Newbie Q - Accidently Shaking Insulin

Hello everyone,

A newbie here! -- I've just joined the forum a few days ago (my cat was recently diagnosed) and have been working on reading all the info at this forum & website. There's a lot to take in!

I had a quick question for now which I haven't been able to work out yet from all the FAQs and so forth. A few days ago when I was carefully rolling and tilting my insulin vial (ProZinc) to mix it up, I accidently dropped the vial -- it bounced off the table and landed on the floor and rolled for a little bit. Thankfully it didn't break but it obviously got shaken up from falling.

Should I be worried that the insulin is now useless ('denatured')? I called and asked my vet this question, but my regular vet is out of town right now and so the other vet answered my q, and to be honest she does not seem as well versed in these matters. (She read the insulin package insert and told me, 'well, it doesn't say anything about it getting ruined by shaking')

Thanks for any input. I also wanted to say I'm encouraged by the extensive resources this website and forum offer and you all seem like a great bunch of people, I'm glad to be here! It really helps to see how many others are 'in the same boat' so to speak.

-Jay (and her cat Tornado :smile: )

 

Jay,

It should be okay. What you would notice if it wasn't is flaky stuff inside and it would lose its potency.

 

Hi Jay and welcome to FDMB :mrgreen:

I agree with Sue.
Just in case you don't know/haven't so far-go and post in PZI forum and introduce yourself. That forum has beans (us humans)that are using the same /similar insulin as yourself and they can help you with specific questions (you can get to a degree here on health board, just that you can get missed if your insulin isn't mentioned in your title)
A lot of people cross post in both in the early days, that way you get lots of eyes on your questions. :mrgreen:

 

Hi Sue and Kate,

Thanks for the feedback. We're still trying to get him stabilized (currently on 3 units prozinc, his #'s on his last glucose curve were still way high) so I have no idea about the stuff's potency, since nothing so far's brought his sugar levels down yet. But it's good to know I'm probably just being paranoid. The insulin hasn't changed in appearance or anything like that.

I'll definitely go down & say hi in the PZI forum, thanks for the tip! :smile:

 

Be sure you check out the links for hometesting. It will be so much easier to monitor his diabetes at home, rather than the expensive tests at the vet. It is also more accurate as stress raises bg levels.

http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry/bgtest.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8

Wondering at what dosage he was started? Sometimes if the amount is too high to start with, they rebound with higher numbers: http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Somogyi_rebound

 

Just a hint so this doesn't happen again:

Put a towel on the counter top...lay the vial on the towel and
roll it against the towel.

Don't hold the vial up in the air....always down low over the towel on the counter.

 

There are insulin bottle protectors that you can buy. These are usually soft neoprene or other similar material.



Hocks.com has two sizes of the above protector. They fit most Human insulin bottles (Lantus, Humulin, etc): http://hocks.com/Merchant5/merchant.mvc ... ccessories (scroll down to bottom of page).


There is also a hard plastic protector. View image here: http://www.insucozi.com/images/p1000438_w8v8.jpg

I don't know if any of the insulin bottle protectors fit pet insulin bottles (Vetsulin, PZI, ProZinc).

You can make your own homemade protector. Such as a pill bottle with gauze or cotton balls inside for cushioning. Or wrap some bubble wrap around the outside of the insulin bottle.

 

Ah, yes, hometesting -- thanks for the link. :smile: I'm working my way up to that. I'm trying to concentrate on one thing at a time for now though, heh, a bit overwhelming still right now. In answer to your question, he was started on 1 unit for a week, then 2 units for a week, now we're on 3.

Hi Karen-- you know, it's so simple and seems so obvious, yet that's a great suggestion . . . not sure why I didn't think of it. :mrgreen:

I'm intrigued by these bottle protectors, they look really clever. Although for now I want to be able to see into the vial to reassure myself it's been mixed enough.

 

Going from 1 to 3 units in 2 weeks is a rather fast increase.

You may already have passed the ideal dosage and be giving too much insulin.

You need home-test numbers (not influenced by 'vet stress').

Please prioritize learning to home-test.