I switched to home dialysis to get away from the needles. My doctor has just started me on insulin, not just one but two different kinds.My PD nurse has suggested maybe we could inject the bag instead. My Doctor is worried of cross contamination.Any suggestions ? Oh Thank you for all your previous help Nurse and Guest.
Read the postings under IP Insulin on the message board for PD professionals. Several resources are provided there that might help your doctor feel more confident about allowing you to inject insulin into your bag.
Patients have injected insulin into their PD solution for years successfully. The patient must be trained how to follow sterile technique when injecting medications into the PD solution to avoid contamination and infection, but this is not difficult to learn or do.
A free, full-text article on this topic can be found at:
Here’s the abstract:
J Am Soc Nephrol. 2002 Jan;13 Suppl 1:S92-6.
Insulin therapy during peritoneal dialysis: pros and cons of various forms of administration. Quellhorst E.
Major fluctuations of blood glucose, hyperinsulinemia, and the formation of insulin antibodies can be prevented by intraperitoneal insulin administration during peritoneal dialysis in patients with diabetic nephropathy. The reduction in insulin requirement is most pronounced compared with subcutaneous administration when insulin is instilled into the empty abdominal cavity. If insulin is instilled into the abdominal cavity along with the dialysis fluid, there are losses of activity due to delayed absorption consequential to dilution by the fluid and adsorption to the plastic surface of the dialysis solution delivery systems. These may be so pronounced as to make intraperitoneal administration uneconomical. The effectiveness of peritoneal dialysis is not affected by intraperitoneal insulin administration. The frequency of peritonitis during intraperitoneal insulin administration increases slightly only in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, but not in intermittent peritoneal dialysis.
I used to hear that only REGULAR insulin can be administered by the IP route. Is this still true? Anyone know?