Why I Bought Insulin On Craigslist: Tip-of-the-Day #335

My cat is diabetic. She was diagnosed about two and a half years ago and because she is a cat, her meds aren't covered by health insurance. The out-of-pocket on insulin ranges from $350 to $480+. It is NOT cheap!

The first time I bought her insulin I purchased a vial and it lasted for several months but only has an FDA-approved shelf life of 28 days. Humans can get through a vial in 28 days but for a cat receiving 1-3 units a day, there's no way to burn through it all and it becomes a very expensive proposition very quickly.

Then I discovered the insulin cartridges, or "pens," that come in a box of five. I want to say I dropped @$400 on that at Target and it lasted me a long time (nearly two years). That's because the refrigerated pens can last for years and while the unrefrigerated pens are only "good" for 28 days, they typically last much longer. Insulin is much heartier than some may think.

Fast forward to why I'm writing this post. I just used up my last pen from the expensive box and I was faced with two very real issues:

  1. I didn't have a prescription for a refill which would mean a vet visit (ugh). 
  2. My cat is 19 years old and I really don't know how much more time I'll have with her. :(
I decided to venture down a less prudent path (who, me?) and explore the black market for insulin. I had no idea what I would find, but sure enough, I found a pretty normal-sounding woman on Craigslist who lives in Stockton and was/is selling her pens because she'd recently switched to a different format (brand, size, whatever). She was willing to send me the box of five for $100 (that's 75% off retail) and ship them on ice. I hesitated for all of a minute before deciding to go for it.

I am intimate enough with insulin now to know "good" from "bad" (the color is off, the smell is off, there are clumps in the fluid, etc.) and for that price I was certainly willing to give it a go. I used PayPal to place my order (insured if anything went south) and I received the product in two days. It was sealed, the expiration reasonable (2019) and the product in perfect shape.

Obviously I may not have thrown caution to the wind if we'd been talking about administering this to my child - but I would have used it on myself for sure. I tightly monitor my cat's BGL each morning before I administer any insulin, and I was able to tell right away that the insulin was good and she was responding as she always had.

Just throwing this out there for anyone else struggling to keep up with the cost of living (and living with multiple geriatric pets). There are options for procuring meds for less and most people are good people and won't screw you over. Note: I also checked pharmacies in Canada which sell the product for less and some don't require a prescription. Ping me if you need more information on this. I can float you my contact if you need help now. Good luck!