When I got out of the hospital last December for DKA, I was given the vial of ‘Insulex R’ which is Insulin R (recombinant DNA) which was what they were giving to me among all other liquids in the bags…
since I got out I’ve been using tresiba (at first), then ryzodeg and novorapid (novolog) but left the Insulex R vial in the fridge since then…
is it safe to use that insulin or should I just dispose of it?
photo for reference
Can you explain your concern with the safety. Do you mean expiration date, or how the insulin works in your body compared to a rapid insulin? Or something else?
Basically expiration date… not sure what the expiration date is in the label… but since I’ve read that people recommend use until a certain amount of days after a vial/pen is opened…
Here are a couple threads that might interest you. Basically, insulin is a lot more durable than what the label says.
The first link is insulin left unrefrigerated for over a year, and also 3 years past expiration.
the-great-unrefrigerated-expired-insulin-demo
The second link is insulin left in a hot car in the summer time for 4 days.
car-baked-insulin-an-experiment-for-irish
We have not experimented with R on the forum though.
But, @Israel, you can try it and test it. My guess is that it will likely be good.
I did that experiment long before there was a forum. All through high school and college.
With Humalog we have shown that Freezing, Heating (within reason), expiration date and proper storage conditions are not variables that should be considered when deciding to use that insulin. Since no one has done it with R here, and assuming you are acquainted with how to properly use it, it would be interesting if you could test with it from time to time and find out if this is also true for R.