Insulin by mail?

[bigger than the sun]

Hi everyone!

First time Insulin user here.

Is it okay to get Insulin by mail without a cooling package?

Where I live is +35°C/+95°F and sometimes my packages are left outside by the postmen.

I asked some sources and they said it's totally fine to send Insulin without a cooling package. They said the heat won't compromise the overall quality of the Insulin pens.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Ghoul]

Insulin can be stable for up to around a month, into the mid 70s.

At 85 it rapidly degrades in a few days.

At 95 it'll lose most of its potency in hours to a day or two at the most.

No pharmacy would ever ship insulin that's not in an insulated pack with cooling.

If this is for glucose control using high dose rHGH, some guys have had good results with Reta.

 

[pewex]

It should be fine. I've ordered insulin in the middle of summer before and never had any issues. I also accidentally left it out of the fridge for extended periods and didn't notice any difference when using the same dosage. If it has degraded, you'll notice pretty quickly.

 

[xrayphoton13]

Does it go cloudy if it's degraded or is that a terrible indicator of efficacy? Just curious as I have a vial of novalin r from Walmart I bought a year ago and never got around to using

 

[AlexDavis43]

I've ordered insulin from overseas and it likely experienced a wide range of temperatures in transport

It still worked 100%

 

[watchtymeflyyy]

Insulin from India has been just fine

 

[AlexDavis43]

Does it go cloudy if it's degraded or is that a terrible indicator of efficacy? Just curious as I have a vial of novalin r from Walmart I bought a year ago and never got around to using

Don't use insulin if it's cloudy or has white precipitates

If not, give it a go and have a glucometer & some fast-acting carbs nearby

Or since it's so cheap, bin it and get a new vial

No big deal either way

 

[archive]

Can confirm, almost went hypo with Humalog from India. When I first got the pack, I even forgot to unbox the pack so it sat at room temp (70-75 F) for about a month until I remembered to fridge it.

 

[oldgrey]

Ordered insulin from india to USA in the summer. About a month at who knows what temperature - no noticeable degradation at all.

 

[bigger than the sun]

Just ordered it.

I will let you all know what happens...

 

[IndividualMan]

Does it go cloudy if it's degraded or is that a terrible indicator of efficacy? Just curious as I have a vial of novalin r from Walmart I bought a year ago and never got around to using

Diabetic here, if it goes cloudy throw that shit out. you can keep it at room temp for quite some time, I personally had so much at one point it didnt fit in the fridge, had to store it in a drawer ~2 months at room temp before fridge was empty enough to put all of it back in, only a handful of the last vials went cloudy during a week of ~43° C heat. if the insulin is the "new" Elililly Lyumjev it seems to lose efficacy quicker after heat exposure than some others i have tried, but thats about it.

I personally have used Insulin up to 7 years old (novorapid bought in 2017 used in late 2024 with some interruptions in cooling) and it was fine.