How do you store insulin when you are away from home with diabetes?
Some diabetic patients who inject insulin need to travel for a long time because of their work, or go out for traveling, so they have to carry insulin with them, and when they go out, insulin needs to be stored properly because the temperature is too high or too low to make insulin easily damaged.
Insulin is preserved for diabetics when they are away from home:
1. The most suitable storage temperature for insulin is 2 to 8 degrees Celsius. Insulin can be stored at room temperature (around 20 degrees Celsius) for 4 to 6 weeks. When you go out, you should put insulin in an insulated box or insulated bag, and don't put insulin in a place where the temperature is too high or too low. If the weather is hot, you can realize to put some ice cubes in the insulated box or a bottle of chilled mineral water. When you arrive at your destination, store the insulin in the refrigerator if there is one in the hotel where you are staying. If there is no refrigerator, keep it in a cool place in your room away from light, and do not store it in ice cubes or ice water.
2, insulin should be placed in a cool and dry place, never let insulin be exposed to sunlight, avoid directly exposing insulin to sunlight, even if you are driving, put it in the car. Try to avoid traveling in very hot weather.
3, in order not to affect the effectiveness of the drug, insulin must avoid violent shocks and bumps.
4, some patients are wearing insulin pumps, when in some circumstances need to be temporarily interrupted, such as going swimming, it is necessary to put the insulin pump away from sunlight and high temperature, to avoid the insulin in the pump become unstable and fail.
5, travel by train or airplane, to carry insulin pen, should not be placed in the luggage checked, because the temperature of the aircraft cargo hold is often below 0 degrees, can make the insulin frozen denaturation.
As we all know, insulin is an indispensable medicine for diabetic patients, which has higher storage temperature and requirements. Inevitably, diabetic patients have the need to go out and travel, so how to carry or save insulin?
Diabetics carry the standard with them:Insulin, injection pens, needles, alcohol cotton balls and blood glucose meters, blood glucose test strips。
The biggest obstacle to insulin storage comes from - temperature:
Insulin that has not been opened requires storage at 2-8°C, below 2°C it will crystallize.
After opening the insulin, it needs to be kept in a cool environment at room temperature below 25 degrees Celsius (no need to put it back in the refrigerator to avoid repeated temperature changes, which may affect the efficacy of the medicine) for 4-6 weeks.
In winter, go out to pay attention to frost protection, this time you need to have a thermal box or bag with you, avoid violent shocks and avoid excessive temperature differences.
Do not leave insulin in the car when you are driving out to prevent it from crystallizing or failing if the temperature inside the car is too high or too low when the car is stationary.
Don't check your insulin when you fly, and keep it with you.
Insulin should be stored separately and not with other sources of heat or cold or hard objects.
In addition to carrying the standard equipment, take your injections and medication on time, and if you feel unwell, carry fruit and cookies with you to prevent hypoglycemia.
You need to be careful to clean your insulin before injecting it when you take it out for injections:
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Some diabetic patients inevitably practical insulin therapy, insulin appliances are gradually more and more, insulin is very fragile, need to be carefully stored, especially when you go out.
When out and about, insulin preservation should do this
Store insulin for normal use at a temperature not exceeding no more than 30°C. Store unopened insulin in the refrigerator freezer at 2 to 8°C. Keep spare insulin in an insulated bag and carry it with you when you are out and about
When out and about, insulin preservation should not do this
Don't freeze insulin, don't keep insulin in direct sunlight, don't keep it next to anything too hot, and don't use insulin that is hard or discolored.
In conclusion, when diabetics go out to store their insulin, make sure to use an insulated tool to keep it from getting too hot, too cold, or spoiled.
Got diabetes that have to control blood sugar every day, eat less, eat fine is the norm for diabetic patients diet, although finely tuned, but insulin or diabetic patients out of the necessary, eat what just in case or to carry, blood sugar once elevated a needle down to get control. For diabetic patients, insulin is very need to bring, but also not good to bring, but people can not never go out, then we come to understand what kind of conditions in the storage of insulin.
First of all, a very important is the temperature problem, insulin is required to be stored at low temperature or refrigerated, sometimes room temperature or too high a temperature will make it lose a certain effect, if the work place, there is a refrigerator must be insulin in the refrigerator, insulin needs to be stored at low temperatures, but remember to never freeze it into ice, frozen insulin can not be used, from the refrigerator out of insulin should be left at room temperature for a while before use. Insulin fresh from the refrigerator should be left at room temperature for a while before use. Often the place of work does not have this condition, so what can we do? It is easy to affect the efficacy of insulin at room temperature, it is best to use insulin pens, find a cool and ventilated place to put, in the hot weather of summer, it is best to put insulin pens into the refrigerator if you have the conditions.
In addition, if you are going out or traveling, it is best to avoid going out when the weather is very hot, there should be packages to cover, do not let the insulin in the sun; travel to take the plane or train, there will be people who want to conveniently put directly in the luggage, this is the wrong approach, put the luggage, the prolonged shock will affect the efficacy of the insulin, so that must be accompanied with the.
Instructor: Hui Lichao, Deputy Chief Physician, Department of Endocrinology, Jinzhou Central Hospital.
She has been engaged in endocrine clinical work for 15 years and specializes in the diagnosis of diabetes and other common endocrine diseases.
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Simply put, insulin should be stored separately according to unopened and opened when diabetic patients are out of the house: unopened should be stored at 2~8℃; opened should be stored at 25℃ or below in a cool place protected from light, and need not be placed back in the environment of 2~8℃.
There are 2 main types of diabetes:① Type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent), autoimmune reaction damages beta cells, absolute deficiency of insulin secretion, exogenous administration of insulin therapy is required, and oral hypoglycemic agents are ineffective.② Type 2 diabetes (non-insulin-dependent), beta cell hypofunction, relative insulin deficiency & insulin resistance (beta cells are specialized insulin secreting cells in the pancreas).
Type 1 diabetes is routinely treated with regular insulin injections; type 2 diabetes is usually treated with oral hypoglycemic medications, but 20% to 30% of patients still require insulin therapy.
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So how do these diabetics who need insulin therapy store the insulin they carry with them when they are out and about?
Insulin is a small molecule acidic proteinThe essence of this is that it belongs to the class of proteins, thereforeCannot be used at too low or too high a temperatureThe environment in which it is kept, why is this?
Insulin is the active protein thatIf the temperature is too high, it can cause it to become denatured, inactivated and lose its hypoglycemic effect.The principle of denaturation is also well understood, using the analogy of an egg. A raw egg is in a liquid state, but when cooked at high temperatures, it becomes a solid, and the process that changes its nature is denaturation.Whereas each protein has a different denaturation temperature, for insulin it is best not to exceed 25°C.The same applies if the temperature is too low, denaturation will occur and it is best not to exceed 2°C.
Well, when it comes to preserving insulin, it is important to divide it into unopened and opened Oh.
Unopened insulin needs to be stored at 2~8°C. It can be placed in the fresh layer of the refrigerator and can be used within the expiration time.
For opened insulin, it is sufficient to leave it at room temperature, but do not exceed 25°C., can be kept in a cool place away from light. Note the storage time of insulin after opening the packageNot to exceed 4 weeks, if exceeded, may not be reused.
Unopened insulin fresh from the refrigerator is not recommended for immediate injection.It is best to leave the insulin for a period of time until it is close to room temperature before opening it for injection, as this will reduce or avoid discomfort and irritation of the subcutaneous tissue during injection.
Insulin that has been opened does not need to be put back in the refrigerator.This is because insulin is more likely to fail if it alternates between hot and cold environments, just as people get sick easily if they alternate between hot and cold environments. Moreover, if the needle is not removed from the insulin pen with insulin refill after use, and the pen is repeatedly put in and taken out from the refrigerator, the liquid in the insulin refill will expand and contract due to repeated thermal expansion and contraction, and the air will be sucked in through the needle hole to form air bubbles, which will result in an inaccurate injection dosage, and affect the therapeutic effect.Therefore, after each injection of insulin refills, the needles should be removed and stored in a cool place away from light.
Therefore, when you go out, the insulin you carry should be separated from the unopened and opened ones according to the temperature requirement.
Summarize the above into the table below:
Question Answered by: Lian Siheng, Fujian Medical University Reviewed by: Wu Yibo
When you are out and about with diabetes, remember to save your insulin as follows:
(1) Remember to bring extra insulin, at least 2-3 times your usual serving size;
(2) Keep insulin and pens/needles in your carry-on baggage and also keep an extra set of back-up supplies in your other carry-on baggage so that if one piece of your carry-on baggage is lost, there is another one to use.
(3) Do not put insulin in checked baggage, as it may be frozen when the airplane is flying at high altitude. In addition, there is a risk that checked baggage will be delayed or lost.
(4) X-rays from airport security do not have any effect on the effectiveness of insulin.
(5) Carry your diabetes certificate with you so that you can show it to the security or customs officers at the airport if they ask for it.
(6) There is a good chance that you will be able to store your insulin in the refrigerator when you go out, but if you are traveling for a short period of time, it will not go bad as long as you don't leave it in a place where it is hotter than 30° Celsius.
(7) Remember that the temperature inside a car in the low sun can reach up to 50°C. Prepare a thermos bottle, use ice to lower the temperature inside the thermos bottle, pour out the ice, put some cool water down, and finally put the insulin in it, so you don't have to worry about the heat.
(8) Insulin that has been frozen loses its effectiveness. Do not leave insulin in the car if you are skiing. When the temperature outside is below 0°C, keep insulin and pen needles close to your body in the pocket of your inner clothing; frozen insulin will become brown, cloudy and lumpy.
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The above answer is provided by Ms. Song Mingyue, a registered dietitian of MicroSugar
With the rapid development of China's economy, people's living conditions have improved dramatically, diabetic patients are increasing year by year, the process of population aging is accelerating, more and more elderly people choose to travel and vacation life, and among them there are more and more sugar lovers. Many sugar lovers are most concerned about the preservation of insulin when traveling. Indeed, the temperature is a problem for insulin preservation, especially in the hot summer, many areas reach 38 degrees or more.
Insulin is a protein hormone secreted by the body that deteriorates and solidifies when exposed to high temperatures, causing it to fail. However, it cannot be frozen. Usually unopened insulin, storage temperature of 2-8 degrees refrigerated storage, installed insulin refills, should be placed in 25 degrees (not more than 30 degrees) room temperature environment, can be stored for a month, stored in a cool and dry place, to avoid direct sunlight and have a heated place.
So how do sugar lovers store their insulin when traveling with them?
First of all, sugar lovers in the choice of travel places, summer try to choose to go to cool tourist resorts, choose to avoid the summer tour; such as want to go to some hot summer tourist resorts such as Hainan, Thailand, try to choose to go in the winter is better, which is conducive to the carrying of insulin, as long as the package is complete with the carry-on, to avoid the sun direct sunlight on it.
If you have to rush to travel to the tropics on a hot summer day or travel to an extremely cold place, you can carry a thermos that can hold an injection pen, put the pen inside the thermos, and avoid the sun to ensure that you use it. If traveling by car do not leave the insulin-filled thermos in the car exposed to the sun. If you are using a syringe to inject insulin, then put the insulin in a small insulated cup that you can carry around in your travel bag for added convenience. Remember that it must be a thermos with good insulation. Never use poor quality insulation cup, can not play the role of insulation.
It is important to note that insulin that is suspected of being spoiled should not be used, such as insulin that is stuck to the wall of the bottle, insulin that is caked, insulin that has changed color, and insulin that has been exposed to temperatures outside of its limits (below 0 degrees or above 30 degrees).
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Zhang Jing Yun Unit: Beijing Fengtai Hospital Member of Pharmaceutical Affairs Network
September 6, 2018
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