Insulin is a protein hormone secreted by pancreatic islet cells when stimulated by endogenous or exogenous substances such as glucose, lactose, ribose, arginine, glucagon, etc. Insulin is the only hormone in the body that lowers blood sugar and also promotes the synthesis of glycogen, fat, and protein. So, how to store insulin? What are the side effects of taking insulin? Below, learn about it with us!
How to store insulin
Insulin is relatively stable at normal low temperatures. Unopened insulin can be stored for 2 to 2 and a half years when refrigerated at 28 degrees Celsius. After the insulin is unsealed (that is, the rubber stopper is pierced by the needle), including bottled insulin, insulin pens with refills installed, or special refill pens, they can be stored for 46 weeks in a cool room temperature environment below 25 degrees Celsius. There is no need to store them. Put in the refrigerator. It is worth noting that since the types of insulin and the insulin production processes of each company are different, the storage conditions should be specifically referred to the product instructions. In addition, insulin pens and special refill pens with refills installed must have their needles removed when storing them and cannot be stored with their needles. Since insulin becomes ineffective if frozen and then thawed, it should never be frozen.
If exposed to direct sunlight or the temperature rises to 3050 degrees Celsius, the potency of various insulins will decrease to varying degrees. For example, after 18 months, the effectiveness of short-acting insulin will decrease by more than 50%, and the effectiveness of intermediate-acting and long-acting insulin will decrease by 10% to 15%. Once it exceeds 50 degrees Celsius, all types of insulin will quickly deteriorate and become ineffective. Therefore, patients with diabetes must read the expiry date on the label before taking insulin, and also observe the color and properties of the liquid. If you find that the drug has expired, adhered to the wall, crystallized, discolored, etc., do not use it.
What are the side effects of using insulin?
1. Edema
Patients may develop edema 4 to 6 days after using insulin to control blood sugar. It is more common on the face, but also in a few cases. Patients may appear in the limbs and other parts of the body. This is probably related to insulin promoting the reabsorption of sodium by the renal tubules. This is called insulin edema. Most of this edema is not serious, and most of it will gradually subside on its own within a month as time goes by. .
2. Fat pad
The formation of fat pad is caused by insulin stimulating subcutaneous fat hyperplasia when injected into the same site for a long time. The existence of this fat pad will affect local insulin absorption. The formation of fat pads can be avoided, and the preventive measures are very simple. The patient only needs to change the injection site regularly.
3. Local bruises
Some patients and friends find that local skin bruises appear at the injection site after injecting insulin. In fact, this phenomenon not only occurs after insulin injection, but also may occur with other drug injections. It turns out that local bruising after injection is not caused by drugs or insulin, but is related to capillary damage caused during the injection. Generally, this kind of bruising can be absorbed quickly and does not require special treatment. To prevent local bruising, apply pressure to the injection site for a few seconds immediately after the injection.
4. Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia is really scary, especially asymptomatic hypoglycemia, which may directly lead to coma without warning. However, people with type 2 diabetes are less likely to develop severe hypoglycemia. Of course, this does not mean that patients do not need to know how to prevent and cope with the occurrence of hypoglycemia. Only by being prepared can they be safe. Hypoglycemia is very common in diabetic patients treated with insulin, especially before meals and at night. However, in patients with type 2 diabetes, hypoglycemia caused by insulin therapy is usually mild and less harmful. Most of them are done by adding a meal between meals or before going to bed. Preventable or avoidable.
5. Insulin antibodies
In the past, some diabetic patients could produce insulin antibodies in their bodies after several months of insulin treatment, which reduced insulin activity, affected efficacy, and led to a gradual increase in insulin dosage. . The root cause may be related to certain impurities in insulin preparations. The solution is to switch to high-purity human insulin preparations. With the development of science and technology, whether animal insulin, human insulin, or human insulin analogs are currently used clinically, little or no insulin antibodies are produced.
6. Pain
Patients who have never injected insulin may start to feel nervous and weak at the thought of the bright needle.
Will injecting insulin cause pain? The answer is yes, but if you ask a hundred patients who have injected insulin, I'm afraid ninety-nine of them will tell you: the pain of insulin injection is very mild! Because insulin needles are much smaller than other injection needles, the pain is generally much less severe than other drug injections or vaccinations under normal circumstances. Of course, everything is safe. If the pain is particularly obvious, it may be caused by the subcutaneous nerve being touched when inserting the needle. If the pain is still bearable, you can quickly complete the injection and remove the needle; if the pain is unbearable, Then you should change the site and inject again. Generally speaking, insulin is injected subcutaneously into the abdomen with minimal pain, stable absorption, and convenient injection.
7. Weight gain
After many type 2 diabetic patients continue to use insulin for a period of time, as their blood sugar is controlled, they often find that their weight has increased. Most patients often Put all the blame on insulin, and even stop taking insulin because of it. We should have a clear understanding of this. It is true that after the application of insulin to control blood sugar, the loss of glucose in the urine is reduced, which is equivalent to reducing caloric loss to a certain extent, which is understandable and leads to a certain degree of weight gain. However, weight gain is not entirely caused by insulin itself. If the patient, on the basis of using insulin, reasonably controls the diet and strengthens physical exercise, the caloric intake and consumption can be balanced.
What are the classifications of insulin?
1. Semi-synthetic human insulin
Replace the alanine at position 30 of porcine insulin with threonine, which is the same as human insulin. Acid, which is semi-synthetic human insulin.
2. Biosynthetic human insulin
Using bioengineering technology, the high-purity biosynthetic human insulin is obtained. Its amino acid sequence and biological activity are exactly the same as the human body's own insulin.
3. Animal insulin
Extracted from the pancreas of pigs and cows, both have the same medicinal effect. However, compared with human insulin, pig insulin has one amino acid that is different from bovine insulin. There are three different amino acids in them, which makes it easy to produce antibodies.