# Aarrgghh!
**URL:** https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408
**Category:** Insulin
**Created:** [October 19, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408 "2017-10-19T14:07:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@docslotnick](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/docslotnick)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/1 "2017-10-19T14:07:10Z")
I dropped a cartridge of Novolog on the kitchen floor this morning while changing my pen and it shattered!!11!!11!!11.
What bothered me is that at today’s prices that’s almost $100 worth of insulin!
I wish I wasn’t so clumsy with my hands😉
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### Author:  [@Pianoplayer7008](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Pianoplayer7008)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/2 "2017-10-19T14:08:58Z")
Ouhhh, that’s the worst! They say don’t cry over spilled milk, but I think for insulin, it’s perfectly acceptable…
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### Author:  [@Sam](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Sam)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 2:19pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/3 "2017-10-19T14:19:52Z")
You’re clumsy with your hands? Do you drop tools into peoples’ larynx occasionally?
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### Author:  [@CatLady](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/CatLady)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/4 "2017-10-19T14:22:52Z")
Did you forget to drink your coffee this morning?? ☕️
Seriously, I am so sorry this happened. 😿
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### Author:  [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/5 "2017-10-19T14:34:11Z")
Sorry this happened to you, Doc. ☹
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### Author:  [@docslotnick](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/docslotnick)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/6 "2017-10-19T14:42:25Z")
> [@CatLady](#):
>
> Did you forget to drink your coffee this morning?? ☕
Yes, pre coffee. I think I was almost awake when it happened though.
> [@Sam](#):
>
> You’re clumsy with your hands? Do you drop tools into peoples’ larynx occasionally?
Only if I haven’t had my large mug of morning coffee. See above.
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### Author:  [@docslotnick](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/docslotnick)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/7 "2017-10-19T14:45:47Z")
> [@Sam](#):
>
> Do you drop **tools**
Instruments Sam. Instruments.
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### Author:  [@Chris](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Chris)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/8 "2017-10-19T15:05:14Z")
Sorry about that doc. Destroying the liquid of life, is not something any of us want to needlessly do.
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### Author:  [@TravelingOn](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/TravelingOn)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2017, 6:59am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/9 "2017-10-20T06:59:52Z")
You should totally write to novalog and tell them it was defective. Who knows? Maybe it was! I’ll bet you’ve dropped a number of things throughout your life that haven’t broken. Asking couldn’t hurt.
I am so sorry though. It really sucks when you realize you just wasted a bunch of money. Even if you’ll still make rent, it still sucks.
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### Author:  [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/10 "2017-10-20T15:33:26Z")
Our vials obviously aren’t built with [Valor Glass](https://www.corning.com/worldwide/en/products/pharmaceutical-technologies/valor-glass.html).
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### Author:  [@docslotnick](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/docslotnick)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/11 "2017-10-20T15:51:09Z")
> [@ClaudnDaye](#):
>
> Our vials obviously aren’t built with Valor Glass.
That would be awesome! But then they would probably charge $200/cartridge 😕
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### Author:  [@Aaron](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Aaron)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/12 "2017-10-20T18:58:02Z")
> [@TravelingOn](#):
>
> You should totally write to novalog and tell them it was defective.
So I have done a bunch of experiments on dropping pen cartridges and boxes of pen cartridges - here are my results.
_**Wood Floor in my kitchen (shiplap fir)**_
**Lilly - Humalog:** Never Breaks
**Novo-Nordisk Levemir:** The vial shatters and without the sticky label the glass will fall apart. insulin slowly leaks out. You think about trying to recover the insulin with a syringe and then you realize there are tiny pieces of glass everywhere that you do not want to inject so you just toss it in the garbage.
**Novo-Nordisk Fiasp:** Same poor result as Levemir.
**Box of Levemir Pen Cartridges** : After dropping the box some vials will be damaged, but usually not the one you take out after dropping. No - it will be the next time you take it our of the fridge to get a vial. Then the vials looks fine but there are hairline cracks in the cartridge that are covered up but the sticky tape of the label. You then put the cartridge in the pen, prime a couple units and everything is good. Then you give a large shot and it leaks all over your arm and you remember that you dropped the ()&_&_^ box a week ago. Of course you have no idea how much went in and how much leaked out so you stay up all night nursing a high blood sugar 😢
_ **Tile Floor in the bathrrom** _
**Humalog** - 50-50% change of breakage
**Novo-Nordisk** 100% failure rate.
It is the Novo Nordisk cartridges that are the problem.
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### Author:  [@docslotnick](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/docslotnick)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/13 "2017-10-20T19:34:53Z")
@Aaron Did you drop all of these cartridges and boxes of cartridges on the floor on purpose for the sake of experimentation?
If you did then I think we need to take up a collection for some replacement cartridges and a medal of appreciation.
If you didn’t, then you are way clumsier than I am 😉
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### Author:  [@Aaron](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Aaron)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/14 "2017-10-20T23:15:07Z")
> [@docslotnick](#):
>
> Did you drop all of these cartridges and boxes of cartridges on the floor on purpose for the sake of experimentation?
Ummmm no - but I am a person who likes to make the best of a bad situation.
> [@docslotnick](#):
>
> If you didn’t, then you are way clumsier than I am 😉
Yup - that is why I am not a dentist 😄
Also - this was a long term experiment that has been going for about 18 years (I think that is probably the last time I used a vial). But I probably loose one Novo-Nordisk pen cartridge per year. And I have dropped a whole levemir pen cartridge box a couple of times.
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### Author:  [@TravelingOn](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/TravelingOn)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/15 "2017-10-20T23:40:26Z")
This makes me think that we need “vial coozies” like they have beer coozies. ( I don’t even know if that is the word, but it’s those neoprene sleeves that people put on cans. I’m lucky if I can keep track of my can of beverage, let alone hunt down a coozy and apply it to said can.) It dawned on me someone else already did this.
Additionally, shame on them for making something that breaks in what would normally be a non-unusual use case – people drop stuff all the time!
Vial Protection by Securitee Blanket - Short Royal Blue [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000R81M48/ref=cm\_sw\_r\_cp\_api\_9KO6zbEAHRGM8](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000R81M48/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_9KO6zbEAHRGM8)
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### Author:  [@Eric](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Eric)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2017, 11:53pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/aarrgghh/2408/16 "2017-10-20T23:53:13Z")
> [@TravelingOn](#):
>
> Vial Protection by Securitee Blanket
I have a bunch of those in different colors for all the different insulin flavors I have in my fridge.
There are different styles, like the plastic ones, but I like those a lot.