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Safety of insulin during a power cut?

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robert@fm

robert@fm

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Type 2
(I hope this post comes out all right -- because I suffer from OSA and thus can't sleep without a ventilator, I'm suffering from sleep deprivation.:()

At about midnight this morning, my flat suffered a power cut (from the symptoms, I suspect that rain got into the link between the main and the house). It came back on just before 1, but was very intermittent (the lights flickered); then at about 5 (some 15 hours ago as I type) it went out and has stayed out ever since.

Apart from power for my CPAP ventilator, this gives the worry that the insulin in my fridge may have deteriorated -- it's an unheated flat, thus at whatever was/is the ambient temperature for Clapham in London, and IIRC I opened it only once (briefly) after the power cut.

Is my insulin (four prefilled Insulatard pens) likely to still be all right (assuming the power is restored by midnight tonight as promised), or shall I junk those pens and get a new prescription?
 
Hi robert.

Insulin is very stable at room temperature or lower, so assuming your unheated flat is well below normal room tempt by now, and the fridge have maintained a temperature somewhere below this, I would say the insulin will be fine for a good while.

Certainly for a few weeks.

You could speak to your pharmacist if you're still concerned.🙂

Rob
 
Yes it will be all ok..

Insulin happily survive in the summer sitting out for a month, as long as it's not in direct sun light no problems..
 
How quickly would you normally get through those pens Robert? If you would use them within 4 weeks then I would say they are fine - I suspect they need quite an extreme temperature change to become affected and lose efficacy and they shouldn't have suffered that in those conditions and for that length of time. Hope you get full power back soon! 🙂
 
I agree with the others - your insulin won't have suffered during the power cut.

However, I'm sure there's a scheme for those dependent on electricity for equipment to be given priority in restoring power. I'm not sure how CPAP is considered, compared to say, a ventilator or knidnet dialysis machine, but can't do any harm to discuss with your electricity company.
 
I know it's gas, but do know that Transco are obliged to attend to a prob pdq if there is anyone disabled in the house. Fraid my husband played that card once when time was of the essence ..... and I have to say I wondered the same as Copepod re your CPAP.

I mean I'm not that minutely au fait with the nitty gritty of sleep apnoea - I suppose the crux question being how life-threatening is one night without the CPAP? - or could any random night, be the one where you didn't start to breathe again?
 
I think that even a quick nap without the cpap operating is potentially life threatening so would presumably be classed as essential.

You may even be given/lent a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) or mini generator as a backup if it's a likely occurrence again. You'd only need it to get a few hours until the supply was restored, so wouldn't need to maintain power for too long.

Rob
 
The OSA bothers me -- IIRC a cricket commentator (Bob Woolmer?) was found dead in his hotel room in the West Indies, and the scene was such that they at first thought he'd been murdered. 😱 But it turned out that he was on a CPAP machine, which he hadn't been using that night, and suffered medical problems so severe as to look like violent crime.

There's also the problem that I've become dependent on the machine. I finally managed to get to sleep through sheer exhaustion, but it wasn't very good; I kept waking up every few minutes.
 
Never one to take risks with insulin I'd be inclined to use within 28 days then throw what's left away.
 
In which case - You need to get onto your energy company pdq and say you need to register that you are a user of 'essential medical equipment' and therefore get priority in the event of a (future) power failure.
 
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