Humalog Differences lot to lot

[TomB]

2 days ago, I just started a new lot of Humalog pens. It seems to be much less effective than the previous one. I usually take 5-8 units before lunch and dinner.
Last night, I started dinner at 80, took 8u and an hour later was up at 360mg. Checked the meter, darn, it was right on.
So I took another 3 units. An hour later I was still up there, 350, so took another 3u.
Another hour and saw some progress - dropped to 250mg.
At the 4th hour, was still at 250, said the h--- with it and went to bed. 2am woke up to a 64, had a little soda and went back to bed. This morning all is well with my usual 116mg.
Same meal, same everything else, 8 units - the previous lot of Humalog kept me under 160mg regardless of post prandial time.
Anyone experience this type of variability between lots?
Tom

[Subby]

I've gotten a bunch of Novorapid penfills straight from the chemist, that worked at about 1/3 effectiveness. I was stuck on a 4 day camping trip with them, what a terrible time I had, didn't DKA, just constantly fighting to keep down. On finally going into town to get more new insulin, I got relief in 30 minutes.

The chemist had no good answer as to why. I suspect they might have been left in the sun or near a heater for a long period at some stage of transport or something along those times, and I don't frequent that chemist since then.

I am lucky that insulin is quite subsidized here. It's not an expensive procedure to just get another batch. If it's inexpensive for you, it would be worth getting another batch (from another chemist) to compare. If your BG returns to what you expect, and that supports a bad batch, I guess you could take your findings back to the original chemist and ask for a refund. No idea on your chances.

[mageerobin]

I never realized this until I started using a pump, but I have spots on my body that insulin does not absorb into good as well as some spots (scar tissue from my MDI?) where it doesn't seem to get absorbed at all. Also you might have done this on a day that a cold started. I know that has messed with my #'s.

[lorilei]

i haven't even considered throwing in the insulin quality factor...thought the weird days of highs were due to something in my body vs the insulin i'm putting into it..thanks for the info..

[Subby]

Hopefully it's not a common issue. I think it may only have happened to me 1 to 3 times over 17 years, myself. I guess it might be just a case of stores stuffing up, leaving things out of the fridge out back in the heat for a few days, or a fridge breaking down, etc.

I really don't know the process of medical transport, but to me it highlights the importance of at least trying to have chemists or pharmacists you think have good practices and are very responsible to their customers. Having worked breifly in retail myself, I know it really comes down to the individuals working there, as to whether they would find insulin accidentally sitting on the back counter and throw it out and order more, or put it back in the fridge and pretend nothing happened. Of course, it's not possible to guarantee something like this won't happen at the most trustworthy seeming chemist you can find - but you gotta stack the odds in your favour, the way I see it.

The place that sold me the dodgy insulin, is a local chain store which seems to vary a lot from store to store, and the particular store seems slovenly, with questionable service and a real sense of apathy in the air. I actually had a sense of "that figures..." when I worked out the insulin was just not up to scratch.

[jenb]

I have definitely experienced ineffective Levemir and Novolog that can't be accounted for by storeage temperature, poor injection site absorption or any other influence that I could determine. If I've been running higher than expected for 3 days I change both pens. That has invariably solved the problem.

I'm sure NovoNordisk would find myriad reasons that it's not their product, and of course there's no easy way to challenge them. Wouldn't it be great to have a home test for the activity level of the insulin you're using?! (I know this has come up in other threads...just ruminating on it in response to this one.)

Jen

[TomB]

Thanks for the info. I got a new batch of insulin and got the same results. Strange, seems like overnight my pre-meal Humalog requirement just about doubled. Tonight I had about a 100g carb dinner. 5u used to take care of that. Tonight I used 8u before eating and did another 3u when my 2 hour PP was 212. Been like that for several days, maybe this is just the new me.