Quick Answer: You should not use insulin after its expiration date. While expired insulin won't make you immediately sick, it can cause serious health risks, including diabetic ketoacidosis.
Living with diabetes in India comes with many challenges, and one of them is managing your insulin properly. This life-saving hormone helps people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes keep their blood sugar levels under control and avoid serious health complications.
But insulin is a very sensitive medicine with a limited shelf life. It must be kept at specific temperatures and can quickly go bad if not properly stored.
What’s more, insulin is unusual in that it has two expiration dates: one printed on the packaging, and one that starts ticking once the pen or vial is opened.
Knowing how to store your insulin, check for signs of spoilage, and understand when it’s time to discard it can help you stay healthy and avoid wasting this essential (and often expensive) medicine.
Let’s break down how to tell if your insulin has expired and what steps to take if it has.
Keep your insulin safe with 4AllFamily's Mini Fridges for Insulin.
If you're a visual learner or just prefer watching over reading, we've got you covered! Take a look at our video below about the same topic in a different format!
When Does Insulin Expire?
As noted before, insulin actually has two expiration dates!
- The first expiration date is the "official" one and it is printed on each insulin pen, vial, or cartridge.
- The second one isn't set as a fixed date but arrives about one month after insulin has been opened or taken out of the fridge (it may vary from 28 days to 56 days, depending on the specific type of insulin you're using).
Related article: Does Insulin Need to Be Refrigerated and How to Store Your Pens and Vials Correctly?
Expiration Date on Insulin Pens & Vials
All insulin products sold in India, including pens, vials, and cartridges, are marked with an expiry date by the manufacturer, which is usually one year from the purchase date. This date can be found on the packaging and each pen, vial, or cartridge. If you cannot find it, consult your pharmacist for assistance.
Every medication has an expiry date; this is not arbitrarily assigned but is based on extensive clinical research that defines the shelf life beyond which the medication may become unstable and no longer suitable for use. This stability is contingent upon the degradation processes specific to each pharmaceutical product.
Once this official expiration date has passed, the stability of the insulin cannot be assured, and it should be regarded as expired, whether or not it has been opened, irrespective of whether it was stored inside or outside the refrigerator.
Furthermore, remember that for insulin to be good until its expiration date, it must have been kept refrigerated.
Always verify the expiry date on a pen or vial before using it. Additionally, don't forget to monitor a subsequent expiry date: the one that comes into effect once you open your insulin container for the first time (below).
Insulin Expiration After Opening
Once opened or even briefly removed from the fridge, insulin begins to degrade and is assured to remain fully effective for a limited time (typically a month). Thus, a new expiration process begins when you first puncture an insulin vial, or use an insulin pen.
Consequently, your insulin will expire before the expiration date indicated on its label. The new expiry typically occurs within a month, although this can vary based on the specific insulin and its stability at room temperature. For instance:
- Lantus, Novolog, Humalog, Apidra, and Basaglar, expire 28 days after opening or removal from the fridge.
- For Humulin, the expiration date after opening is 31 days.
- For Novolin N, Levemir, and Toujeo, the expiration date after opening is 42 days.
- Tresiba has one of the longest shelf life out of the fridge. It expires 56 days after opening.
Always check the storage instructions for your specific insulin before use.
And don't forget that, once your insulin has been opened, it must be kept at room temperature and should never be exposed to temperatures above 25°C.
Related article: How to Keep Insulin Cool While Travelling?
Can You Use Expired Insulin?
In either case, beyond any of the two expiry dates, manufacturers do not assure the stability or efficacy of insulin and advise against its use. Using expired insulin is unsafe. Do not risk it.
Whatever the reason your insulin has expired, it should not be used after reaching either of its two expiry dates. Expired insulin is unsafe and could lead to severe health complications.
Moreover, never use insulin that appears to have deteriorated, even if it's still within its designated shelf life. Expiry dates are merely one factor in why insulin may expire. Exposure to high temperatures, freezing conditions, light, or potential bacterial contamination can cause your insulin to degrade more quickly than anticipated.
If in doubt, dispose of your insulin pen or vial and get a fresh one from the refrigerator.
Can Expired Insulin Make You Sick?
Using expired insulin should not immediately make you sick or be fatal. However, the repercussions of using expired insulin can be extremely severe and even life-threatening.
Because it's akin to injecting no insulin or one of very low potency, your blood glucose levels will continue to rise, leading to prolonged hyperglycaemia, which could eventually result in Diabetic Ketoacidosis and potentially coma, especially in type 1 diabetics.
The symptoms of using expired insulin are the same as hyperglycemia, including high blood sugar, thirst, fatigue, blurred vision, frequent urination, nausea, ketones in urine, etc. If you experience these symptoms and are doubting about the quality of your insulin, immediately dispose of it and take a new pen or vial. If symptoms persist, consult with your GP or sick medical care as soon as possible.
How Long Can You Use Insulin After It Expires?
You should not use insulin after its expiration date. However, consensus among manufacturers, doctors, diabetes nurses, and patients is that if insulin was stored correctly, using it a few days beyond its expiry date might not pose any problem. This should only be considered if you have no other options, though...
How to Dispose of Expired Insulin
Expired insulin is no longer safe to use and should be discarded promptly. To avoid confusion between usable and expired pens or vials, it’s important to dispose of any expired insulin as soon as you notice it.
In India, as per CDSCO guidelines and the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, medicines, especially injectables like insulin, should not be thrown into household rubbish or flushed down the drain. Instead, expired insulin should be returned to a local pharmacy, chemist, or designated medicine take-back point for safe and environmentally responsible disposal.
For safety reasons, do not remove the insulin from its original pen or vial before disposal. The entire unit should be returned as is. You may also want to remove or obscure any personal labels to protect your privacy.
Used needles and other sharps must never go into household trash or regular recycling bins. These should be placed in a puncture-proof sharps container, available at pharmacies or from your doctor, and returned once full.
Proper disposal of insulin and sharps helps prevent accidental injury, protects others from harm, and keeps our environment safe.
We'd Love to Hear Your Thoughts!
Have you ever encountered expired insulin? How did you handle it? We'd love to hear your story!
