How Many Days will a pen/vial of insulin last?

Copy of Insulin planning.png

Do you know EXACTLY how many days each pen/vial of insulin will last you?

Why not?

If you follow low carb, you're likely taking a very consistent amount of insulin each day.

**If you're NOT following low carb, please consider it. Following a low carb way of eating can make insulin usage AND blood sugar levels much more predictable, and for many, it's a way to reduce your overall insulin needs and make your insulin supply last much longer!

 

To figure out how long a pen/vial of insulin will last:

Take your total daily dose, add any extra insulin waste such as priming pens/infusion sets, then use that number to divide the number of units in the pen or vial that you use. - 3 ml pen/cartridge contains 300 units of insulin - 5 ml vial contains 500 units of insulin - 10 ml vial contains 1000 units of insulin.

Did you catch that? ;) No problem.

 

Here's an example:

I use 7-8 units of Humalog per day from a pen, divided into 3 injections, which I prime with 1u each time.

8u bolus + 3u priming = 11u total per day.

300u per pen divided by 11u per day = 27 days per pen.

I currently have 14 Humalog pens, which will last me 378 days.

That’s more than a year's supply!

 

If you know how many days you can get from your current insulin supply, you will:

  1. Make sure you’re getting enough insulin per month

  2. Plan refills accordingly

If you're in the USA and are having issues getting insulin refills, there are options.

NovoNordisk is offering a free 90-day supply of insulin to those who have lost health insurance due to Covid-19 layoffs. You can learn more here.

Regular insulin is sold over the counter at most Walmart stores in the USA under the name ReliOn NovolinR for $25/vial and is also available in disposable pens now for $45/5 pens. (Not available in Indiana)

(If you've been following here, you know that Regular insulin is much longer-acting than Humalog/Novolog/Apridra and is very well-suited for a low carbohydrate higher protein way of eating.)

Please send a message if you need additional resources for lower-cost insulin and how to use it. We’re here to help.