Lantus vs other insulins

[riverotter]

In the prison where I work, inmates are required to have their own bottles of Lantus (nurses still keep and administer it), but we use stock bottles for regular, 70/30, N, etc. I asked why and was told it was because Lantus requires a prescription and the others are over the counter. Is this true? Anyone can walk in off the street and buy regular insulin at a pharmacy? If not, what is the reasoning here? Thanks.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Why are suicidal people not buying insulin to kill themselves?

Uhhh....I may have been in psych too long...

It's super hard for a healthy person to kill themselves via hypoglycemia. You would have to be quite knowledgable, too. Your body is quite capable of coming to your defenses with cortisol and glucagon and glycogen. The person would have to really plan- making sure their carbohydrate stores are low, take a huge amount (more than one syringe full), and make sure no one would find them for several hours. Even then they still might be fine, or alive but brain damaged. There are much "easier" ways of suicide. Aspirin is just as dangerous and no one questions why that is over the counter- it's all about familiarity.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

I a pretty sure that WalMart offers cheaper versions of just about everything from strips to insulin (it is their "Relion" brand). We see a lot of pts on NPH because it is MUCH cheaper than Lantus/humalog combination. There is a lot of protesting going on because Lilly, especially, has raised the price of insulin after recording huge profits. I am a parent of two T1 children and thank God my husband has awesome insurance. it is still a $600 copay for pump supplies and CGM supplies (about every three months) Our cost for one vial of Novolog is $50. That is less than a week's worth for 2 kids with a pump.

It really has become a critical issue when people, parents of KIDS, cannot afford medication that is the difference between life and death. literally.