 13.2 4 hours later!

This is all with the same levels of Levemir.

Granted, I made it a point to use my arms last night, and I think I used my "rear upper hip" aka *** today..... so maybe it was an absorption issue, but I can't see both sides of my rock hard, six pack abs, stomach giving me trouble at the same time...... could it?

Anyway, like I say at work.... the problem appears to be fixed, and that's all I care about... lol.

[mark_in_toronto]

I had problems with Levemir also - I thought that maybe it had frozen in my fridge, after a couple of days with abnormal highs I went to the pharmacy and got a new pen cartridge. With the new insulin, I was back to normal.

I also never had bad insulin with other insulins. Thankfully I didn't use Levemir very long - my work's insurance approved a pump for me and I'm now on Novorapid using that.

[JJM335]

I have had problems with Lantus "going off". I now keep my pen in the fridge at all times.

[Gangrel]

I love Levemir, and don't want to get rid of it. I am just wondering, if much like when a brand new model of car comes out, that since Levemir is still fairly new on the marketplace that it needs some tweaking to the formula?

[RemJet]

I just started using penfill levemir and novorapid from NPH and Toronto and noticed that one morning I was a lot higher than usual after taking levemir the night before, but I'm pretty sure its because I didn't end up injecting any or a minimal dosage because the needle hadn't punctured the vial fully or the needle had gotten jammed up somehow. Ive never had that happen with NPH or Toronto vials. So I guess if you find that you are reading higher in the morning do a double check before u inject to make sure the insulin is coming out properly.

[MBelt8402]

I have had a two vials like this in six months. I thought I was nuts, my doctor told me I was nuts. But two vials that my numbers were higher from the day I opened the vial till the time I switched. I'm kind if glad to know it wasn't just me, but its kind of scary also.

[JasonJayhawk]

Wow. I've had this happen with a new bottle of Levemir. While I normally have a 14-day average of 110 mg/dl, I suddenly started averaging 160 mg/dl for 3 weeks. Finally started a new Levemir bottle, and I'm back to normal again after a few days. Not sure what that was about...

My problem with ordering Levemir is my mail-order drug company keeps sending me vials that expire 3 or 4 months from my ordering date. That's to force me to use it in that tiem frame, I suppose.


But I'm a freshness freak, and always pick out the best expirations when I'm shopping for milk, cheese, and so on, even if I plan on using it up immediately.

I have so many bottles of Levemir expiring in March that it makes me sad. *sigh*

[Gangrel]

Ya, ever since I switched vials, I've been fine, aside from eating too much junk at Christmas. :P