That’s interesting! My pen needles have no such ridge so there’s no issue putting the pen cap on with the pen needle attached. Can you post a photo?
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Have you checked that where you store them in the fridge isn’t actually too COLD?
I have had my insulin act wonky because of it getting too cold.
Too hot usually take some time, and it usually still works, just not as well. Too hot only happened with one batch that got too hot, and it took a while before I got to the end of that batch (I get 9 vials at a time.)
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That’s a good question. I keep a fridge thermometer in my fridge to keep an eye on it.
ETA: We had a fridge slowly start to die last year. The freezer wasn’t cold and fridge was mid-40’s at its coldest setting. When I replaced the fridge, I added a fridge thermometer to the new one to keep an eye on it bc the reviews said that the inside of the new fridge maintains inconsistent temperature, especially on different shelves within it. So I try to be careful with it going forward but can’t swear to what’s happened in the past.
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@T1Allison, send me a pen that you think is suspect, and I’ll try it out and tell you what I think about it. I can give it an evaluation. Insulin speaks to me.
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Yay! Community experiment time!
I think we should test two though: the oldest batch vs. the newest batch.
I don’t question if my older pen behaved differently in my body because that part is pretty clear to me. I’m mostly curious about the “how much different” and “how come” part.
Do you want to try both the old and the new?
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Sure, send me whatever you want! I’ll try it all.
I’ll do it when things are normal, like at home and using the regular PDM, not during my Loop experiments.
My eating will settle down now too. The past month has been obscene.
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And this here is why I love this place. On Red*tt all you will see is people arguing their position without any thought or experimentation. But actual experimentation is awesome! Sorry, my science background is showing, but things like this are what actually gets me a little tingly.
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Agreed! 
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hehehehe hehehe hehheheehhe …he said “tingly”…hehehe heehhhehe
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We think alike I see.
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I used to be really careful about my insulin, until I read somewhere that it is actually really pretty stable. When I go swimming at the beach I leave my back up insulin in the car and at first I had put a frio pack with it. But at the time we were going 2 or 3 times a week and I was constantly forgetting. But after forgetting a few times and realizing the insulin was working fine I stopped worrying about it.
I don’t know how hot the car gets, but it’s in the sun for 3 hours plus sometimes at the beach. We don’t go above 80 here, so it doesn’t heat up like California, but it does get hotter in the car. My humalog has always been fine. I have heard from a couple of people they think their fiasp is more sensitive though.
On the pod issue, I’ve definitely noticed more of an issue the last 2 years. But for me it’s been very specific to certain lots. I can go through 20 with no issue and hit one lot and I had 4 out of 5 be bad in one box. Last month I was going along fine and had a failure, put on another one, had another failure. Thought to look at the lot number and sure enough I had grabbed pods from a lot numbered box that I knew I had been having pod issues with and had made a note of. I rotate my stash and it got mixed in. Some of the boxes were okay in the lot, but a couple of boxes I had serious issues with and stopped using that lot altogether. Luckily my script is very generous so I have that option. And most of these pods fail at 12-24 hours. They work, just not as well and I have to take double the insulin and my numbers stay higher. Take a shot and my numbers come down like they should. It’s not placement as too many in a row are bad and a different lot and then I’ll have no issues with the other pods for months on end. About 3-4 months ago I called in 11 pods. 5 from one lot and 6 from another. Yet I went through 45 of a different lot without one issue. Lol, now I have 2 more from one of those same lots to call in.
But there have been a lot more complaints about having people having more repeated pod failures over the last couple of years. I know a year ago last spring is when I had my first “group” failure lot. I really thought I was starting to have an issue with pods until I called for replacements of 5 pods and realized they were all from the same lot. And then switched lots and had no more issues. Not everyone is having the issue, I can’t help but think it’s a me and pod issue, maybe I am more sensitive to it not going as deep or the right angle? But more people are saying they are having the same issue.
I’ll get the random 1-4 a year for various reasons as I always have had, the cannula bent, one not working at all from the start, one that caused soreness that got worse fast and ended up making 2 battle scars under it, 2 ? How did I get 2 wounds? But there definitely seems to be a lot issue. And now I have about 6 boxes of ones I had issues with,I don’t want to use them and I don’t know what to do with them! I hate just tossing but who wants to pass on ones that might have an issue?
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@T1Allison BRAVO on the FlexPen science experiment!! I’d thought of doing that, but alas now I don’t have too! So, the orange plastic appears to just be cage around a standard “insulin cylinder” and gets glued (presumably) to the blue plastic body with a screw mechanism! Looks for all intents like an all plastic version of the NovoPen Echo I recently obtained.
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@T1Allison Ok, I have to beg forgiveness! I went to take a picture, had a “duh!” moment and felt foolish! I always stuck the needle carrier (relatively clear plastic on mine) used to screw the needle on/off the pen back on my needles in addition to the actual needle cover (green on mine), and THAT is what kept the pen cover from fitting back on…duh! I don’t know…must have wanted the double protection factor or thought “HEY! THIS WILL KEEP THE NEEDLE CLEANER!” or something equally unimpressive. Se la…you CAN teach an old dog new tricks, albeit, now on pods I wont be using it much!
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It happens, LOL!!
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“I didn’t want to go to the Quaker Steak and Lube, but Eric made me do it!”
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There’s something weird about them; the first time I put a needle in the air-shot works with just 1 unit. After that point it requires 2 or 3 to get a decent spurt. That doesn’t make any sense - I take the needle off and I’m actually using the pen to inject into an Omnipod (so the first time is 150IU and the second time is another similar, though lesser dose; the air shots mean I don’t normally manage a full 150). I only do two shots and I’m careful, but there is air in the damned thing the second time. I’m using fiasp pens - same as your novolog ones.
There is at least 1IU of air, more likely 2IU of air, in the pen after the first use. That’s enough to explain an Everest of highs.
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@jbowler If it helps. I use a pen for the insulin source for my Omnipods. If you use the syringe that comes with the Omnipod to draw from the pen, you don’t have to worry about air shots or priming. You can fill up the syringe to the right amount and get rid of any air in the syringe by tapping on it and expelling it. Then you fill up the pod with the full dose.
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