Okay, lets travel back to first principles of chemistry to explain.
Lye technically can be either sodium or potassium hydroxide. However the counter ion really isn't important (the Na+ or K+).
The reason a Strong base is used (sodium hydroxide) rather than a weak base (sodium bicarbonate) is due to the nature of acids/bases and buffers.
The solvation of sodium hydroxide in water is irreversible:
NaOH -> Na+ + OH-
If you are interested in making a solution more basic (to counter an acidic component then adding sodium hydroxide adds hydroxide ions directly to the solution, in a 1:1 ratio with how much of the sodium hydroxide you added)
However Sodium carbonate (yes I realize you said sodium bicarbonate... baking soda... Ill come back to why that is also a bad idea in a bit) is a weak base, when it is solvated it actually exists in an equlibrium state. Technically the weak base is the carbonate, so lets just get rid of its counter ion altogether
Na2CO3 < - > 2Na+ +CO3-2
We don't need those sodiums
The (CO3-2) is what we are interested in. It actually exists in equilibrium when solvated with its protonated state, by the following equation:
CO3-2 + H2O <-> HCO3- + OH-
This equilbrium creates a basic solution ( it produces OH- ions just like the sodium hydroxide does) however the reaction is reversible, aka it can go backwards or forwards. It creates its own buffer system, where acids or bases can be added to drive the equlibrium is one direction or the other.
However bicarbonate which is a byproduct of the above equilibrium, can be protonated again by the addition of more acid by the following equlibrium.
HCO3- + H+ <-> H2CO3
Or it can function as a base
HCO3- + H2O <-> H2CO3 + OH-
The carbonic acid that is formed can then break down into CO2 gas and Water again, making a carbonate based buffer system a bit complicated (especially for a medication where you want the pH to be consistent and not a variety of secondary equilibrium introduced).
TL;DR?
If you want to adjust the pH of a solution, use a small quantity of a Strong Acid or a Strong Base, as these are one way solvation reactions, they do not introduce equlibria, they just break apart and add either H+ (acid) ions, or OH- (base) ions.
Sodium Hydroxide isn't good or bad, but it could be harmful or not depending on the amount of it included. You only need to add a tini bit to pH a solution, which is what is done in the case of the above insulin medication (if they add too much, the protein falls apart and it wont't work anyway, so its formulated to be at that pH 7.6). Lye is usually a very concentrated solution of sodium or potassium hydroxide, aka it's a solution with a ton of OH- ions in it. It is harmful to us because of the concentration.
In the end, its all about how a compound is used. And what the underlying chemistry that you are trying to achieve is, which decides what would be employed.
I hope this helps, I feel like I was pretty long winded.
I am greatful for your long winded response! I just want to let others know of my experience with Tresiba, so that if its offered- they know the risk involved. Had I known I would have just resigned from my job and kept my V-GO insulin pump. I have a Hach pH meter- which I use as a backup to verify the readings in various parts of the wastewater plant I worked at before the stroke. My job was to calibrate the pH, D. O. ,TSS , ammonia, and other sensing intruments trhoughout various stages of the treatment process at the wastewater plant. Most of the sensor were connected to Hach SC100, SC200 and SC1000 meters, which tied to the SCADA network for constant monitoring. I also maintianed the Trojan UV 4000+ Ultraviolet Reactors that disrupt the DDNA and RNA chains of the pathogens leaving the plant. Yu have explained more to me than any of my endocrinologist or any other "oligist" that eagerly takes my $60 copay for 10 minutes of thier time. I want to send you some steem or steemit, but It says my steem is 0, and I have 43 steemits or something. I cant figure out how to move it to the Steem box.
You don't have to send me anything. As long as you got something out of our exchange, then I achieved what I hoped :)
There are risks to all medical treatments, and some people may not tolerate certain medications while for others they work wonderfully ... It's just the nature of the complex biochemistries that our bodies have. (No two people are identical).
The goal (at least in my company) is to test things thoroughly and determine how to formulate things to have the least side effects for people while still having a good success rate. However even after this, there will be people for whom the drugs don't work, and others who will experience a bad side effect.
Whether or not that is a tolerable chance depends on the alternative of the disease itself. If no treatment leads to ensured death then side effects are easier to accept.
For insulin, at least there are a few other options that you can turn to since this one doesn't work for you.
Hope things go okay for you in the future and you have a great day.
Thank you, and God bless you! Im sticking with my V-go 40. I like it because I cant stand the sight of a needle. The V-go glues to your stomach and then you press a button, and it sinks the needle in without you seeing it and the injection site remins sealed and protected, which I though was the best option, safety wise being around wastewater treatment enviroment, as if I had to poke myself every 4 hrs, I would have bandaids all over my stomach. sorry I got off topic, but you dont realize how much you helped me : ) I know Novo Nordisk was REALLY anxious to get my Trasiba back- they sent a UPS truck to my hose and the guy waited for me to put it in this rectangular white plastc envelope, and sealed it up, then they poked holes in the coners, and it puffed up, and started getting cold, and the UPS guy took of with it. I have apic of the baggy hing if you want to see it. The Vgo also delivers the dose slowly, and I can bolus dose at mealtime by pressing a button on the pump, whereas te Tresiba shoots the whole dose in for the day at once, and I had troube doing it all at once, I would hit the button and let about 1/4 of it in and wait a minute then keep going until it was all in. Plus my sister, the one who took me to the ER, found a bunch of article on Tresiba and how the FDA had repeatedly denied it for use in the US, and I believe its baned in germany and the UK and most of europe. You are on are smart guy!!!!
Interesting, the modern packaging technology that is avalable. When I have things shipped to/from lab I don't get any such fancy shipping tech!
Regulatory agencies are very weird about why they deny things sometimes, I have seen drugs denied that at least from my perspective should have been accepted (good clinical data, strong background publications on the compounds... etc. Sometimes repeated denial isn't even for scientific reasons.) The US and Europe are also very different in the things that they want to see, with regards to a lot of drugs, Europe is actually MORE strict then the FDA (which may surprise people or not).
The complications you had from the Tresiba are odd (at least to me considering what it is, I wonder if an error was made in the manufacturing of your device? It certainly stands to reason that Novo Nordisk would really want it back, as repeated experiences like yours would be terrible for their business.... clearly they need to do more work to prevent this from happening to others)
https://hsionline.com/2015/10/01/diabetes-4/
https://hsionline.com/2016/11/30/newly-approved-diabetes-med-a-combo-of-two-risky-older-ones/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25121146
Gotta find better sources then either of these two. The first one hisonline looks like a straight up fear mongering site trying to get clicks.
That publication on pubmed also... that journal Prescrire Int.
http://english.prescrire.org/en/Summary.aspx
They do certainly have an anti pharmaceutical agenda.
Not to say that they are wrong, but they wear their biases on their sleeves, that much is clear.
One of the links is from the National Institute for health. There are other sites where people are sharing thier negative experiences regarding tresiba also. Im happy with my regular insulin, Novalog. I dont want another stroke, not taking any chances.
This is just a fraction of the information my sister dug up on Tresiba. If it wasnt for her and my neighbor physically throwing me into her car to go to the hospital, I would probably not be here now. Its my understanding Novo Nordisk wanted a bigger US market share- at any cost--