Problem Refilling with Lantus Savings Card

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nam1026

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I just tried to refill my lantus pen as I have had 1 pen for 2 months now and its cloudy. Suki's numbers are higher than they were 2 weeks ago and won't come down. The Walmart couldnt' refill it with the savings program-computer kept saying it had to be 3 months before I could refill. They were closing for lunch of course so couldn't deal with calling manufacturer. I'm afraid if they do call and the company finds out its a cat they won't let me use savings program anyway. I don't know what to do.
My vet wrote scrip out as 1 pen at a time and 1 unit every 12 hrs. I was up to 1.5 units before I noticed it cloudy. Not sure if that is the reason or not. The vet tech said its supposed to be used within 28 days so she didn't understand either.
I can't afford $70 for 1 pen-they said I could pay cash for it.

Are there other savings cards that will get me this good of a deal or close to it? I paid $25 for 1 pen and am supposed to save up to $600 for up to 6 scrips.

Thanks.
 
That does not make sense since the manufacturer says it is only good for 28 days. I would press the matter up the chain at the pharmacy.
 
I would wait till they call the manufacturer to see if you can buy it more often than every 3 months (never heard of that rule and I could have sworn I've bought a pen or two within a couple of months of each other). My Walmart pharmacist knows it's for a cat and they often ask me how the "little diabetic kitty" is doing. :lol:

And unless you have a defective pen, mine have always been good to the last drop (around 2-4 months). You might see about contacting the manufacturer directly and ask if they'll replace it.

I don't know of any other savings plans for the Lantus, but I hope they come out with another one soon because I think I'm down to my last discount pen now. nailbite_smile If they don't, I'm going to probably switch to Levemir and try that on Mikey instead.
 
I would not tell the manufacturer you used it for over 28 days or if it was for a cat. Just say you are a caretaker..
What does your script say? Maybe that says refill no more often that three months?
 
I don't have the scrip anymore but I believe my vet wrote it as 1 pen, give 1 unit every 12 hrs and refill as needed.
I'm really afraid if Walmart calls them they DOBs won't match and they will tell them its a cat. I might just have my vet write me a whole new scrip and bring that in. IDK. I'm confused about the whole thing. I did leave the lantus out on counter 1 day and I had a friend staying here over xmas. She did a good job checking BG and giving shots but she could have left out too by mistake. Plus in beginning my vet told me to draw out more than I need and push it back in to get rid of air bubbles.
 
If the Lantus is cloudy now, it may have frozen. Maybe keep the new pen in a slightly warmer spot in the fridge. I know that with my fridge, the back section gets much colder and I need to keep any veggies or insulin more towards the front of the fridge.
 
If the script is written for 5 Lantus pens (ie: a box) they still may be filled individually. You can fill one and leave the other 4 on file to be filled in the future.
If you want have the vet make that distinction clearly on the script, but is not really necessary.

I'd have the pharmacy inquire anyway, just reference one of their 'customers'..they don't need to know it's a cat (or not).
 
The lantus never froze-always been in front of fridge. I found an old post on this board where this happened to someone else-they increased the dose and weren't allowed to refill early so maybe if I get a new scrip with a higher dose and use that instead of refilling old scrip? Walmart pharm tech is not very helpful even when I called today. She said she will look into it "sometime".
 
The computer said it had to be 3 months before you could refill?? How many units were in your pen? I think it may be how your vet wrote his script. 1 unit per 12 hours per day equals 2 units a day & doesn't the pen hold 130 or 160 units? If it is 160 units, then the pen would be good for 80 days.... I can't remember how my vet wrote my script but it wasn't as prescriptive as that.
 
Yes that is what the pharmacy said-the computer says its too early to refill. The pen has 3 ml or 300 units in it.

How should I have her write a new one? She had never written a scrip for a pen before.

I find this interesting-says it should be stored at room temp.


Portable5―once opened, the Lantus® SoloSTAR® pen can be used for up to 28 days and should not be refrigerated. Instruct patients to keep the opened Lantus® SoloSTAR® pen at room temperature (below 86°F). Lantus® SoloSTAR® pens must be discarded 28 days after being opened6


if they say to discard after 28 days, doesn't make sense if they are saying I can't refill earlier than 3 months unless they think I got a box of 5 pens. I only got one pen and my vet wrote on scrips "1 pen".
 
You still want to store it in the fridge to maintain longer life to it. They say it doesn't need to be stored so people can carry it around with them and have easily available.

For kitty purposes, we don't do that nor use the same amount as people. Remember what you read on the site is geared towards people use not kitty use.

There are any number of reasons why a pen can go cloudy - what that tells you is that you need new insulin.

You can have the vet keep it very simple - to write 5 solarstar pens with 1 or 2 refills -
 
Email Walmart. They do forward your pharmacy questions to to the regional head pharmacist in the area. That's what they did when I inquired about a single pen purchase here because none of my Pharmacies will dispense a single pen.
 
After my 3rd call/visit to walmart-I finally got someone helpful! It was all a computer error on the part of walmart! had nothing to do with the savings card. She fixed it and I now have a new pen. Ridiculous! Now I hope Suki's numbers come back down. We will see. Thanks everyone.
 
nam1026 said:
I did leave the lantus out on counter 1 day and I had a friend staying here over xmas. She did a good job checking BG and giving shots but she could have left out too by mistake. Plus in beginning my vet told me to draw out more than I need and push it back in to get rid of air bubbles.
Click to expand...
I left one out for 12 hours once, in the summer, in a warm room, and it was still clear and potent. Never push anything (bubbles, air or insulin) back into the pen, or a vial--I made this mistake back in the early days' of Gobbles FD until I had read somewhere not to do that. If you draw out more than you need, just squirt it into a paper towel.
 
I used the dial feature on the pen. When Izzy was on 2 units I would dial in 3... Insert syringe and click and have the pen push the insulin into the syringe. Otherwise as I used a pen I would run into the negative pressure and end up having the pen draw insulin back into it.
 
Interesting. I didn't know we could use the dial with the syringe. I thought her numbers were going down with the new insulin but they are still high. I've been giving 1.75 units. After 2 months she is still unregulated. Is this normal?
 
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