Re: Contaminated insulin

[Guest guest]

wrote:

>I didn't think there was such a thing as a bad batch of insulin. I certainly

hope that no other person as such an intensely bad reaction as you or even

worse for that matter.

Chrissy,

The reason my first reaction to Mark's problems was to ask whether or not his

insulin could have been contaminated was that I also had a circumstance

quite similar to Mark's last year, except in the reverse. In my case, my blood

glucose kept rising, even with insulin injections to bring it down, it just kept

going up, up, up, not responding to the insulin to bring it down.

My brittleness causes me to have days where I'll be exceedingly high, or low,

without reason, so I originally thought that I was having a brittle day. But

these brittle occasions can be corrected, and will respond to insulin. It's

that

they happen without cause or reason that makes them frightening, but I've

learned that diligent, frequent testing and injecting (every 2-3 hours) helps to

keep them under control. I've learned to try to de-stress myself when having

a brittle day, and try not to let it overly concern me......this seems to help.

On this particular occasion, when there was no response to the insulin

injections and my numbers kept reaching for the 400's, I just felt it wasn't

brittleness doing this. I felt fine otherwise and was having a good panc. day.

Finally, at the end of my rope, I threw out both my vial of baseline insulin

(Lantus) and my package of Humalog pens.

When I was at my pharmacy picking up new Lantus and Humalog, I spoke to

Jim (my pharmacist) about it. He said that he had heard of very rare

instances where insulin had been contaminated, either because of not being

refrigerated while in transit or just a " bad batch " . They have all sorts of

controls to safeguard against this, but it can happen. If the cause is known,

the insulin is recalled....just like that series of 75 mg. duragesic patches

that

Tull warned us about earlier. I started the next day with all new insulin, and

had no problems whatsoever.

So, yes, it can happen, but it's rare. Now, if more than a day goes by where

I'm not having expected responses to my injections (or SOME accuracy), I

personally feel it's safer to just throw the vial or pen out, and start fresh,

other

than waste too much time looking for other causes. If the problems continue

with all new insulin, then of course, it's time to look elsewhere for the

problem,

but at least then you've eliminated one possible cause. It's expensive to just

toss the stuff, but I just don't like taking chances. This is just my personal

choice to do this, though, so don't let my phobias influence other diabetics to

do the same.

With love, hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and should not be

substituted for professional medical consultation.