I don't have to take a ton of medicines to maintain my health, but there are a number of bottles from several pharmacies in my bathroom cabinet and by the kitchen sink. It's easy for me to know when I need to renew these meds because, well, when I look in the bottle and see only two pills left I know it's time to call the pharmacy!

But with insulin, there are no pills to count, no obvious visual reminder (unless you run out, of course!) that it's time to renew. It's only supposed to be good for about 28 days, but I never count the days. When I think it's about time to renew, I may look at the date on the prescription label to see when I last renewed it. If it's around the same time frame a month later, I know it's time to renew. However, it's usually more than 28 days; often it's more like 30 or 32 days. But what's a couple of days, right?

I do notice, though, that my fastings are nicely lower the morning after I start a new bottle of long-acting insulin. It serves as a temporary reminder that I should make a note to renew sooner. However, I tend to fall back into my old habits only remembering that I need to renew the prescription when I find myself trying to suck every last bit of insulin out of a bottle so I can get the right amount; normally, I trash several days' worth of insulin after I get a new bottle.

The day after my last renewal I had a small shock. My fasting that morning was 72, which I know is incredible, but it was a significant drop from what I had been seeing in the week prior. That's when I decided to mark on my calendar exactly 28 days from my last renewal of insulin; obviously those few days do make a difference.