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Sunscreen: assess. Water bottle: assess. Beach ball: check. Insulin cooler.... ? Yep. For those of us who use insulin, summertime creates an additional degree of sophistication and stress.
The Actual question we all ask Ourselves in the heat of the summertime is if our fun-in-the-sun will cook our insulin and leave us having-not-so-much-fun in an air conditioned ICU unit?
What happens when you leave a Chunk of raw prime rib out in the sun? Right. After a time, it starts to stink. Guess what? Insulin is the exact same. Just like prime rib, it is a protein. And just like prime rib, it can spoil in high temperatures.
Of Course, spoiled insulin does not smell rancid. It smells like Band-Aids. And it doesn't change colour, or give you some other clues that it's spoiled. It just stops functioning, or at the very least it quits functioning correctly, leaving you blood sugars that begin to climb and a demand for several correction doses which just don't seem to be making any effect.
You probably knew that, or you probably did at 1 time. However, do you know how hot is too hot? Or how long insulin may beat the heat? There are many options nowadays to maintain our insulin at perfect temps whether we are at home, traveling on planes and trains, or out in the wild in which climate issues can present different medication challenges.
The Three big insulin manufacturers -- Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi -- tell us that"refrigeration temperatures between 36° and 46°F are preserved for insulin products during the manufacturing process" and that remains the recommended range. They also warn strongly against placing insulin in the freezer, or directly adjacent to the refrigerator cooling element, as freezing leaves insulin instantly ineffective.
Based on Consumer Reports, The sweet place for a kitchen fridge is 37° F -- apparently perfect for keeping vegetables like lettuce absolutely free of ice crystals, while controlling the spread of bacteria. But that is pretty near the bottom of the perfect insulin temp range, so we need to be careful.
Many people with Diabetes have a habit of taking their insulin straight from the pharmacy to the kitchen refrigerator. While this is generally good enough, it is essential to be alert to colder corners and understand that the overall temperature of a full refrigerator can be lower than the temperature in an almost empty one. The butter compartment normally remains a good choice of refrigerator positioning for insulin, as it ends up.
The Fantastic news is that working insulin -- the open vials and pens you are actively using -- doesn't have to be stored cool, really outside of typical room temperature situations. In use, there is no gain to actually keeping insulin chilly. It will neither prolong its lifetime nor make it function better, and cold insulin stings when you ditch it. The trick isn't so far keeping your open insulin cool once in usage, but rather, not to allow it to get hot.
To do this, you just need to make sure your house, Work place, car, purse/go-bag, and pocket never get hotter than the top level of room temperature (compared to 86° F), which almost every home, work area, car, purse/go-bag, and pocket is guaranteed to hit at summer here in the USA.
Ice packs were the conventional solution. However, while ice packs are great for post-surgical swelling, and may yet be useful in treating hangovers, As a way of keeping insulin cool they are woefully ineffective. The ice melts quickly, they're messy, and they really maintain insulin cooler than it must be, at least for working insulin. Ice packs may be a fantastic solution for transporting an inventory of insulin for a day in the pool or beach, or even an elongated vacation, but that's about it.
Best Insulin Cooler : 5 Reviews and Buying Guide
https://bestinsulincooler.com
