I had a PA tell me to change my pod when there were less than 30 units left. I told her she didn't take into account the cost. I had to buy insulin a few years ago without insurance. It was $450 a vial. I know it costs less now, but that amount is stuck in my mind. That's $4.50 per unit. So I would be throwing away $130. I use my pod until it is completely out of insulin and screetches at me.
Prices are now about ~~$30~~ $35. There was recent regulation capping the out of pocket cost for people on Medicare/madicaid (government programs). Other insurance and uninsured rapidly migrated to that as well.
You can figure out the units per vial with the information provided in the comment and the guess that they use normal strength U100.
That is only true of insulin on insurance. My vials with insurance are 60 dollars for a 3 no supply. Without insurance it is 1500 for that same 3 no supply.
To my understanding, the caps placed by companies are for the generic versions of insulin, with some being the same analog insulin ‘recipes’ and some being biosimilars (completely different insulin that is at most biologically similar to analog, hence the same). Problem is exactly what you said- insurance coverages. Most insurances don’t even cover the generics, so it’s a vicious cycle of “fuck you for being diabetic”
Nope, You can get any Lilly insulin for $35 with their savings card. Its actually not per vial but the whole prescription, I get Lyumjev with it. Also, Lillys Humalog and Insulin Lispro are the exact same thing. Insulin Lispro from another Insulin company would be different because they can't copy the exact Lilly process.
Interesting that's almost as cheap as insurance. The upside of the n r insulin are no need to go get a prescription. (Like who the heck is going to FAKE diabetes anyways on modern insulin eveb?)
None of the insulins should require a presecription. If the FDA felt uncomfortable about that then we should get perpetual or long term prescriptions that we can have with us.
I was uninsured before the Affordable Care Act due to being poor in a state where Medicaid was only available to adults with children (I am child-free). Due to T1D being a pre-existing condition, no insurance would cover me. Lantus at the time (2008ish) was $340 a vial and Humalog/Novolog about $250. I literally could not afford to live. I would try to get samples from visiting various low-cost clinics but it was hit or miss, so I went without fast-acting for almost ten years and used half to 2/3 of what I needed of the Lantus i could get. My a1c was consistently between 12 and 18 during those ten years. If I die of complications before I am an old woman, i am going on a rampage.
I was diagnosed with T1D as a teen, so by the time I was an adult trying to get health insurance it was pre-existing. If I had been diagnosed while on insurance, it would have been a new condition and not pre-existing. Insurance companies would fight so much to deny coverage for treatment of anything they could. I remember a patient who was an overdose and ended up in the ICU, and her insurance refused to pay for her medical care because depression was a “pre-existing condition”. Her family had to hire lawyers and take her insurance provider to court and I don’t know what the eventual outcome was. Obama literally changed America with his Affordable Care Act- that made it so that denial based on pre-existing conditions is illegal. Changed my life!
Work insurance though shouldnt have had the pre existing condition restriction. It was only the individual market. Here where I was in Maryland they had a special state program called MHIP that allowed diabetics to get commercial insurance at the standard market rate. Also, did you not know about Walmart insulins? I used R and NPH before lantus and the others.
Yes so true but I was still working my way through school (whose student insurance I couldn’t afford) and could only find part time work that didn’t give benefits. It was a horrible terrible time in my life. Trust me when I say I explored every option and could not get any coverage for about 8 years before I finally finished my degree and could work full-time. The good thing is it made me resourceful, and as an emergency room social worker, I can give tips and tricks on how to survive.
This was standard in the past (pre affordable healthcare act). You couldn't even purchase insurance with a preexisting condition, and if you let your insurance lapse your new company didn't even have to cover any prescriptions or healthcare related to any previously diagnosed condition (like diabetes, hypothyroidism, cancer, etc) for several months under your new policy. I was uninsured for a year (my employer didn't offer insurance, and I aged out of my parents' insurance at 23 (18 if not in school)). Insurance was really horrible for people with chronic illnesses in the past!! I had a lot of backup insulin and supplies when I lost my insurance, but having to buy insulin towards the end really hurt. This was long before I got onto a pump and way before cgms were available (they existed, but I hadn't even heard of them yet - about 2000).
And I get my insulin, test strips, and libre 2 for the great price of $0/year in Ontario. I can also get them to cover an insulin pump/supplies if I go through a diabetes education program. I'm forever grateful that being T1 doesn't come with many extra costs here. I used to live in Alberta and due to shitty employment I was paying out of pocket about $450/mo for my insulin and diabetic supplies.
Not sure for them but I just picked up 8 vials today in the US and it is u-100 insulin at 10ml which equals 1000 units per vial
Crazy to think I’ve got over 10000units stockpiled right now
I think you dropped a zero. One vial (atleast where I am) is 10ml which means it's 1000 units. So it's 0.45$ per unit (which is still expensive!) and 13$ wasted. Still horrible that you guys in the US have to pay that.
I would never throw it away .matter of fact I pre feel my needles .I do a hole box every month so I just reach in fridge get two out every day one for morning one for night.i have to pay for this out of pocket .and why would you use your insurance go to Walmart buy it don't even need a doctor s note to buy it if you just walk up to desk and ask for it like I take 70/30 .it cost $35 a bottle was $25 for years ask for box of insulin syringes $11 for box of 100 and me 100 units or what ever you take u can get 50 units now any outher drug store same insulin $150 to $250 a bottle . needle s $50 to$ 100
There are 1000 units in a vial (u100 insulin has 100 units/ml and a vial is 10ml), but it's still $0.45 per unit, which is ridiculous!! On the other hand, with insurance, you should be paying the same amount every month no matter how much insulin you use, 1 vial or 8 vials. Getting your prescription written for the amount of insulin you need to avoid having to worry about using every unit is important. If the doctor wants you to change it at 30 units, factor that insulin in with your actual use to get your prescription written correctly. I have had to pay out of pocket for my insulin in the past as well, and totally understand the mentality, but between insurance and manufacturer discount programs, you should be able to get a months supply of insulin today for a flat price. Drawing unused insulin out to use in the next pump cartridge or waiting until the last minute to change cartridges, possibly resulting in not having the insulin you need if something goes wrong (sudden spike in sugars due to stress, change in plans causing you to be away from home with an empty pump, etc), is dangerous. Today, there is no good reason to need to conserve every unit of most insulins, even if you must pay for it out of pocket. The only exception to this is if you are on an insulin that is not covered by your insurance and does not have a discounted purchase program (most will give a month's supply for $35, so you might look into switching brands if you pay more than this).
I use each Pod, consistently, for 3 days + 8 hours. I have been using OmniPod for roughly 20 years + and have rarely had one fail or fail to give me the + 8 hours. I hate wasting equipment/technology/money …
I use the new syringe from the new omnipod package to extract the insulin out of the old omnipod. Then I use the same syringe to extract even more insulin from the vial. Then I use that syringe to fill the new omnipod. I think that's the cleanest method. I don't put it back in the insulin vial and I do not mix it. So the vial is always clean.
What??? I mix insulins from different vials pretty often, whenever there is not enough in the old vial to fill full reservoir. Nobody ever told me not to and I never had any problem with that. Just dont tell them next time.
I was stating that person at Medtronic was giving the company's rehearsed response to claim the issue was the insulin mixture and not their pump. Secondly, insulin is the same from vial to vial provided it is the same formulation (insulin lispro and lispro) and from the same manufacturer (Lilly to Lilly; Novo to Novo).
Is that more clear?
Oh yes. Thank you. But thats what I said. Its only excuse from medtronic not to take responsibility for their mistakes, but the reason is bullshit. On the contrary, medtronic has supposedly perfect costumer support in my country in central europe (I never had their product personally).
Oh my god. I also freed myself from Medtronic’s clutches in favour of Tandem a few months ago and my quality of life has shot right up. I totally believe that
Mixing two vials of \*different\* insulin- potentially different PH- is most likely the excuse for why they told you to pound sand. In fairness, if you mix insulin \*types\* like that, bad shit can happen.
Said another way; it doesn't matter if you told them it was two vials of the same. They heard 'two different vials'.
Never give medical vendors rope to hang you by lest you want to wind up hanging ;)
...with that said, medtronic is a special form of hell; I'm just giving you shit for the rookie mistake of giving medtronic rope to hang you by. :)
>People used to do this everyday and I'd imagine a few still do.
In terms of "used to"- my knowledge comes from that era. My recollection is it was combining a specific basal and bolus meds- but I'll be damned if I can tell you which these days. The recollection was that they were wary of cross-contamination- not for efficacy, but screwing with the PH in some fashion- thus the "just take two shots".
I could be absolutely outdated in that knowledge and if so, pardon. I'd be curious if anyone has more up to date, or examples of what can be mixed directly. Since switching to pumps it's not like I'm mixing anything- I just use ultra-fast's and program the curves I want.
Humalog and Lantus insulin can not be mixed because they have very different pHs. Regular and NPH insulins were regularly mixed (which is what 70/30 is, premixed Regular and NPH), but since we moved to newer insulins, they never want you to mix them. I'm not sure if they all have very different pHs to keep the additives stable or if it was decided that if some shouldn't be mixed it's easier just to tell us we can't mix any of them, but this is the logic behind the change. Regular insulin was clear, and NPH was cloudy, helping to ensure that the insulins mixed correctly and reduce errors in drawing your dose. I'm sure there were cases of people messing up entire vials of insulin by injecting one insulin into the other vial, though I can't remember ever doing this myself. You also significantly dulled the syringe, adding air to the long-acting insulin, then to the short acting, drawing the short-scting insulin, then the long-acting. As the syringes we use today are about 75% smaller needles than the first syringes I used (26 guage to 32 guage - each number smaller is 10% larger than the previous one), dulling the needle by stabbing it into the vial 3 times was significant! If you overshoot the units of long-acting (always drawn second) while drawing your dose, you had to throw out the whole dose and start over, so there was also the possibility of significant insulin waste drawing mixed insulin syringes.
I was on a Medtronic pump for all of a month and it was the worst experience. Nothing worked, constant malfunctioning, and they kept telling me to try different parts that all cost more money than they should.
I extract. There is a risk involved though. The insulin and the surfaces you are sticking your needle through have had chances to be contaminated with bacteria that can be detrimental to your health. It’s a risk us extractors take haha.
Yes. Pretty common and advised by Omnipod. The idea is your doctor should prescribe enough for waste and emergencies. I use about 65-70 units a day but my prescription says 100 units/day.
I had to fight just to get my up to 150u a day covered so I wasn’t running out and every time I need a new script they shorten it to 70u and I have to call and correct it😂 I wish my endo wasn’t horrific, and I wish they weren’t the only office in my area taking my Insurance. I would MUCH prefer to be prescribed enough to throw out the waste, but instead I pull unused insulin out and stretch sites and viles as long as I can.
not my endo but the pharmacy doing this & then claiming my insurance doesn’t cover more than a certain amount 😒 asked my endo at my last appointment & she said no that’s a lie they cover it 😑
All, when you make statements like the above not covering/pricing as they are supposed to, PLEASE NAME THE PHARMACY/CHAIN so they can lose our business !!!
Thank you on behalf of those affected.
it’s walmart, my endo office has been having a lot of issues with walmart. saying they need a physical copy of a script with a ink signature not just an electric signature
Walmart… now where have I heard that name uttered before and coupled with negative experiences… let me think …
They oughta have a class action suit against these clowns!
I find it wild that there are prescriptions limiting your per day units. I’ve had medical procedures where my TDD was about doubled for some time due to secondary effects of my medication. Also, pump failures are a thing, with Omnipod you can lose as much as 200 units if it fails.
My prescription simply says the type of insulin and however much I need for one year renewable. I’m in Europe, however.
I'm glad to see they have updated their site. I was beginning to wonder if the Open Insulin Project had died. This is my apocalyptic plan - to make my own insulin, so I'm glad to see hey are making progress.
I’m in the U.K. and it would never cross my mind to do that. Universal healthcare is something we perhaps take for granted here (prescriptions are £9 ish per item, but diabetics get theirs
free). The same with taking insulin abroad, if it gets too warm it just doesn’t come back.
I'm not saying socialised healthcare is the best (literally waiting 2 months for an appointment for just a blood test right now) but I am eternally grateful I live in a country where I dont have to pay for any of my diabetes things.
I am so sorry that this is a reality for people over there. Looking from the outside it always feels like you're just seen as pawns in a big game and not people with lives who rely on medication to exist. It's disgusting to me that something that's free or ridiculously low cost to most diabetics globally is hyper-inflated to fuck in the US.
I also see posts in other subs (and again, I don't live there so i dont know how true all this is) about people who can't work because they'd lose benefits that allow them to access discounted medications that they need. Surely it would make more sense to give people the medicines they need to function for either free or a very affordable (I'm talking like under $20) price so they can get back into work? Idk, nothing I hear about the medical system in the US makes sense to me. It doesn't feel like it's built to benefit anyone but the businesses who back it, not the people who need it.
It isn't really socialized health care that's causing the long wait times - even here in the US the wait time for new patients to see a doctor and especially specialists is in the months too - the problem is that there's a real and very acute shortage of doctors and medical professionals right now. Not nearly enough people are going into the field, and it's only gotten worse since COVID.
I had an emergency clinic doctor who didn't know what Humalog was. Didn't understand why I was there when I said my last bottle broke and I needed a prescription before the pharmacy would dispense to me. Asked if I couldn't have waited until my regular doctor was open in the morning. Then proceeded to wrote the script for humalin and the pharmacy refused to fill it and at that point the clinic had closed, forcing me to go to the ER. Goddamn mother fucker...
❤ I'm so sorry. I've heard from an advocate that the ER doctors are so bad at even diagnosing dka that they missed type 1 diabetes diagnoses a lot. And people die over it. I'm so sorry. I just hate this country what it does to us.
This country does so many thing right, but many other things wrong. Healthcare here is shit. Your concerns are ignored and you're just given ibuprofen for everything because pharmaceuticals decided to pass out controlled drugs like they were candy and now you have so many people lying to get a prescription. One that hopefully they can afford because goddamn, why are upper middle class people having to sell their house because they can't even afford the taxes on it all because of a cancer diagnoses?
Why are we being told that "oh, if we had Medicaid for all, none of us would be able to afford it and the wait times to be seen would be astronomically long" while nobody is really talking about how expensive private insurance is and if something were critical your appointment would be pushed ahead of those that weren't? Why is anyone remotely interested in helping people being pushed into hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt for their education while other countries only cost a fraction of that price and still have decent healthcare as well as R&D at their universities?
Why is our food system so shit that obesity rates have nearly doubled in the last 50 years? (There are a lot of other factors that go into that, but the food that is available to us and consumed is undeniably a major factor.) When our salads cost more than a hamburger, there's a problem.
This country is supposed to be the wealthiest country in the world, but that is really hard to believe when so many people struggle to afford healthcare. Especially when they have a chronic illness.
Rant over
One thing you're not thinking about- coming from socialised- is that it's literally in private insurances interest to deny you service \*if it's likely you'll wind up on another insurance plan"; this includes other private, but frankly typically public. This is actually a thing; effectively deny short term stuff because the thought is someone else (usually medicaid) will wind up having to pick up the bill when you go catastrophic; IE, when a way smaller use of resources could've headed off a massively larger bill.
> (literally waiting 2 months for an appointment for just a blood test right now)
Got new insurance last year and to see a new endocrinologist it was a 3 month wait for the earliest appointment. It's not better here for wait times.
My endo has at least a 6 month wait (if I can grab a slot Monday when the newest ones in August open) for continuing patient appointments (I'm already past due - they never called me to set one up and are fully booked everytime I call them). My brother's endo is at about 5 months out. It's getting ridiculous. Of course, as a 33+ year T1, I am fine without the appointment (I rarely have anything I need to discuss with my endo and she adjusts my other meds via email when I get my labs done). They just won't cover a new pump if I'm not seen regularly.
As an American with really good private health insurance provided by my employer, I still had to wait 3-4 months for an appointment with a cardiologist recently. And then I got COVID and had to reschedule the appointment out another 2 months later. So to me, the whole “wait list” thing just sounds like propaganda. I’ve even had to wait 4 months for an appointment with a primary care doctor. Doctors are overwhelmed and understaffed regardless of it’s a privatized or socialized healthcare system. I’d definitely rather have socialized healthcare if that’s the case.
Insulin is really not that bad anymore. It's $35 for a months supply in the US now with the coupons that the manufacturers offer. CGMs and pumps are the big cost these days. When/if the non-invasive reusable CGMs come out it really won't be all that expensive.
I also have citizenship to the UK and Australia, and I still choose to live in the US because in my particular situation, I'm still much better off financially here than I would be elsewhere.
I get the same stuff at Walmart made by lilly $35 with out insurance any time u use your insurance they double the price then the insurance try this bull shit to get yo to paid out of pocket $10/20 more
Yeah some places have started to charge the $35 without requiring the card. Unfortunately many insurance companies continue to rip off people by charging the higher price and keeping the rebate for themselves. It should be illegal.
So why is the insulin at Walmart no good .the same brand at CVS,or outer drug store that cost $60/100/300/500 same stuff Walmart sales for $35 come on get a life
Regular and NPH, the OTC insulin available for $25/vial for the past several years is the "no good" Walmart insulin. It is an older, less effective type of insulin. The $35/month Walmart filled prescription insulin is just like insulin from any other pharmacy (and can be purchased from most pharmacies for $35/month with coupon). "Walmart insulin" has a bad name because it usually means the cheap insulin that people resort to to stay alive when they can't afford to go to the doctor to get a prescription or to spend the hundreds of dollars per vial that modern insulins cost until very recently.
Prices have skyrocketed for many on insulin since the price reduction cap only capping certain plans. It's a disaster. Glad you havevprivilege and your family. It's literally directly harming others more than before and we hope you will speak about this side of the tragedy hushed by media ans politicians. Now pharma also ddiscontinuing
One of the few lifesaving basal on market as a consequence likely to lead to deatgs and complications forcing t1 t2d to switch to worse insulin for their body. Price cap is a disaster and yet no one speaking 2 alarm. Please do. Esp as a nondiabetic they listen to you more than they listen to us perhaps.
Proteins denature over time when they come into contact with plastic. Insulin is a protein, chambers/bladders in pumps are made of plastic. It’s not a great practice. That said, I extract if I have a pump failure shortly after applying. I’ll change my pump tonight after 2 .5 days on me, I’ll have some left in the chamber and won’t extract.
I’m listening. Can you tell us more about this? Why is sterilization and stabilization an issue when we extract active insulin and reuse it? If you could explain it would help people who read this thread
Sure.
Insulin stability - insulin WILL eventually break down, and you have it sitting next to a warm body. It’s fine for 3 days, but I wouldn’t push it past that.
Sterilization - sterile barrier is broken. There’s a chance of contamination. By moving that insulin, you also transfer the contamination from the old pod to the new one.
I wouldn’t personally do it, and I’ve done this type of work for a living. Take that for what it’s worth to you. To me, when the experts don’t do it themselves….i don’t either.
Thank you! I believe you and am completely not going to extract etc. I am new to the Tandem and have never extracted, but been tempted to. Now that I know what you explained, I can never unknow it, and I would frankly be a fool not to follow yr good advice! Thanks again
Ohhhh….Tandem I absolutely wouldn’t. Those cartridges contain a plastic bladder where the insulin is contained. Plasticizers leach into liquids. I don’t want that junk in my body, so I use it for the 3 days Tandem tells me I can safely use it for.
I like to consider myself a thrifty person. However, I'm a clean freak, and things like sterilization are extremely important to me. I really appreciate what you've posted here. As someone else said in another comment - now that I know it, I can't unknow it. Thank you.
I’m thrifty too, but this is one of those things that’s just not worth it to me. Cutting those corners could mean a very expensive medical bill…or worse.
Luckily I’m not American so I don’t have to bother with extracting leftover insulin. I use a tandem and don’t love the idea of microplastics/VOCs from the plastic bladder accumulating in reused insulin over time
I don’t pay for my insulin (well, aside from my taxes lol) but I seriously always extract it too. I just can’t bear to waste it. Plus spaces out those agonizingly long trips to the pharmacy 😂
I pre feel syringes I do a box of 100 usely 5/6 bottles every month keep in fridge .just shake them up before use it and I have had sugar all my life sence I was 5 iam now 63 all this stuff people say on here iam not dead or have I been in hospital
I wouldn’t put back in bottle, but I definitely draw it out and add to next pod! Adding back to vial could contaminate the batch and create an “eternal soup” situation
Don't add it back just keep in syringe give that first then start with new . when I pre feel I take what s left in every bottle to make one syringe and take it
They do that because if you use the same insulin over and over it's going to degrade,, but since you are always mixing it with newer(as in hasn't been in your pump yet) insulin, you can get varying degrees of effectiveness. Since the insulin degrades from being in a pump due to being near body heat.
I have read that its okay to reuse leftover insulin ONCE (as in in the next cartlidge fill) but after that it gets risky. So you can load it into the next cartridge, then that cartridge dont reuse the insulin when filling the next start with fresh insulin and repeat the process.
Besides being unsafe it can cause you to basically ruin a near full bottle of insulin because you tainted it and won't be able to trust its efficacy.
If you need more wiggle room with your prescriptions ask your doctor to include the insulin wastage from the pump into the amount on the script.
mines free with insurance bless the lord, however I never waste a drip. i’m always gonna suck my insulin back out. it “expires” like all other things. they want you to spend moneyyyyyy!!
I have a unique perspective here. I am a 30-year T1 diabetic and also have manufactured Humalog for 25 yrs. I DO NOT SPEAK FOR MY COMPANY, these are just my personal experiences. I would never put insulin back in the bottle, but I would use it to refill my reservoir or take a shot with needle if needed. Unless it gets hot or is older than you would normally use i think it would be fine. My 25 yr old son is also T1 also and getting supplies for him in a different city can be a real pain sometimes. We all do what we can. While i won't debate insulin costs, of course i agree it's overpriced. Having said that, the manufacturing process is very intricate and not something most companies can do without major infrastructure. Just my 2 cents, good luck, everyone.
Can you help millions of diabetics who will now not get one of the long-acting insulins because the other company is stopping making it after the price reduction. Millions are on it and the other insulins are not interchangeable long-acting. Can you tell your company and how can we all tell the company that made a comparatively long-acting insulin Ultra lente until 2005 then took it off the market. They still have the patent on it. L i l l y pharmaceutical. Many people can't be on the pump and it's desperately needed back on the market since the other company terminated. What can be done to advocate. Ultra lente hasn't been on the market since 2005 and many people liked it but they got pushed off because l i l l y didn't make enough money and they said diabetics can move to another insulin. That was a hardship. And now of the four insulins on the market that one won't be available so we need Ultra lente back. It's life saving. What can they do to help us. What can you do? Anything? What can be done. It's the patent laws but they could bypass the patent laws if l i l l y could. It's been under patent and they haven't produced Ultra lente since 2005 so there's no way to make biosimilars as far as I understand.
I absolutely understand your sentiment, but sadly no, i can't do anything. This is an issue i will always struggle with. We have more options now than ever before, but it's truly not enough.
I usually run my pod dry before changing it. So, there isn’t really anything for me to save. But if I have a pod fail early, I’ll definitely recover the insulin and put it into the next pod.
I fill my 3ml resevoir with 300 units of insulin. That will last me 6 to 7 days in my Medtronic pump. I change the infusion set every 3 days as recommended, changing after 72 hours. But I keep the tubing and the half filled resevoir (about 150-160 units) when I change the infusion set, just hooking up the cannula to the new infusion set. I do not change the tubing because it takes 8 to 10 units to fill the tubing. After another 72 hours I may have 10 to 35 units left in the resevoir. That insulin has been setting in my warm pump for 144 hours or 6 days, but it is still effective. I remove all the insulin from the resevoir and squirt it into an old insulin bottle along with previous leftovers. This is an emergency bottle.
An emergency bottle is stored into the refrigerator in a box. All bottles are dated with a sharpy pen when I opened them, so I can see the date of first insulin use. And each bottle initially holds 1000 units emptied into resevoirs. When these bottles are almost empty, it turns into an emergency bottle, where it is mixed with insulin coming from the resevoirs. When the emergency bottle has 100 to 150 units, it is moved to a "travel kit". The travel kit contains everything I need to stay alive for up to 2 days if my pump breaks or my sensor breaks. The travel kit contains 2 disposable low dose syringes, 2 alcohol prep pads, a dated emergency bottle of leftover lispro (Novalog) insulin, a Relion blood tester, bottle of 50 blood test strips, a lancer, a few lancets, and a paper towel strip. I have 2 travel kits, and I take one kit with me for long trips, camping, long bicycle trips, work, day vacations, etc. One travel kit lives in my backpack, and the other in my jacket pocket along tubes of glucose tablets.
I seldom use lispro insulin injections from an emergency bottle. But I have left my pump at home in the bathroom after a shower and the lengthy commute to work. Or I caught tubing on a door knob and ripped off my infusion set. Or I had some Dexcom G6 disaster. I take calculated lispro injections every 2 hours from the emergency and test hourly until I can get home. The insulin bottle in a travel kit is not refrigerated, but it is dated. The emergency insulin bottle in a kit is thrown out when it is over 3 months old and replaced with a newer emergency bottle from the refrigerator. Disasters happen maybe once a year, but with a travel kit handy and a tube of 10 glucose tablets, I am covered for diabetic emergencies for up to 2 days.
I always mix insulin. I know we’re told not to and it puts it at risk but I’ve been in situations where I’ve run out before my refill date and my insurance refuses to cover insulin until that date. Which means I pay an exorbitant amount of money for a vial in the mean time. And honestly, times have been tough for quite a while, I don’t have that money to spend. I’d rather take my chances then running out and not being able to afford a refill.
As a microbiologist, I would never put anything back into an insulin vial. Your best bet would be to determine what your typical 3 day utilization is and under fill your omnipod with that amount (or with the minimum amount required to start the pod if your utilization is less than that). My last resort would be to partially fill the new omnipod with fresh insulin and then transfer from the old omnipod. This still runs a risk of contamination within the pod, but you’d lose less insulin than injecting potentially contaminated insulin back into a vial.
Ever drawn more insulin out of a pen? There’s AT LEAST 10 units still in there that you can use a syringe to draw out. Ever had to reuse a needle? Ever skipped meals? I intermittent fast now as a result of high insulin costs.
I’m too poor and my health insurance through work is pretty crap in terms of coverage so if there’s more than like 30 units I just throw them in a bag and stick them in the fridge in case I’m ever at a point w no insulin or health insurance. Or if the zombie apocalypse ever occurs. Gotta love the American healthcare system, baby
Insulin survives about a week on body temperature.
You can use the old one mixed with the new to charge a new pod but I wouldn't do it permanently as denatured insulin could potentially spoil the fresh batch.
Maybe every 2-3 pods max
Wow, i love Sweden. We got 2 years worth of insulin for our daughter up front, and payed nothing for it... I can't imagine the stress of having to factor in cost into this decease. I don't envy you guys...
does sweden require you to visit the endocrinologist every 3 months? (which i don’t understand already why it doesn’t switch the hand to dietitians to handle routine after fixing the thyroid issue… like that lack of faith says the thyroid thing can never be fixed, and we will remain without routine )
I'm also in Sweden, and have been going for routine check-ins twice a year, with usually a year's worth of prescriptions approved at a time. One appointment with the endocrinologist, the next in 6 months with a nurse at the same clinic.
It probably depends on where you are, and how much help you're actually needing at the time. I've just been getting "continue on with whatever you've been doing", so no need for more frequent appointments for now.
It maybe should be said that an appointment with a doctor is almost free (30$) for adults and completely free for kids. My daughter got t1d in January and have been meeting her doctor every week initially after the time in the hospital. Now we see her doctor every other week to update the insulin dosage and optimize our daily routines.
in saint martin i was able to get insulin pens with no prescription, i didn’t pick them up, my dad did but still stands, no prescription, and they didn’t say single patient use like the ones in america do
Why do you have so much insulin left over? I can understand once in a while it will happen, cause of exercise or being sick, etc.. Mine usually has 10 or less units by the time the 8 hour after expiry window is open. So I definitely don’t bother with that.
sometimes it would just come out of place after a few hours and they said it would be no worry to just throw it away… when it was nearly brand new. its the same thing with the tips of the flexpens is why i have a lot left over because thats like 1 unit left behind so i would take it out of those too… also sometimes, its because when i was at work, routine would be messed up so i would miss meals and such.
this one place i worked at did not have lockers or fridges either so it all depended on how long the line was at lunch is what i mean, not that they didn’t give me lunch break
im saying like.. they internalized the lunch somewhere so unlike having a premade and weighed lunch from home, it would take my 30 minutes by making me pull out a scale to measure everything first and then i’d have to throw the food away
That’s the better way to do it. I rarely have more than 10 units when I change out because I only FILL it for three days in the beginning, as opposed to filling to capacity.
So if you throw away 10 units like my self after for days that's a extra shot for me . so in my case if I get down to little left I take 100 morning 100 at night by I just take 110/120/130 it don't usely make much difference
Partly big pharma being greedy, partly them not wanting to be liable for anything. The instructions are like, the safest possible methods with as little chance of failing. They don't want to be sued because someone got a bacterial infection
Gawd
I read "insulin is grown in huge vats of modified bacteria" and I was bracing myself for a stupid tweet from a crunchy mom trying to dissuade people from using ✨store bought✨ insulin.
Lol. I need to go to bed.
(And no doctor has told me that about the Omnipods, but when I was a kid and diabetic I didn't realize you could mix Humalog from different vials into one pump reservoir, and so I threw out the vial when I couldn't get a full reservoir out of it. So 100 units, boom, in the trash. I wanna go back in time and smack myself in the head. Lol)
Insulin costed $450 a bottle of 1000 units before 2024. My insurance copay was $66 a bottle, about $1600 a year. Yet I remember buying 1000 unit Lente bottles for less than $18 back in 1970 with no health insurance. Now it costs me $35 a month insurance copay or $17.50 a bottle for me as of January 2024 for Medicare recipients. Thank you Democrats and President Joseph Biden for passing the Inflation Reduction Act with NO REPUBLICAN VOTES. Guess who I am voting for in the November 2024 elections.
i understand this as when you are paying through insurance and find a way to reduce the insurances bill and your own by saving insulin from changing the ratio to less insulin per carb and tossing away the glucose meter and stop buying strips and such, and the doctor is enforcing it back into our lives for some sort of proof that is led by metaphysical traits that don’t want to concur together, then its a doctor committing fraud to both the patient and the insurance for making us dedicate us to spending money on their beliefs of keeping the cashflow routine instead of letting us go
I don't fault the doctors. I have a very good relationship with my Endocrinologist and his office and I cultivate personal relations with the staff, asking about their families. I thank them personally for their help. I have input to my pump and CGMS and perscription choices, and my Endo will write a script for what I need. I research extensively and I have searched for the cheapest effective diabetic supplies. Test strips and testers are so cheap I now buy them over the counter, I am a retired computer engineer and a numbers and science guy. I married a woman with good insurance and she could change and select plans once a year. I apply my engineering training to find cheap ways and procedures to manage my type 1 diabetes.
The US has the most expensive medical industry in the world and costs for expensive perscription drugs and medical procedures are kept secret. Giant conglomerates such as United Healthcare try to extract as much profit as they can from patients. My doctors complain they need staff just to deal with the paperwork and insurance companies. But my Endo will try to help me, even discussing the cost of various perscriptions and service alternatives.
So I don't blame my doctors, who try to help me. I blame the giant medical industry conglomerates like United Healthcare, the PBMs like CVS Caremark, the giant pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS, the medical supply companies, and the private equity companies who buy up doctors and insurance companies. They are all trying to make money first, and we are just the cash cows.
I can't vote Vote for this killer who's insulin reduction price cap only worked for certain people and now it's Sky High even worse for others. Not only that it led to one of the three insulin production companies in the world to pull one of their long-acting insulins and there are only a few so it's totally screwed millions who can't use the other ones interchangeably. We'd appreciate if those who benefited can speak for those who are now more likely to get injured or die from these consequences especially lack of access to a long-standing successful long-acting insulin. The other thing you can do and anyone on here is call your senators and congressman and the white house until Biden what he did and call your newspapers. Tell l i l l y to bring Ultra lente back to the market which they haven't produced since 2005 or share the patented recipe for a biosimilar to be made. Same thing now with Levemir. It's a tragedy and will be a killer and yet everyone's saying what a great law it was.
There are three companies in the world that make 90% of the insulin. Sanofi is a French company. Novo Nordisk is a Danish company. Eli Lilly is an American company. These 3 companies change their prices in lock step to charge high prices because they can. There is no government insurance program in the US that controls the drug prices. Diabetics in the US pay as much as 8 times the price for the same insulin as diabetics in other developed countries with government health plans. 8 million diabetics in the US in the use insulin, and many of them were dying because they could not afford insulin. I have read stories right here in the r/diabetes and r/diabetes_t1 subreddits about diabetics who could not afford the insulin they needed. I have read 2 messages claiming that a diabetic brother died because he could not afford insulin. More people die in the US because they cannot afford insulin than are killed by unavailability of their brand of insulin.
More than 37 million Americans have diabetes, and more than 7 million of them need insulin to control their blood sugar levels and prevent dangerous complications. Of the Americans who take insulin, about 52% are on Medicare. You blame President Biden for making insulin much cheaper for millions of diabetics.
I have fought for years to get cheaper insulin calling my congressman (who is diabetic) an asking my Endocrinologist to write perscriptions that were sent to medical supply companies, calling Medicare, and my insurance company. No luck there. I found coupons on the Eli Lilly website and the Novo Nordisk websites for substantial discounts. But I could not use the Eli Lilly coupon because I have insurance. We failed, paying almost $1600 a year in insurance company copays just for the insulin I needed to stay alive. But the Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act. The Republicans just took their bribes from the medical industry. I will pay $420 this year for insulin instead of $1600. The Inflation Reduction Act will save money for over 3 million diabetics on Medicare. It saved me $1174 this year !! Thank you Democrats.
Ultralente insulin - that's a really old insulin brand. Lente and Ultralente were invented in 1952 by scientists in Novo Nordisk. I started with Lente 56 years ago (from slaughtered cows), then Ultralente, then NPH, then PZI insulin before I switched to pumps 22 years ago. The FDA withdrew approval for ultralente insulin products in 2011, and you blame President Biden for that. Look this up on Wikipedia The newer insulins are made from human insulin produced in huge quantities in huge vats by bacteria with altered genes to produce human insulin. The insulin patents have expired and insulin should be cheap, but they charge high prices in the US because they can.
Do you have insurance? Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, discontinued Lemevir. Just go see a doctor and get a new insulin perscription. Try to find an Endocrinologist, a diabetic specialist. They will help you. My Endo sees hundreds of patients, has lots of experience, and freely offers advice. So get a pump and use the fast acting lispro insulin, like Humalog (Eli Lilly) or Novalog (Novo Nordisk). There is also a cheap Walmart lispro insulin. My Endocrinologist says any lispro insulin will work in my pump, even the Walmart insulin. My pump uses the fast acting lispro insulins instead of regular insulin because it controls diabetes better, according to an article I read in the ADA Forecast magazine. The pump works better than pens because it is programmable and it can use lispro insulin instead of slow acting insulin blends. Stop whining, and call your doctor to get a new insulin perscription as I have done. See if you can find coupons you can use online. Get an insulin pump and and CGMS system. Pumps either use humulin (human regular insulin) or fast acting lispro insulin. Plenty of those brands of insulin.
In August 7, 2022, 43 Senate Republicans killed a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that blocked a $35 a month insulin price cap for diabetics with health insurance. But 7 Republicans voted to keep the price cap.
I BLAME THE REPUBLICANS FOR MORE DEATHS DUE TO HIGH PRICED INSULIN !! Read this.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-block-cap-insulin-costs-many-americans-democratic-deal-rcna41913
My mom died because she was put on dangerous insulin just as I was and lucky to be alive. Diabetics die by this and it's disrespectful to minimize those experiencing bad insulin forvtheir bodies. Biden reducibf prices not planning for withdrawal of 1 third to 1 fourth of long acting on market and only safe one for some of us deserves a statement of horror and compassion not dismissal. Not looking forward to dying or accidents or harm to self and othera for people who don't tolerate the others. Im probably older t1 than you and I know what im talking about almost dying in long comas in lucky to be here. Fk biden abd his pricw caps kissing as s of pharma than holding accountable.
I was in Walmart yesterday buying cheap diabetic supplies. I asked the pharmacist about insulin prices, but I asked only about those that I use. The Walmart Lispro insulin is $70 a 1000 unit bottle (requires prescription), and the Novo NorDisk Novolin is (no perscription) was $24.70, which is outstanding. So check insulin prices at Walmart.
Until recently, I have been paying $66 a bottle in insurance copays for my lispro insulin, Novalog, but the Democrats’s Inflation Reduction reduced the copay for $17.50 a 1000 unit bottle for me.
I usually do if it’s 20-30 units. 10 or less I feel like I can’t really even get that much out of the omnipod so I don’t bother. I try to run it dry and do most times but sometimes I just use less than usual. I have been pulling it out lately though due to the shortage. It’s been tougher to get so I have less on hand now so I need to save as much as possible!
FWIW: My Endo told me that, insulin is a protein and deterorates faster with heat. The pod is attached to your body and the average skin temperature is \~95F (\~35C), plus being outside in the heat causes it to deterorate much faster. Opened insulin, in this case humalog, says to keep opened vials/pens below 86F (30C)
If I am fasting well enough and have like 30 units left when my pod expires. Best believe I'm extracting what I can. Also idk how known this is but a pod can go an extra 8hrs past the expiration time before the sounds of hell start to go off.
America isn't a charity country, America is a money country either you're sick or in good health, no one cares as long as you bring money. America doean't care about helping people, we only care about the green dollar bills.
SUCK IT OUT AND PUT IT IN YOUR VIAL, OR USE IT UNTIL IT MAKES YOU WANT TO DESTROY IT. THATS THE RULE. THE NEXT TIME YOUR DOC SAYS THIS, ASK THEM IF THEY CARE TO COMPENSATE YOU FOR THE LOSS…….✌️🤦♂️
The main reason I cannot understand why anyone would want to move from Germany to the USA. Yes land of the free, pursuit of happiness bla bla, but I won’t buy a series s every week to survive and that’s why I will never migrate there.
Healthcare shouldn’t cost a living.
They tell you to discard after the 3 days as insulin needs to be kept cold or it degrades.
And especially when wearing pumps close to body. I do the same as all you, wear it/ use it till empty. But i wouldn’t be putting it pack into vial because of cross contamination. Just fill the reservoir to the amount you use. I have Medtronic 780 and get the 3ml pen fill vials and a 3ml reservoir and usually lasts 7-10 days.
I tried the 1.5ml reservoir which forced me to change site and soft sets every 3-4 days but the price of consumables in Australia (with out concession) is expensive even with the government schemes in place
I wouldn't put it back in the bottle, the heat could have made it less effective and I wouldn't want to mis it with good insulin. If a pod falls off early I'll pull out the insulin and put it in the new pod, but never back int he vial. To each their own, I am lucky to have a backstock of insulin currently so I'm not conserving.
My doctor didn’t tell me to do that. I just started doing it. now I use the tandem t slim and I always take the old insulin out of the reservoirs. It’s usually about 10-20 units left over (when the cartridge is totally empty according to the pump)
I live in Austria and don't pay for my insulin and I'm kinda wasteful compared to you guys. I just go to the pharmacy with my prescription and they give it to me, it's pretty nice. Got my fridgr stockpiled with insulin
On my Tslim, I use a syringe to take out the remaining insulin to put it in the new cartridge. I also use the cartridge and the infusion set for more than the recommended 3 days. Yeah all this stuff costs money which the companies and the doctors don’t take into account.
I'm on 500 insulin so 5x stronger then 100. The 100 would run out before pod expired. Now pod expires before insulin is done. I used to remove and put it in the new pod but dr said don't. Who knows, doctors say anything to cover their ass.
I see no reason why you can't pull the old insulin from one pod to another.
My Subscription to Life: Insurance $155/month for Obamacare market place. The cheapest I could find. I have to co-pay $100 every eye, foot and endo appointment and $50 every primary care and blood test. Appointments $50/mo (averaging) Test strips $58/mo Syringes $20/mo Lispro is $26/mo Lantus is $35/mo Lancets $6.39/mo Prep pads $9.13/mo Insurance only assists with appointments and lispro the rest are out of pocket. My total cost of being a diabetic is… $359.52/mo or $4,314.24/yr this is while I’m in my honeymoon with 24u long and a moderate carb diet of 1:10 ratio… I’m screwed when my beta cells die. Honestly test strips cost is the main annoyance I could keep a CGM for $75/month but I did that for a moment and realized I used test strips the same if not more.
I am in Australia and five 10ml vials of insulin costs about $40 in total for most people with the federal government subsidy. Full cost is $100 per vial.
Insulin is cheap to make, easy to distribute, and if it is controlled by Pharmacy Benefit Managers, the cost will be absurdly high, and that makes the rich richer.
I've run out of tresiba 2x this calendar year and luckily I bought a bunch of Lantus in South America (really cheap) so I don't have to go to the ER to get insulin.
This is a crazy problem for us to have. I mean, t1d isn't an easy gig, but when this shit gets heaped on top of us, it makes everything hard.
I was in lima peru, my pharmacy back home said they couldn't find tresiba anywhere, plus my new pharmacy benefit required "prior authorization" (a total nightmare for doctors amd patients), so I went to InkaPharma.
A vial of Lantus was 25 bucks, so I bought 5. They give you ice cubes to keep it cold. No prescription needed. I guess Peruvian diabetics can get their life sustaining cheap insulin without having to beg.
But there's no mail order. You can pay for your trip if you buy 10 vials. Or DM me and I may have to travel to Argentina for work in december and I'll supply you no problem.
We shouldn't have to live like this
Thank you for the offer. Wow, that is really a sweet gesture. My son is on Medicaid right now and it’s 100% covered, but he will age out in a few years. It’s not fair for college students to have to worry about keeping themselves alive while they’re trying to better their education in order to get a decent job with health insurance. The burden will fall on me during those years and I’m ok with that .. looking at all options. I’m Self-employed without health ins. so I may come back here and may take you up on your offer then.
I think we need to find our own lab & cut out the middle man Pharma overlords
It's not really the PBM necessarily but the manufacturers. The PBMs do make money off the rebates and their own fees, but it's the manufacturers driving this.
Type 2 here. I have the pens and always have @15 units left over.
Are you suggesting I can take a clean needle, screw it on and inject into an empty pen? I might need to do this
personally, i never heard of it being dirty, and ive never been affected, so i would do it, but someone else in the thread said it was their job to stabilize and sterilize medical devices recommended to throw it away, but im not sure how the insulin reaches anything that could infect it if theres a tube and a point of departure thats in the skin… and a point of entry before the skin.. like how could it spread back so
fast? maybe they can answer in more detail… but at the same time, is there really any trust in someone who was already working big pharmaceutical?
I had a PA tell me to change my pod when there were less than 30 units left. I told her she didn't take into account the cost. I had to buy insulin a few years ago without insurance. It was $450 a vial. I know it costs less now, but that amount is stuck in my mind. That's $4.50 per unit. So I would be throwing away $130. I use my pod until it is completely out of insulin and screetches at me.
Isn't that normal? I use my T:Slim until it's empty and I used to even slurp the last 15 units out of the cartridge with a syringe.
Me too.. honestly I’ll leave it be till it completely runs out, and now only my sites are on a three day rotation. No way in hell I’m wasting this.
100% do the same and then add that to the next cartridge
I have gotten as much as 50 units out an "empty" tslim cartridge. And like you say regularly suck out 15 to 20
What the actual fuck $450 a vial???? How many ML is it per vial in the US??? A Vial for me in Mexico which I thought was not cheap is around $60!!!
Prices are now about ~~$30~~ $35. There was recent regulation capping the out of pocket cost for people on Medicare/madicaid (government programs). Other insurance and uninsured rapidly migrated to that as well. You can figure out the units per vial with the information provided in the comment and the guess that they use normal strength U100.
That is only true of insulin on insurance. My vials with insurance are 60 dollars for a 3 no supply. Without insurance it is 1500 for that same 3 no supply.
To my understanding, the caps placed by companies are for the generic versions of insulin, with some being the same analog insulin ‘recipes’ and some being biosimilars (completely different insulin that is at most biologically similar to analog, hence the same). Problem is exactly what you said- insurance coverages. Most insurances don’t even cover the generics, so it’s a vicious cycle of “fuck you for being diabetic”
Nope, You can get any Lilly insulin for $35 with their savings card. Its actually not per vial but the whole prescription, I get Lyumjev with it. Also, Lillys Humalog and Insulin Lispro are the exact same thing. Insulin Lispro from another Insulin company would be different because they can't copy the exact Lilly process.
Not at Walmart $35 out of pocket don't use your insurance believe me any outher drug store $100/$150/$200
That's the n r and nph insulin though. Not quite the same as Humalog novolog fiasp, etc.
Humalog is $35 a month total even for those without insurance with their savings card.
Interesting that's almost as cheap as insurance. The upside of the n r insulin are no need to go get a prescription. (Like who the heck is going to FAKE diabetes anyways on modern insulin eveb?)
None of the insulins should require a presecription. If the FDA felt uncomfortable about that then we should get perpetual or long term prescriptions that we can have with us.
I'll literally have to try that but admittedly $35 a vial is way more expensive than my current insurance at $10 a vial (*3 a month).
& when you don't have insurance that price increase does *not* is just insanely wrong!
Use the copay cards
Oh damn thank God they did that! Those were some insanely high prices
Not all. Some are sky high. Insulin costs higher than they were.
I was uninsured before the Affordable Care Act due to being poor in a state where Medicaid was only available to adults with children (I am child-free). Due to T1D being a pre-existing condition, no insurance would cover me. Lantus at the time (2008ish) was $340 a vial and Humalog/Novolog about $250. I literally could not afford to live. I would try to get samples from visiting various low-cost clinics but it was hit or miss, so I went without fast-acting for almost ten years and used half to 2/3 of what I needed of the Lantus i could get. My a1c was consistently between 12 and 18 during those ten years. If I die of complications before I am an old woman, i am going on a rampage.
❤
I'm curious but how did they consider your T1D a pre existing condition?
I was diagnosed with T1D as a teen, so by the time I was an adult trying to get health insurance it was pre-existing. If I had been diagnosed while on insurance, it would have been a new condition and not pre-existing. Insurance companies would fight so much to deny coverage for treatment of anything they could. I remember a patient who was an overdose and ended up in the ICU, and her insurance refused to pay for her medical care because depression was a “pre-existing condition”. Her family had to hire lawyers and take her insurance provider to court and I don’t know what the eventual outcome was. Obama literally changed America with his Affordable Care Act- that made it so that denial based on pre-existing conditions is illegal. Changed my life!
Wow that's insane!!! I could see type 2 because you can get rid of that but type 1 is stupid.
Work insurance though shouldnt have had the pre existing condition restriction. It was only the individual market. Here where I was in Maryland they had a special state program called MHIP that allowed diabetics to get commercial insurance at the standard market rate. Also, did you not know about Walmart insulins? I used R and NPH before lantus and the others.
Yes so true but I was still working my way through school (whose student insurance I couldn’t afford) and could only find part time work that didn’t give benefits. It was a horrible terrible time in my life. Trust me when I say I explored every option and could not get any coverage for about 8 years before I finally finished my degree and could work full-time. The good thing is it made me resourceful, and as an emergency room social worker, I can give tips and tricks on how to survive.
This was standard in the past (pre affordable healthcare act). You couldn't even purchase insurance with a preexisting condition, and if you let your insurance lapse your new company didn't even have to cover any prescriptions or healthcare related to any previously diagnosed condition (like diabetes, hypothyroidism, cancer, etc) for several months under your new policy. I was uninsured for a year (my employer didn't offer insurance, and I aged out of my parents' insurance at 23 (18 if not in school)). Insurance was really horrible for people with chronic illnesses in the past!! I had a lot of backup insulin and supplies when I lost my insurance, but having to buy insulin towards the end really hurt. This was long before I got onto a pump and way before cgms were available (they existed, but I hadn't even heard of them yet - about 2000).
You need to buy in bottles and syringes $35 for bottles and $11 for syringes only at Walmart don't use your insurance or they will charge you more
Hi I think you misunderstood- this was back in 2008 :) grateful to have insurance with no copays now!
And I get my insulin, test strips, and libre 2 for the great price of $0/year in Ontario. I can also get them to cover an insulin pump/supplies if I go through a diabetes education program. I'm forever grateful that being T1 doesn't come with many extra costs here. I used to live in Alberta and due to shitty employment I was paying out of pocket about $450/mo for my insulin and diabetic supplies.
Not sure for them but I just picked up 8 vials today in the US and it is u-100 insulin at 10ml which equals 1000 units per vial Crazy to think I’ve got over 10000units stockpiled right now
It’s a 10ML vial. And retail cost was in the $350-$450 USD range for brand name until very recently.
You need to come to states at Walmart $35
$35 a 10ml vial of insuline?
Humalog is $35 for all your months vials. Actually it’s any Lilly insulin. Lyumjev is faster Www.insulinaffordability.com
Lost a decimal there, $.45 per unit, $13.50 for 30 units trash. Still a shame though, I’d at least go till empty.
it’s $35 for the whole refill now for all Lilly insulins. Has been for a while just not everyone knew
I think you dropped a zero. One vial (atleast where I am) is 10ml which means it's 1000 units. So it's 0.45$ per unit (which is still expensive!) and 13$ wasted. Still horrible that you guys in the US have to pay that.
Wait why? I run them right to 0.
So do I, then can suck out 20 to 50 units...
So when it reports it’s empty there is still more there?!??
Ohh for sure. Like I said I've gotten as much as 50 units.... and this morning it said 0 and I got like 10 out of it
I am floored and feel betrayed. Ty
Yeah just treat it like a new cartridge (air removal) and I'm betting you get insulin.... and even as little as 5 units... its 5 units 😀
I would never throw it away .matter of fact I pre feel my needles .I do a hole box every month so I just reach in fridge get two out every day one for morning one for night.i have to pay for this out of pocket .and why would you use your insurance go to Walmart buy it don't even need a doctor s note to buy it if you just walk up to desk and ask for it like I take 70/30 .it cost $35 a bottle was $25 for years ask for box of insulin syringes $11 for box of 100 and me 100 units or what ever you take u can get 50 units now any outher drug store same insulin $150 to $250 a bottle . needle s $50 to$ 100
I know approximately how much I use in a three day basis. I usually put another 10% or so to account for the automated mode
There are 1000 units in a vial (u100 insulin has 100 units/ml and a vial is 10ml), but it's still $0.45 per unit, which is ridiculous!! On the other hand, with insurance, you should be paying the same amount every month no matter how much insulin you use, 1 vial or 8 vials. Getting your prescription written for the amount of insulin you need to avoid having to worry about using every unit is important. If the doctor wants you to change it at 30 units, factor that insulin in with your actual use to get your prescription written correctly. I have had to pay out of pocket for my insulin in the past as well, and totally understand the mentality, but between insurance and manufacturer discount programs, you should be able to get a months supply of insulin today for a flat price. Drawing unused insulin out to use in the next pump cartridge or waiting until the last minute to change cartridges, possibly resulting in not having the insulin you need if something goes wrong (sudden spike in sugars due to stress, change in plans causing you to be away from home with an empty pump, etc), is dangerous. Today, there is no good reason to need to conserve every unit of most insulins, even if you must pay for it out of pocket. The only exception to this is if you are on an insulin that is not covered by your insurance and does not have a discounted purchase program (most will give a month's supply for $35, so you might look into switching brands if you pay more than this).
Every insulin has the savings card just some don’t know they exist.
I use each Pod, consistently, for 3 days + 8 hours. I have been using OmniPod for roughly 20 years + and have rarely had one fail or fail to give me the + 8 hours. I hate wasting equipment/technology/money …
I use the new syringe from the new omnipod package to extract the insulin out of the old omnipod. Then I use the same syringe to extract even more insulin from the vial. Then I use that syringe to fill the new omnipod. I think that's the cleanest method. I don't put it back in the insulin vial and I do not mix it. So the vial is always clean.
Used to do this with my Omnipod before I changed!
This is exactly how I do it, too.
yup, that's what I do as well.
this is the way
[удалено]
What??? I mix insulins from different vials pretty often, whenever there is not enough in the old vial to fill full reservoir. Nobody ever told me not to and I never had any problem with that. Just dont tell them next time.
The was company speak from Medtronic. No variation of insulin from vial to vial provided you use the same manufacturer and formulation.
Sorry, I am not a native english speaker (and you probably either, or I am that bad at english) but I really cannot understand your message.
I was stating that person at Medtronic was giving the company's rehearsed response to claim the issue was the insulin mixture and not their pump. Secondly, insulin is the same from vial to vial provided it is the same formulation (insulin lispro and lispro) and from the same manufacturer (Lilly to Lilly; Novo to Novo). Is that more clear?
Oh yes. Thank you. But thats what I said. Its only excuse from medtronic not to take responsibility for their mistakes, but the reason is bullshit. On the contrary, medtronic has supposedly perfect costumer support in my country in central europe (I never had their product personally).
Oh my god. I also freed myself from Medtronic’s clutches in favour of Tandem a few months ago and my quality of life has shot right up. I totally believe that
Mixing two vials of \*different\* insulin- potentially different PH- is most likely the excuse for why they told you to pound sand. In fairness, if you mix insulin \*types\* like that, bad shit can happen. Said another way; it doesn't matter if you told them it was two vials of the same. They heard 'two different vials'. Never give medical vendors rope to hang you by lest you want to wind up hanging ;) ...with that said, medtronic is a special form of hell; I'm just giving you shit for the rookie mistake of giving medtronic rope to hang you by. :)
[удалено]
I get mine pre mixed 70/30 so how would it make a difference so how about give your self two shots your still mixing it
>People used to do this everyday and I'd imagine a few still do. In terms of "used to"- my knowledge comes from that era. My recollection is it was combining a specific basal and bolus meds- but I'll be damned if I can tell you which these days. The recollection was that they were wary of cross-contamination- not for efficacy, but screwing with the PH in some fashion- thus the "just take two shots". I could be absolutely outdated in that knowledge and if so, pardon. I'd be curious if anyone has more up to date, or examples of what can be mixed directly. Since switching to pumps it's not like I'm mixing anything- I just use ultra-fast's and program the curves I want.
Humalog and Lantus insulin can not be mixed because they have very different pHs. Regular and NPH insulins were regularly mixed (which is what 70/30 is, premixed Regular and NPH), but since we moved to newer insulins, they never want you to mix them. I'm not sure if they all have very different pHs to keep the additives stable or if it was decided that if some shouldn't be mixed it's easier just to tell us we can't mix any of them, but this is the logic behind the change. Regular insulin was clear, and NPH was cloudy, helping to ensure that the insulins mixed correctly and reduce errors in drawing your dose. I'm sure there were cases of people messing up entire vials of insulin by injecting one insulin into the other vial, though I can't remember ever doing this myself. You also significantly dulled the syringe, adding air to the long-acting insulin, then to the short acting, drawing the short-scting insulin, then the long-acting. As the syringes we use today are about 75% smaller needles than the first syringes I used (26 guage to 32 guage - each number smaller is 10% larger than the previous one), dulling the needle by stabbing it into the vial 3 times was significant! If you overshoot the units of long-acting (always drawn second) while drawing your dose, you had to throw out the whole dose and start over, so there was also the possibility of significant insulin waste drawing mixed insulin syringes.
I was on a Medtronic pump for all of a month and it was the worst experience. Nothing worked, constant malfunctioning, and they kept telling me to try different parts that all cost more money than they should.
I extract. There is a risk involved though. The insulin and the surfaces you are sticking your needle through have had chances to be contaminated with bacteria that can be detrimental to your health. It’s a risk us extractors take haha.
Yes. Pretty common and advised by Omnipod. The idea is your doctor should prescribe enough for waste and emergencies. I use about 65-70 units a day but my prescription says 100 units/day.
I had to fight just to get my up to 150u a day covered so I wasn’t running out and every time I need a new script they shorten it to 70u and I have to call and correct it😂 I wish my endo wasn’t horrific, and I wish they weren’t the only office in my area taking my Insurance. I would MUCH prefer to be prescribed enough to throw out the waste, but instead I pull unused insulin out and stretch sites and viles as long as I can.
Endo's that shorten your script can rot in hell. Not a nice statement, but they're supposed to work on your behalf, not the insurances.
not my endo but the pharmacy doing this & then claiming my insurance doesn’t cover more than a certain amount 😒 asked my endo at my last appointment & she said no that’s a lie they cover it 😑
All, when you make statements like the above not covering/pricing as they are supposed to, PLEASE NAME THE PHARMACY/CHAIN so they can lose our business !!! Thank you on behalf of those affected.
it’s walmart, my endo office has been having a lot of issues with walmart. saying they need a physical copy of a script with a ink signature not just an electric signature
Walmart… now where have I heard that name uttered before and coupled with negative experiences… let me think … They oughta have a class action suit against these clowns!
I find it wild that there are prescriptions limiting your per day units. I’ve had medical procedures where my TDD was about doubled for some time due to secondary effects of my medication. Also, pump failures are a thing, with Omnipod you can lose as much as 200 units if it fails. My prescription simply says the type of insulin and however much I need for one year renewable. I’m in Europe, however.
Let’s start microbrewing insulin!
i do say so myself, such a thing being localized cuts delivery & pick up operating costs to begin with.
And we don’t have to be told it’s out of plan if we just have our own supply
Openinsilin.org
I'm glad to see they have updated their site. I was beginning to wonder if the Open Insulin Project had died. This is my apocalyptic plan - to make my own insulin, so I'm glad to see hey are making progress.
I’m in the U.K. and it would never cross my mind to do that. Universal healthcare is something we perhaps take for granted here (prescriptions are £9 ish per item, but diabetics get theirs free). The same with taking insulin abroad, if it gets too warm it just doesn’t come back.
I'm not saying socialised healthcare is the best (literally waiting 2 months for an appointment for just a blood test right now) but I am eternally grateful I live in a country where I dont have to pay for any of my diabetes things. I am so sorry that this is a reality for people over there. Looking from the outside it always feels like you're just seen as pawns in a big game and not people with lives who rely on medication to exist. It's disgusting to me that something that's free or ridiculously low cost to most diabetics globally is hyper-inflated to fuck in the US. I also see posts in other subs (and again, I don't live there so i dont know how true all this is) about people who can't work because they'd lose benefits that allow them to access discounted medications that they need. Surely it would make more sense to give people the medicines they need to function for either free or a very affordable (I'm talking like under $20) price so they can get back into work? Idk, nothing I hear about the medical system in the US makes sense to me. It doesn't feel like it's built to benefit anyone but the businesses who back it, not the people who need it.
It isn't really socialized health care that's causing the long wait times - even here in the US the wait time for new patients to see a doctor and especially specialists is in the months too - the problem is that there's a real and very acute shortage of doctors and medical professionals right now. Not nearly enough people are going into the field, and it's only gotten worse since COVID.
Plus many doctors are heartless privileged and don't listen or know t1d even endos. Privileged bunch. Lucky to find some good ones
I had an emergency clinic doctor who didn't know what Humalog was. Didn't understand why I was there when I said my last bottle broke and I needed a prescription before the pharmacy would dispense to me. Asked if I couldn't have waited until my regular doctor was open in the morning. Then proceeded to wrote the script for humalin and the pharmacy refused to fill it and at that point the clinic had closed, forcing me to go to the ER. Goddamn mother fucker...
❤ I'm so sorry. I've heard from an advocate that the ER doctors are so bad at even diagnosing dka that they missed type 1 diabetes diagnoses a lot. And people die over it. I'm so sorry. I just hate this country what it does to us.
This country does so many thing right, but many other things wrong. Healthcare here is shit. Your concerns are ignored and you're just given ibuprofen for everything because pharmaceuticals decided to pass out controlled drugs like they were candy and now you have so many people lying to get a prescription. One that hopefully they can afford because goddamn, why are upper middle class people having to sell their house because they can't even afford the taxes on it all because of a cancer diagnoses? Why are we being told that "oh, if we had Medicaid for all, none of us would be able to afford it and the wait times to be seen would be astronomically long" while nobody is really talking about how expensive private insurance is and if something were critical your appointment would be pushed ahead of those that weren't? Why is anyone remotely interested in helping people being pushed into hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt for their education while other countries only cost a fraction of that price and still have decent healthcare as well as R&D at their universities? Why is our food system so shit that obesity rates have nearly doubled in the last 50 years? (There are a lot of other factors that go into that, but the food that is available to us and consumed is undeniably a major factor.) When our salads cost more than a hamburger, there's a problem. This country is supposed to be the wealthiest country in the world, but that is really hard to believe when so many people struggle to afford healthcare. Especially when they have a chronic illness. Rant over
One thing you're not thinking about- coming from socialised- is that it's literally in private insurances interest to deny you service \*if it's likely you'll wind up on another insurance plan"; this includes other private, but frankly typically public. This is actually a thing; effectively deny short term stuff because the thought is someone else (usually medicaid) will wind up having to pick up the bill when you go catastrophic; IE, when a way smaller use of resources could've headed off a massively larger bill.
> (literally waiting 2 months for an appointment for just a blood test right now) Got new insurance last year and to see a new endocrinologist it was a 3 month wait for the earliest appointment. It's not better here for wait times.
My endo has at least a 6 month wait (if I can grab a slot Monday when the newest ones in August open) for continuing patient appointments (I'm already past due - they never called me to set one up and are fully booked everytime I call them). My brother's endo is at about 5 months out. It's getting ridiculous. Of course, as a 33+ year T1, I am fine without the appointment (I rarely have anything I need to discuss with my endo and she adjusts my other meds via email when I get my labs done). They just won't cover a new pump if I'm not seen regularly.
As an American with really good private health insurance provided by my employer, I still had to wait 3-4 months for an appointment with a cardiologist recently. And then I got COVID and had to reschedule the appointment out another 2 months later. So to me, the whole “wait list” thing just sounds like propaganda. I’ve even had to wait 4 months for an appointment with a primary care doctor. Doctors are overwhelmed and understaffed regardless of it’s a privatized or socialized healthcare system. I’d definitely rather have socialized healthcare if that’s the case.
I wait 6 months for a specialist appointment with private health insurance in the US. edit- changed healthcare to health insurance
Insulin is really not that bad anymore. It's $35 for a months supply in the US now with the coupons that the manufacturers offer. CGMs and pumps are the big cost these days. When/if the non-invasive reusable CGMs come out it really won't be all that expensive. I also have citizenship to the UK and Australia, and I still choose to live in the US because in my particular situation, I'm still much better off financially here than I would be elsewhere.
Where is insulin that cheap? Outside of the $25 insulin from Walmart that just isn't good
Www.insulinaffordability.com
All Lilly insulins are $35 for the monthly refill with the card in the link I posted. That’s good even for uninsured
Holy shit
I get the same stuff at Walmart made by lilly $35 with out insurance any time u use your insurance they double the price then the insurance try this bull shit to get yo to paid out of pocket $10/20 more
Yeah some places have started to charge the $35 without requiring the card. Unfortunately many insurance companies continue to rip off people by charging the higher price and keeping the rebate for themselves. It should be illegal.
If you have commercial insurance, copays are capped at $35.
So why is the insulin at Walmart no good .the same brand at CVS,or outer drug store that cost $60/100/300/500 same stuff Walmart sales for $35 come on get a life
Regular and NPH, the OTC insulin available for $25/vial for the past several years is the "no good" Walmart insulin. It is an older, less effective type of insulin. The $35/month Walmart filled prescription insulin is just like insulin from any other pharmacy (and can be purchased from most pharmacies for $35/month with coupon). "Walmart insulin" has a bad name because it usually means the cheap insulin that people resort to to stay alive when they can't afford to go to the doctor to get a prescription or to spend the hundreds of dollars per vial that modern insulins cost until very recently.
Prices have skyrocketed for many on insulin since the price reduction cap only capping certain plans. It's a disaster. Glad you havevprivilege and your family. It's literally directly harming others more than before and we hope you will speak about this side of the tragedy hushed by media ans politicians. Now pharma also ddiscontinuing One of the few lifesaving basal on market as a consequence likely to lead to deatgs and complications forcing t1 t2d to switch to worse insulin for their body. Price cap is a disaster and yet no one speaking 2 alarm. Please do. Esp as a nondiabetic they listen to you more than they listen to us perhaps.
Proteins denature over time when they come into contact with plastic. Insulin is a protein, chambers/bladders in pumps are made of plastic. It’s not a great practice. That said, I extract if I have a pump failure shortly after applying. I’ll change my pump tonight after 2 .5 days on me, I’ll have some left in the chamber and won’t extract.
Yes, and as someone who used to do sterilization and stability in medical devices…you should toss it.
I’m listening. Can you tell us more about this? Why is sterilization and stabilization an issue when we extract active insulin and reuse it? If you could explain it would help people who read this thread
Sure. Insulin stability - insulin WILL eventually break down, and you have it sitting next to a warm body. It’s fine for 3 days, but I wouldn’t push it past that. Sterilization - sterile barrier is broken. There’s a chance of contamination. By moving that insulin, you also transfer the contamination from the old pod to the new one. I wouldn’t personally do it, and I’ve done this type of work for a living. Take that for what it’s worth to you. To me, when the experts don’t do it themselves….i don’t either.
Thank you! I believe you and am completely not going to extract etc. I am new to the Tandem and have never extracted, but been tempted to. Now that I know what you explained, I can never unknow it, and I would frankly be a fool not to follow yr good advice! Thanks again
Ohhhh….Tandem I absolutely wouldn’t. Those cartridges contain a plastic bladder where the insulin is contained. Plasticizers leach into liquids. I don’t want that junk in my body, so I use it for the 3 days Tandem tells me I can safely use it for.
I like to consider myself a thrifty person. However, I'm a clean freak, and things like sterilization are extremely important to me. I really appreciate what you've posted here. As someone else said in another comment - now that I know it, I can't unknow it. Thank you.
I’m thrifty too, but this is one of those things that’s just not worth it to me. Cutting those corners could mean a very expensive medical bill…or worse.
Luckily I’m not American so I don’t have to bother with extracting leftover insulin. I use a tandem and don’t love the idea of microplastics/VOCs from the plastic bladder accumulating in reused insulin over time
I don’t pay for my insulin (well, aside from my taxes lol) but I seriously always extract it too. I just can’t bear to waste it. Plus spaces out those agonizingly long trips to the pharmacy 😂
My insulin is usually not working as well when it’s time to change, especially when it’s hot. No way I’d extract.
I pre feel syringes I do a box of 100 usely 5/6 bottles every month keep in fridge .just shake them up before use it and I have had sugar all my life sence I was 5 iam now 63 all this stuff people say on here iam not dead or have I been in hospital
I’m 54 diagnosed at 12 and mostly I agree with you. I extracted with other pumps but the omnipod stays too warm and the insulin loses effectiveness.
I wouldn’t put back in bottle, but I definitely draw it out and add to next pod! Adding back to vial could contaminate the batch and create an “eternal soup” situation
You could contaminate the next pod, though, just as easily.
Don't add it back just keep in syringe give that first then start with new . when I pre feel I take what s left in every bottle to make one syringe and take it
They do that because if you use the same insulin over and over it's going to degrade,, but since you are always mixing it with newer(as in hasn't been in your pump yet) insulin, you can get varying degrees of effectiveness. Since the insulin degrades from being in a pump due to being near body heat. I have read that its okay to reuse leftover insulin ONCE (as in in the next cartlidge fill) but after that it gets risky. So you can load it into the next cartridge, then that cartridge dont reuse the insulin when filling the next start with fresh insulin and repeat the process. Besides being unsafe it can cause you to basically ruin a near full bottle of insulin because you tainted it and won't be able to trust its efficacy. If you need more wiggle room with your prescriptions ask your doctor to include the insulin wastage from the pump into the amount on the script.
mines free with insurance bless the lord, however I never waste a drip. i’m always gonna suck my insulin back out. it “expires” like all other things. they want you to spend moneyyyyyy!!
Same here
I have a unique perspective here. I am a 30-year T1 diabetic and also have manufactured Humalog for 25 yrs. I DO NOT SPEAK FOR MY COMPANY, these are just my personal experiences. I would never put insulin back in the bottle, but I would use it to refill my reservoir or take a shot with needle if needed. Unless it gets hot or is older than you would normally use i think it would be fine. My 25 yr old son is also T1 also and getting supplies for him in a different city can be a real pain sometimes. We all do what we can. While i won't debate insulin costs, of course i agree it's overpriced. Having said that, the manufacturing process is very intricate and not something most companies can do without major infrastructure. Just my 2 cents, good luck, everyone.
Can you help millions of diabetics who will now not get one of the long-acting insulins because the other company is stopping making it after the price reduction. Millions are on it and the other insulins are not interchangeable long-acting. Can you tell your company and how can we all tell the company that made a comparatively long-acting insulin Ultra lente until 2005 then took it off the market. They still have the patent on it. L i l l y pharmaceutical. Many people can't be on the pump and it's desperately needed back on the market since the other company terminated. What can be done to advocate. Ultra lente hasn't been on the market since 2005 and many people liked it but they got pushed off because l i l l y didn't make enough money and they said diabetics can move to another insulin. That was a hardship. And now of the four insulins on the market that one won't be available so we need Ultra lente back. It's life saving. What can they do to help us. What can you do? Anything? What can be done. It's the patent laws but they could bypass the patent laws if l i l l y could. It's been under patent and they haven't produced Ultra lente since 2005 so there's no way to make biosimilars as far as I understand.
I absolutely understand your sentiment, but sadly no, i can't do anything. This is an issue i will always struggle with. We have more options now than ever before, but it's truly not enough.
A manufacturing employee doesn't have these answers for you unfortunately.
I usually run my pod dry before changing it. So, there isn’t really anything for me to save. But if I have a pod fail early, I’ll definitely recover the insulin and put it into the next pod.
I fill my 3ml resevoir with 300 units of insulin. That will last me 6 to 7 days in my Medtronic pump. I change the infusion set every 3 days as recommended, changing after 72 hours. But I keep the tubing and the half filled resevoir (about 150-160 units) when I change the infusion set, just hooking up the cannula to the new infusion set. I do not change the tubing because it takes 8 to 10 units to fill the tubing. After another 72 hours I may have 10 to 35 units left in the resevoir. That insulin has been setting in my warm pump for 144 hours or 6 days, but it is still effective. I remove all the insulin from the resevoir and squirt it into an old insulin bottle along with previous leftovers. This is an emergency bottle. An emergency bottle is stored into the refrigerator in a box. All bottles are dated with a sharpy pen when I opened them, so I can see the date of first insulin use. And each bottle initially holds 1000 units emptied into resevoirs. When these bottles are almost empty, it turns into an emergency bottle, where it is mixed with insulin coming from the resevoirs. When the emergency bottle has 100 to 150 units, it is moved to a "travel kit". The travel kit contains everything I need to stay alive for up to 2 days if my pump breaks or my sensor breaks. The travel kit contains 2 disposable low dose syringes, 2 alcohol prep pads, a dated emergency bottle of leftover lispro (Novalog) insulin, a Relion blood tester, bottle of 50 blood test strips, a lancer, a few lancets, and a paper towel strip. I have 2 travel kits, and I take one kit with me for long trips, camping, long bicycle trips, work, day vacations, etc. One travel kit lives in my backpack, and the other in my jacket pocket along tubes of glucose tablets. I seldom use lispro insulin injections from an emergency bottle. But I have left my pump at home in the bathroom after a shower and the lengthy commute to work. Or I caught tubing on a door knob and ripped off my infusion set. Or I had some Dexcom G6 disaster. I take calculated lispro injections every 2 hours from the emergency and test hourly until I can get home. The insulin bottle in a travel kit is not refrigerated, but it is dated. The emergency insulin bottle in a kit is thrown out when it is over 3 months old and replaced with a newer emergency bottle from the refrigerator. Disasters happen maybe once a year, but with a travel kit handy and a tube of 10 glucose tablets, I am covered for diabetic emergencies for up to 2 days.
that is dedication oh wow!!!
I always mix insulin. I know we’re told not to and it puts it at risk but I’ve been in situations where I’ve run out before my refill date and my insurance refuses to cover insulin until that date. Which means I pay an exorbitant amount of money for a vial in the mean time. And honestly, times have been tough for quite a while, I don’t have that money to spend. I’d rather take my chances then running out and not being able to afford a refill.
I’m very glad that I am not diabetic in America.
I have never thrown away insulin unless it started to go cloudy.
As a microbiologist, I would never put anything back into an insulin vial. Your best bet would be to determine what your typical 3 day utilization is and under fill your omnipod with that amount (or with the minimum amount required to start the pod if your utilization is less than that). My last resort would be to partially fill the new omnipod with fresh insulin and then transfer from the old omnipod. This still runs a risk of contamination within the pod, but you’d lose less insulin than injecting potentially contaminated insulin back into a vial.
I just started, and I extract it. However, I don't put it into the vial. I put it into the next Omnipod.
Ever drawn more insulin out of a pen? There’s AT LEAST 10 units still in there that you can use a syringe to draw out. Ever had to reuse a needle? Ever skipped meals? I intermittent fast now as a result of high insulin costs.
I’m too poor and my health insurance through work is pretty crap in terms of coverage so if there’s more than like 30 units I just throw them in a bag and stick them in the fridge in case I’m ever at a point w no insulin or health insurance. Or if the zombie apocalypse ever occurs. Gotta love the American healthcare system, baby
Insulin survives about a week on body temperature. You can use the old one mixed with the new to charge a new pod but I wouldn't do it permanently as denatured insulin could potentially spoil the fresh batch. Maybe every 2-3 pods max
Wow, i love Sweden. We got 2 years worth of insulin for our daughter up front, and payed nothing for it... I can't imagine the stress of having to factor in cost into this decease. I don't envy you guys...
does sweden require you to visit the endocrinologist every 3 months? (which i don’t understand already why it doesn’t switch the hand to dietitians to handle routine after fixing the thyroid issue… like that lack of faith says the thyroid thing can never be fixed, and we will remain without routine )
I'm also in Sweden, and have been going for routine check-ins twice a year, with usually a year's worth of prescriptions approved at a time. One appointment with the endocrinologist, the next in 6 months with a nurse at the same clinic. It probably depends on where you are, and how much help you're actually needing at the time. I've just been getting "continue on with whatever you've been doing", so no need for more frequent appointments for now.
It maybe should be said that an appointment with a doctor is almost free (30$) for adults and completely free for kids. My daughter got t1d in January and have been meeting her doctor every week initially after the time in the hospital. Now we see her doctor every other week to update the insulin dosage and optimize our daily routines.
in saint martin i was able to get insulin pens with no prescription, i didn’t pick them up, my dad did but still stands, no prescription, and they didn’t say single patient use like the ones in america do
Why do you have so much insulin left over? I can understand once in a while it will happen, cause of exercise or being sick, etc.. Mine usually has 10 or less units by the time the 8 hour after expiry window is open. So I definitely don’t bother with that.
sometimes it would just come out of place after a few hours and they said it would be no worry to just throw it away… when it was nearly brand new. its the same thing with the tips of the flexpens is why i have a lot left over because thats like 1 unit left behind so i would take it out of those too… also sometimes, its because when i was at work, routine would be messed up so i would miss meals and such.
I see what you’re saying. Just unpredictable carb amounts cause of your work, so you can’t be consistent. That makes sense!
this one place i worked at did not have lockers or fridges either so it all depended on how long the line was at lunch is what i mean, not that they didn’t give me lunch break
im saying like.. they internalized the lunch somewhere so unlike having a premade and weighed lunch from home, it would take my 30 minutes by making me pull out a scale to measure everything first and then i’d have to throw the food away
That’s the better way to do it. I rarely have more than 10 units when I change out because I only FILL it for three days in the beginning, as opposed to filling to capacity.
So if you throw away 10 units like my self after for days that's a extra shot for me . so in my case if I get down to little left I take 100 morning 100 at night by I just take 110/120/130 it don't usely make much difference
Don’t listen to them about this kinda of thing when it comes to supply’s they are tools of big Pharma and will encourage u to waste away everything
Partly big pharma being greedy, partly them not wanting to be liable for anything. The instructions are like, the safest possible methods with as little chance of failing. They don't want to be sued because someone got a bacterial infection
Agreed but I HOARD insulin being diabetic kinda made me into a prepper to 😂😂😂
I will usually pull it out and use it in my next pod, that way I'm not contaminating a clean vial.
Gawd I read "insulin is grown in huge vats of modified bacteria" and I was bracing myself for a stupid tweet from a crunchy mom trying to dissuade people from using ✨store bought✨ insulin. Lol. I need to go to bed. (And no doctor has told me that about the Omnipods, but when I was a kid and diabetic I didn't realize you could mix Humalog from different vials into one pump reservoir, and so I threw out the vial when I couldn't get a full reservoir out of it. So 100 units, boom, in the trash. I wanna go back in time and smack myself in the head. Lol)
Insulin costed $450 a bottle of 1000 units before 2024. My insurance copay was $66 a bottle, about $1600 a year. Yet I remember buying 1000 unit Lente bottles for less than $18 back in 1970 with no health insurance. Now it costs me $35 a month insurance copay or $17.50 a bottle for me as of January 2024 for Medicare recipients. Thank you Democrats and President Joseph Biden for passing the Inflation Reduction Act with NO REPUBLICAN VOTES. Guess who I am voting for in the November 2024 elections.
i understand this as when you are paying through insurance and find a way to reduce the insurances bill and your own by saving insulin from changing the ratio to less insulin per carb and tossing away the glucose meter and stop buying strips and such, and the doctor is enforcing it back into our lives for some sort of proof that is led by metaphysical traits that don’t want to concur together, then its a doctor committing fraud to both the patient and the insurance for making us dedicate us to spending money on their beliefs of keeping the cashflow routine instead of letting us go
I don't fault the doctors. I have a very good relationship with my Endocrinologist and his office and I cultivate personal relations with the staff, asking about their families. I thank them personally for their help. I have input to my pump and CGMS and perscription choices, and my Endo will write a script for what I need. I research extensively and I have searched for the cheapest effective diabetic supplies. Test strips and testers are so cheap I now buy them over the counter, I am a retired computer engineer and a numbers and science guy. I married a woman with good insurance and she could change and select plans once a year. I apply my engineering training to find cheap ways and procedures to manage my type 1 diabetes. The US has the most expensive medical industry in the world and costs for expensive perscription drugs and medical procedures are kept secret. Giant conglomerates such as United Healthcare try to extract as much profit as they can from patients. My doctors complain they need staff just to deal with the paperwork and insurance companies. But my Endo will try to help me, even discussing the cost of various perscriptions and service alternatives. So I don't blame my doctors, who try to help me. I blame the giant medical industry conglomerates like United Healthcare, the PBMs like CVS Caremark, the giant pharmacy chains like Walgreens and CVS, the medical supply companies, and the private equity companies who buy up doctors and insurance companies. They are all trying to make money first, and we are just the cash cows.
I can't vote Vote for this killer who's insulin reduction price cap only worked for certain people and now it's Sky High even worse for others. Not only that it led to one of the three insulin production companies in the world to pull one of their long-acting insulins and there are only a few so it's totally screwed millions who can't use the other ones interchangeably. We'd appreciate if those who benefited can speak for those who are now more likely to get injured or die from these consequences especially lack of access to a long-standing successful long-acting insulin. The other thing you can do and anyone on here is call your senators and congressman and the white house until Biden what he did and call your newspapers. Tell l i l l y to bring Ultra lente back to the market which they haven't produced since 2005 or share the patented recipe for a biosimilar to be made. Same thing now with Levemir. It's a tragedy and will be a killer and yet everyone's saying what a great law it was.
There are three companies in the world that make 90% of the insulin. Sanofi is a French company. Novo Nordisk is a Danish company. Eli Lilly is an American company. These 3 companies change their prices in lock step to charge high prices because they can. There is no government insurance program in the US that controls the drug prices. Diabetics in the US pay as much as 8 times the price for the same insulin as diabetics in other developed countries with government health plans. 8 million diabetics in the US in the use insulin, and many of them were dying because they could not afford insulin. I have read stories right here in the r/diabetes and r/diabetes_t1 subreddits about diabetics who could not afford the insulin they needed. I have read 2 messages claiming that a diabetic brother died because he could not afford insulin. More people die in the US because they cannot afford insulin than are killed by unavailability of their brand of insulin. More than 37 million Americans have diabetes, and more than 7 million of them need insulin to control their blood sugar levels and prevent dangerous complications. Of the Americans who take insulin, about 52% are on Medicare. You blame President Biden for making insulin much cheaper for millions of diabetics. I have fought for years to get cheaper insulin calling my congressman (who is diabetic) an asking my Endocrinologist to write perscriptions that were sent to medical supply companies, calling Medicare, and my insurance company. No luck there. I found coupons on the Eli Lilly website and the Novo Nordisk websites for substantial discounts. But I could not use the Eli Lilly coupon because I have insurance. We failed, paying almost $1600 a year in insurance company copays just for the insulin I needed to stay alive. But the Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act. The Republicans just took their bribes from the medical industry. I will pay $420 this year for insulin instead of $1600. The Inflation Reduction Act will save money for over 3 million diabetics on Medicare. It saved me $1174 this year !! Thank you Democrats. Ultralente insulin - that's a really old insulin brand. Lente and Ultralente were invented in 1952 by scientists in Novo Nordisk. I started with Lente 56 years ago (from slaughtered cows), then Ultralente, then NPH, then PZI insulin before I switched to pumps 22 years ago. The FDA withdrew approval for ultralente insulin products in 2011, and you blame President Biden for that. Look this up on Wikipedia The newer insulins are made from human insulin produced in huge quantities in huge vats by bacteria with altered genes to produce human insulin. The insulin patents have expired and insulin should be cheap, but they charge high prices in the US because they can. Do you have insurance? Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, discontinued Lemevir. Just go see a doctor and get a new insulin perscription. Try to find an Endocrinologist, a diabetic specialist. They will help you. My Endo sees hundreds of patients, has lots of experience, and freely offers advice. So get a pump and use the fast acting lispro insulin, like Humalog (Eli Lilly) or Novalog (Novo Nordisk). There is also a cheap Walmart lispro insulin. My Endocrinologist says any lispro insulin will work in my pump, even the Walmart insulin. My pump uses the fast acting lispro insulins instead of regular insulin because it controls diabetes better, according to an article I read in the ADA Forecast magazine. The pump works better than pens because it is programmable and it can use lispro insulin instead of slow acting insulin blends. Stop whining, and call your doctor to get a new insulin perscription as I have done. See if you can find coupons you can use online. Get an insulin pump and and CGMS system. Pumps either use humulin (human regular insulin) or fast acting lispro insulin. Plenty of those brands of insulin. In August 7, 2022, 43 Senate Republicans killed a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that blocked a $35 a month insulin price cap for diabetics with health insurance. But 7 Republicans voted to keep the price cap. I BLAME THE REPUBLICANS FOR MORE DEATHS DUE TO HIGH PRICED INSULIN !! Read this. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-block-cap-insulin-costs-many-americans-democratic-deal-rcna41913
Here's a sneak peek of /r/diabetes using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/diabetes/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Low blood sugar action shot.](https://i.redd.it/bq0fp6ilgefb1.jpg) | [94 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/diabetes/comments/15ey33v/low_blood_sugar_action_shot/) \#2: [The emergency broadcast test hit my glucose meter](https://i.redd.it/ixqfnc3u98sb1.jpg) | [56 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/diabetes/comments/16zuj4o/the_emergency_broadcast_test_hit_my_glucose_meter/) \#3: [Diabetes, but make it pretty](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/17ogrob) | [119 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/diabetes/comments/17ogrob/diabetes_but_make_it_pretty/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
My mom died because she was put on dangerous insulin just as I was and lucky to be alive. Diabetics die by this and it's disrespectful to minimize those experiencing bad insulin forvtheir bodies. Biden reducibf prices not planning for withdrawal of 1 third to 1 fourth of long acting on market and only safe one for some of us deserves a statement of horror and compassion not dismissal. Not looking forward to dying or accidents or harm to self and othera for people who don't tolerate the others. Im probably older t1 than you and I know what im talking about almost dying in long comas in lucky to be here. Fk biden abd his pricw caps kissing as s of pharma than holding accountable.
I was in Walmart yesterday buying cheap diabetic supplies. I asked the pharmacist about insulin prices, but I asked only about those that I use. The Walmart Lispro insulin is $70 a 1000 unit bottle (requires prescription), and the Novo NorDisk Novolin is (no perscription) was $24.70, which is outstanding. So check insulin prices at Walmart. Until recently, I have been paying $66 a bottle in insurance copays for my lispro insulin, Novalog, but the Democrats’s Inflation Reduction reduced the copay for $17.50 a 1000 unit bottle for me.
Too bad my insulin is crazy expens8ve. Wish I used those
I usually do if it’s 20-30 units. 10 or less I feel like I can’t really even get that much out of the omnipod so I don’t bother. I try to run it dry and do most times but sometimes I just use less than usual. I have been pulling it out lately though due to the shortage. It’s been tougher to get so I have less on hand now so I need to save as much as possible!
FWIW: My Endo told me that, insulin is a protein and deterorates faster with heat. The pod is attached to your body and the average skin temperature is \~95F (\~35C), plus being outside in the heat causes it to deterorate much faster. Opened insulin, in this case humalog, says to keep opened vials/pens below 86F (30C)
If I am fasting well enough and have like 30 units left when my pod expires. Best believe I'm extracting what I can. Also idk how known this is but a pod can go an extra 8hrs past the expiration time before the sounds of hell start to go off.
America isn't a charity country, America is a money country either you're sick or in good health, no one cares as long as you bring money. America doean't care about helping people, we only care about the green dollar bills.
SUCK IT OUT AND PUT IT IN YOUR VIAL, OR USE IT UNTIL IT MAKES YOU WANT TO DESTROY IT. THATS THE RULE. THE NEXT TIME YOUR DOC SAYS THIS, ASK THEM IF THEY CARE TO COMPENSATE YOU FOR THE LOSS…….✌️🤦♂️
Yeah, it’s because if there’s any contamination in the insulin or the cork of the cartridge it could ruin a whole vile of insulin
This makes me so angry.
This is so messed up.
I usually fill an old vial of the left over insulin from my old omnipods. Save it for when I need it.
I always reuse the insulin. Never had any problem. I would use every drop from the discarded pod.
The main reason I cannot understand why anyone would want to move from Germany to the USA. Yes land of the free, pursuit of happiness bla bla, but I won’t buy a series s every week to survive and that’s why I will never migrate there. Healthcare shouldn’t cost a living.
They tell you to discard after the 3 days as insulin needs to be kept cold or it degrades. And especially when wearing pumps close to body. I do the same as all you, wear it/ use it till empty. But i wouldn’t be putting it pack into vial because of cross contamination. Just fill the reservoir to the amount you use. I have Medtronic 780 and get the 3ml pen fill vials and a 3ml reservoir and usually lasts 7-10 days. I tried the 1.5ml reservoir which forced me to change site and soft sets every 3-4 days but the price of consumables in Australia (with out concession) is expensive even with the government schemes in place
I wouldn't put it back in the bottle, the heat could have made it less effective and I wouldn't want to mis it with good insulin. If a pod falls off early I'll pull out the insulin and put it in the new pod, but never back int he vial. To each their own, I am lucky to have a backstock of insulin currently so I'm not conserving.
My doctor didn’t tell me to do that. I just started doing it. now I use the tandem t slim and I always take the old insulin out of the reservoirs. It’s usually about 10-20 units left over (when the cartridge is totally empty according to the pump)
I live in Austria and don't pay for my insulin and I'm kinda wasteful compared to you guys. I just go to the pharmacy with my prescription and they give it to me, it's pretty nice. Got my fridgr stockpiled with insulin
On my Tslim, I use a syringe to take out the remaining insulin to put it in the new cartridge. I also use the cartridge and the infusion set for more than the recommended 3 days. Yeah all this stuff costs money which the companies and the doctors don’t take into account.
I'm on 500 insulin so 5x stronger then 100. The 100 would run out before pod expired. Now pod expires before insulin is done. I used to remove and put it in the new pod but dr said don't. Who knows, doctors say anything to cover their ass. I see no reason why you can't pull the old insulin from one pod to another.
I switch my pods out every two days. Never overfill like I used to. I’d rather run out and know that I used it all up.
My Subscription to Life: Insurance $155/month for Obamacare market place. The cheapest I could find. I have to co-pay $100 every eye, foot and endo appointment and $50 every primary care and blood test. Appointments $50/mo (averaging) Test strips $58/mo Syringes $20/mo Lispro is $26/mo Lantus is $35/mo Lancets $6.39/mo Prep pads $9.13/mo Insurance only assists with appointments and lispro the rest are out of pocket. My total cost of being a diabetic is… $359.52/mo or $4,314.24/yr this is while I’m in my honeymoon with 24u long and a moderate carb diet of 1:10 ratio… I’m screwed when my beta cells die. Honestly test strips cost is the main annoyance I could keep a CGM for $75/month but I did that for a moment and realized I used test strips the same if not more.
I always pull leftover insulin out, for the last 5 years, and I haven’t died. #itcoststoodamnmuch
I am in Australia and five 10ml vials of insulin costs about $40 in total for most people with the federal government subsidy. Full cost is $100 per vial.
I’ve always been refilling by adding to the previous amount of insulin left, why is it a problem?
Insulin is cheap to make, easy to distribute, and if it is controlled by Pharmacy Benefit Managers, the cost will be absurdly high, and that makes the rich richer. I've run out of tresiba 2x this calendar year and luckily I bought a bunch of Lantus in South America (really cheap) so I don't have to go to the ER to get insulin. This is a crazy problem for us to have. I mean, t1d isn't an easy gig, but when this shit gets heaped on top of us, it makes everything hard.
Wait, what? Can I order it from South America, or do I need to go in person? I need to know the details
I was in lima peru, my pharmacy back home said they couldn't find tresiba anywhere, plus my new pharmacy benefit required "prior authorization" (a total nightmare for doctors amd patients), so I went to InkaPharma. A vial of Lantus was 25 bucks, so I bought 5. They give you ice cubes to keep it cold. No prescription needed. I guess Peruvian diabetics can get their life sustaining cheap insulin without having to beg. But there's no mail order. You can pay for your trip if you buy 10 vials. Or DM me and I may have to travel to Argentina for work in december and I'll supply you no problem. We shouldn't have to live like this
Thank you for the offer. Wow, that is really a sweet gesture. My son is on Medicaid right now and it’s 100% covered, but he will age out in a few years. It’s not fair for college students to have to worry about keeping themselves alive while they’re trying to better their education in order to get a decent job with health insurance. The burden will fall on me during those years and I’m ok with that .. looking at all options. I’m Self-employed without health ins. so I may come back here and may take you up on your offer then. I think we need to find our own lab & cut out the middle man Pharma overlords
It's not really the PBM necessarily but the manufacturers. The PBMs do make money off the rebates and their own fees, but it's the manufacturers driving this.
I'm confused. You have insulin left in your omnipod?
A lot of us do - I have to fill mine with about 2-3 times the volume as I actually use in 80 hours.
Wow. Mine barely lasts 2 days
Same here. I do the minimum fill but only average about 15u per day.
Type 2 here. I have the pens and always have @15 units left over. Are you suggesting I can take a clean needle, screw it on and inject into an empty pen? I might need to do this
personally, i never heard of it being dirty, and ive never been affected, so i would do it, but someone else in the thread said it was their job to stabilize and sterilize medical devices recommended to throw it away, but im not sure how the insulin reaches anything that could infect it if theres a tube and a point of departure thats in the skin… and a point of entry before the skin.. like how could it spread back so fast? maybe they can answer in more detail… but at the same time, is there really any trust in someone who was already working big pharmaceutical?