Humalog KwikPen insulin same as Humalog Vial?

[kleeb]

I do best on my insulin pump, but am out of Humalog or Novolog or Apidra in a vial, have no insurance, and spent so much money getting the prescription for pump insulin that I cannot afford to buy the insulin itself! The clinic I went to with my last $70 gave me a few Humalog KwikPens and a prescription for Lantus and Novolog, but I can't afford to buy the Novolog. I will use the Humalog KwikPens with Lantus (for 1 vial another $103 on a credit card that I may or may not be able to pay when it comes due, plus another $32 for needles to use with the KwikPens), but I would rather get back on my pump, for which I still have a few sets and reservoirs. So here is my question: Can I use the Humalog from the KwikPens in my pump? Is it exactly the same? I certainly don't want to damage my pump, but if it is the same, then it seems to me that I could use the KwikPens to inject insulin into an empty insulin bottle and then draw it up into my insulin pump as usual with the adapter. Even if the insulin is the same, could there be impurities in an empty bottle that would contaminate the new insulin? Has anyone done anything like this? And is anyone else angry that a prescription is necessary to buy these life-preserving drugs, while it is impossible to get a prescription without handing over an insurance card or great sums of cash? I can no longer afford to have a regular doctor, and the PAs at the community health clinic don't know anything about Type I diabetes. One of them ordered me to take Lantus only, the entire 24-four requirement (TDD) just before going to bed at night! My blood sugar would have been zero before the sun came up, and when I tried to explain that to him, he became huffy and "pulled rank," citing his medical training. I have been a Type I diabetic for 43 years, so I knew better, but he could have killed someone with this prescription. He even wrote it down on a prescription pad! Aaghh!

[sweetlife]

One can use vial for 28 days once it opened but for pen max usage is upto 10 days as per the product's website and that I read few days back.
No idea on what you are thinking for your pump adding insulin from "other sources" but would love to read views of others on it.

Humalog KwikPen insulin same as Humalog Vial?

[jtausch]

There the same insulin just a different type of delivery syastem. If you cvan get you humolog from the pen to you pump it should work

[SCC]

Agree. When I first went on the pump I had leftover Humalog pens and just put that into the pump reservoir.

[Subby]

If it's the same insulin, the same strength (u100) and good and in date, it's all the same. You can just draw straight from the pen, if the end of the pen fits inside the double pronged drawing mechanism (I've used penfills, but not pens). It will suck right in, with a bit of encouragement.

If that is a no go, get your biggest syringe, draw up, and inject the reservoir, repeat. You can put the drawing mechanism back in at the end, if you need an escape outlet to remove any resulting air.

[strack350]

Why not just get some sample vials to hold you over from your friendly local family pysician/endo/etc....

[Subby]

Why not just get some sample vials to hold you over from your friendly local family pysician/endo/etc....

That's not a bad suggestion anyway, but why waste the insulin in the pens? It's perfectly good for use in a pump, and getting it there is only a hassle of a minute or so if you use a syringe. You might want to keep one pen as a backup, though.

[kleeb]

WHAT friendly local family physician/endo/etc.? No insurance, little money, and so no doctor. They don't see you without extracting large sums of money if you have no insurance. The only thing I could afford (and that meant having to pay late fees on another bill) was $70 for a visit with a PA at the clinic, and they said they only had a few of the Humalog Kwikset pens. No vials of pump insulin. I asked. And what do you mean "hold me over"? Till when? My financial and health situations are in a corresponding downward spiral.

[kleeb]

I wouldn't dream of wasting a drop of insulin. I try to salvage what is in the tubing between the pump and the set! I am constantly trying to come up with money for insulin or money for needles or money for sets and reservoirs or money for test strips. I reuse needles and leave the sets in until the sites are infected. I often take insulin until I have a reaction instead of doing a BG test because I have no strips. I sometimes try to survive on Regular insulin only, which means either getting up every couple of hours through the night to knock it back or having it run up to over 500 by morning! Last week I had 3 blood sugars so high my meter just said HI, which means it was over 600. You can't get help unless you make so little money that you can't keep a roof over your head. I am so sick and tired of struggling with it all. I went heavily into debt trying to keep up with the Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool until it was more than $1000 a month with enormous deductibles and copays. At one time I could buy ultralente and regular insulin for a relatively modest price without having to go through the enormous expense of a doctor's visit, but no more. Now I have to pay a PA who knows far less then I do about type 1 diabetes just to get the prescription I need before I even begin to think about buying the outrageously expensive insulin. Why? Certainly not for my protection.

[strack350]

Kleeb, sorry to hear about your problems I was ONLY offering a suggestion. I assume you have heard of public assistance, DHHR???? I know for a fact most "all" drug companies offer assistence programs to people who cannot afford their medications, based on salary/insurance needs at little or no cost. Also, when buying insulin, why would you waste money on kwick pens, when they are so much more expensive, why not just get a vial and call it a day. I do hope you get things in order, but it's going to take alot of patience and work on your part to use these programs I've suggested. good luck

[Rebecca]

Kleeb, sorry to hear about your problems I was ONLY offering a suggestion. I assume you have heard of public assistance, DHHR???? I know for a fact most "all" drug companies offer assistence programs to people who cannot afford their medications, based on salary/insurance needs at little or no cost. Also, when buying insulin, why would you waste money on kwick pens, when they are so much more expensive, why not just get a vial and call it a day. I do hope you get things in order, but it's going to take alot of patience and work on your part to use these programs I've suggested. good luck

Abbott also has a PPA... they are the ones that make the freestyle brand of meter.
You call them up.. as for their assistance programme.. THEY ARE THE ONLY METER MAKER TO HAVE A PPA.. You meet their guidelines.. they will give you strip for strip as prescribed.
Their guidelines are you have to have been denied assistance from Medicaid (they want a copy of the denial letter), income guidelines do apply.. and a prescription from your doctor.. they will give you as many strips as the doctor prescribes.

As far as insulin needs, there is help out there.. you just have to be willing to do the work. Lily has one (makers of Humalog) and NovoNordisk has one (makers of NovoLog) Sanofi-Avetis has one (makers of Lantus and Apidra).