Lantus shelf life once opened?

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BaileyUK

BaileyUK

Member Since 2013
Hi

Quick question regarding Lantus - I read on their main site that it should be discarded once opened after 30 days - we keep ours refrigerated of course and wondered if 30 days is the limit or if anyone else continues using the same bottle for longer.

Lantus is expensive over here in the UK so would be handy to know before we chuck out our half full bottle that we have had open (but refrigerated) for over 2 months now.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Barnes and Bailey
 
30 days is for humans. Are you using a vial or pens? If pens you can use to the last drop about 2-3 months depending on dose with a vial it needs to be pitched out after about 2 months. As long as refrigerated and not shakened rolled or air shot back in. As long as it is clear and has no floaties you should be good.

How's Lord Bailey doing?

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn and The Fur Gang
 
Thanks Mel

Much appreciated!

Lord Bailey is doing well thanks he had a scan a few weeks back and confirmed that his big belly is pancreatitis and not anything more sinister which we were really worried about.

His BG levels seem to be stable if not a little high still, he seems to hover between 11 and 14 (200-250 US) most of the time we're happy with this as his pancreatitis won't be helping things we don't want him to go too low which happens when we try and increase the dose even very slightly. In himself he is very perky and despite his big belly doing his thing eating very well.

Hope the fur gang are all well your side.

Thanks again for your help as always.

B&B
 
Just sneaked a peek at his spreadsheet. He's looking very well regulated :-)

Which is sometimes the best you can do when they have other health issues going on. Although you really need to get those preshot tests in so you know it's safe to give insulin.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn and The Fur Gang
 
Thanks Mel

I know we need to do more pre-shot tests but it's still a two man job and work commitments mean I cannot test him as much as we would like.

Thanks again :)

B&B
 
I've heard of some people use their Lantus vials up to 5 months, as long as it's taken care of properly. Can you get the cartridges in the UK? Those are like the pen refills and we can get them in Canada. Cheaper and less waste than pens, look like miniature vials and last like the pens.
 
Thanks Wendy

Yes we are looking into the cartridges these sound like the best option hoping we can use these as they come in a pack of 4 and unsure if the syringes will pierce the refill!

Thanks for the info!
 
The 28-30 days for Lantus is meant for humans who do not keep their insulin in the frig.
The company tested for that length of time only, and so that is their guarantee.
The maker of Levemir ran their tests for 42 days, and so that is their guarantee for Levemir, if kept at room temperature.

The best way to know if your insulin is losing its punch is by the numbers when you home test.
Many people say that they get several months out of their insulin, and use to the last drop.
If you notice the numbers creeping higher and it's been a few months on your current container of insulin, you may want to try a fresh container. If the numbers improve with the fresh insulin, the old container is likely toast so you can toss it out, but if you get the same number range, you can continue to use the old container of insulin.

Gayle
 
Thanks Gayle

Much appreciated - we have the smaller cartridges on order it has been two months since we started on the current bottle and BG's maybe slightly creeping up but hard to tell with the p'titis still lingering!

We'll start him on the fresh batch and hopefully that should tell us whether the old bottle was losing potency.

How are you getting on with your little ones at that end? Hope all is well.

Thanks again for all the info!

B&B
 
For the p'titis issues, keep giving sub q fluids daily, pepcid or something for upset stomach, and buprenorphine or something for pain as needed.

if you are not giving Bailey any B12 shots, talk to your vet about starting them at home as B12 is great for lessening inflammation.

Gayle
 
Thanks Gayle

Oddly Bailey doesn't seem to exhibit the classic signs of p'tits i.e. no sickness or diarrhoea and the vet doesn't seem to think he is in any pain. His tummy seems to have gone down a little but has been bloated for months now. Hence we don't give him sub q fluids but he does have a monthly B12 shot. He seems perky and alert but shall raise these questions in two weeks when we go back for a checkup.

On the Lantus - we managed to get hold of the cartridges and binned the two month old bottle we had been using. Instantly we saw better results with him staying in the blue zone all day yesterday but have just taken his nadir/+6 today and he is 15.5 (279 US) we're a little concerned as we thought with yesterday's results we had cracked it and the old bottle of insulin was to blame for his slightly higher readings. Do you think this could be down to the change in concentration - i.e. even though we have not increased the dose the new insulin is seemingly more potent than the supposed degraded previous bottle hence should we be waiting for 3 days / 6 shots until we start to see the levels settle?

We're going to see what his pre shot looks like tonight but inclined to up the dose he's on nearly 4 units which we know is a lot but his clinical signs are really good he is alert and perky we just wish we could get his numbers down a little even though overall I feel we have him controlled. Would love to be able to test him more regularly but have explained why it is so hard in previous threads - will try and take some more readings next week if we're still seeing his levels like they are today - 15.5 at the nadir it's not really what we want to see.

Any feedback greatly appreciated as always!

Barnes and Bailey
 
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