Problem with Novo Pen

Copernicus

Well-Known Member
Messages
168
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Anyone else ever encounter this before ?
Yesterday I was out in the wilds of Northumberland with my family when we stopped for some lunch. tested my blood and saw it was a little high, around 8.4 so decided to take some insulin. Imagine my horror when I found that my Novo Pen would not work, the piston that pushed the insulin out of the ampule just did not move. Decided that we had to head back quickly I headed to North Tyneside General Hospital which has a diabetic clinic attached. Journey took about 45 mins, checked blood again and it had risen to 13.6. Went into clinic explained to the receptionist what had happened and asked for a replacement Novo Pen. He said that they did not supply them and did not keep them and I would have to get one on a prescription from my G.P. I tested my blood again, now 18.7 showed him the result and said that I really needed some insulin. He went off and came back about 10 mins later, he claimed he had spoken to the "head nurse" who had told him that I couldn't have one even if they had one in stock. When I challenged him on this he admitted that they did have some but that they were only for patients who had been admitted.
I rang my G.P.s surgery only to be told that there were no Doctor's on site but that an emergency prescription would be issued later that day, which in fairness it was. I then rang around as many Pharmacies as I could find in the area and none had any Novo pens in stock and I was told that once they had a prescription then it would take 2 days to arrive. As an emergency measure I had to go home and use a syringe to extract some insulin from a Novo Pen ampule to get my bloods under control and now I am having to switch round my daytime, nightime insulin between 1 pen until my new one arrives.
What a farce and what I consider to be very poor service from North Tyuneside General Hospital. I have emailed a complaint to them but don't expect a reply.
Anyone else had similar problems ?
 

Benjamin123

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Dear Copernicus the novopen has been recalled due to errors like this you should see about getting a eli lilly pen as they are more reliable

A fellow t1d
Benjamin jasper
 

Kristin251

Expert
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5,334
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LADA
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I did have that happen. Fortunately it took a change of 6 needles to finally get some. They didnreplace it free of charge but it took a day for my pharmacy to get one. That's when I bought a back up in case of those situations or if I lost it or it broke.

I also just had my humalog pen replaced as it wasn't giving me my half units. They replaced it as well but this time I immediately bought a back up when I switched insulins. Better safe than sorry.

Luckily my bloods never went that high as i am a low carber.

Scary though.
 

Dodo

Well-Known Member
Messages
418
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Anyone else ever encounter this before ?
Yesterday I was out in the wilds of Northumberland with my family when we stopped for some lunch. tested my blood and saw it was a little high, around 8.4 so decided to take some insulin. Imagine my horror when I found that my Novo Pen would not work, the piston that pushed the insulin out of the ampule just did not move. Decided that we had to head back quickly I headed to North Tyneside General Hospital which has a diabetic clinic attached. Journey took about 45 mins, checked blood again and it had risen to 13.6. Went into clinic explained to the receptionist what had happened and asked for a replacement Novo Pen. He said that they did not supply them and did not keep them and I would have to get one on a prescription from my G.P. I tested my blood again, now 18.7 showed him the result and said that I really needed some insulin. He went off and came back about 10 mins later, he claimed he had spoken to the "head nurse" who had told him that I couldn't have one even if they had one in stock. When I challenged him on this he admitted that they did have some but that they were only for patients who had been admitted.
I rang my G.P.s surgery only to be told that there were no Doctor's on site but that an emergency prescription would be issued later that day, which in fairness it was. I then rang around as many Pharmacies as I could find in the area and none had any Novo pens in stock and I was told that once they had a prescription then it would take 2 days to arrive. As an emergency measure I had to go home and use a syringe to extract some insulin from a Novo Pen ampule to get my bloods under control and now I am having to switch round my daytime, nightime insulin between 1 pen until my new one arrives.
What a farce and what I consider to be very poor service from North Tyuneside General Hospital. I have emailed a complaint to them but don't expect a reply.
Anyone else had similar problems ?
Coincidentally, I received a Safety Notice from my GP yesterday. It seems the cartridge holder on the Novopen 5 and Novopen Echo can break if they come into contact with certain household chemicals and they are replacing them when requested.
 

tim2000s

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Dear Copernicus the novopen has been recalled due to errors like this you should see about getting a eli lilly pen as they are more reliable
Let me clarify that for you. The NovoPen5 and NovoPen Echo have been recalled due to issues. The NovoPen4 has not not. An Eli Lilly pen would also require a change of insulin from NovoRapid to Humalog.

@Copernicus - your best bet in that scenario is to go to your nearest pharmacy, buy a bag of syringes for about a pound and withdraw insulin from the penfill using those.
 
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 1
For future potential issues could you get your doctor to prescribe the flexipens? I have a pack of 5 which I don't use but for times like going on holiday/trips and even day to day I carry a spare temp pen just in case I lose my pen or it breaks for example. Always worth a thought.
 

Johnjoe13

Well-Known Member
Messages
398
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Type 2
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Tablets (oral)
From reading you account I do think that the Hospital clinic should have been more helpful, i'm not T1 and not on insulin but I'd have probably gone to their A & E as a last resort given you BG was getting higher. I've had no contact with hospital diabetic clinics before but surely this kind of thing cant be the norm?
 

satindoll

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2,083
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Anyone concerned over the Echo and Novopen 5 cartridge holder can order replacements on the Novo Nordisk web site where there is a list of the serial numbers of affected pens, it is a long list but once you have checked for your pen a quick form to fill in and they send out the replacement cartridge holders pronto, I ordered mine Friday evening and received the replacements on Monday morning.
 
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noblehead

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When I challenged him on this he admitted that they did have some but that they were only for patients who had been admitted.

Seems a bit mean-spirited of them, likely they get the pens for free from the company reps just the same as they do with the bg meters.

What I would do @Copernicus is keep some spare pens just for these emergencies, you could ask your own DSN for some spares or get them on repeat prescription.
 
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TheBigNewt

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1,167
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Yeah, that facility should have at least drawn up some Novorapid out of a vial into a syringe or 2 and given it to you. If you can get the Flexpens they are disposable I've not had any jam on me. I had a rare Humulog pen not work some years ago.
 

Daibell

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Hi. In that situation I would have tried swapping the NovoRapid cartridge into my Levemir pen assuming the problem was the pen.
 
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hels

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311
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
My pens were working fine but one was from the listed batch numbers so I got Novo Nordisk to send me new holders for both my pens.

I am now having problems with both pens (Novo Echos). I can't get one to work at all and the other is sometimes working - I spent a good deal of time swapping cartridges and needles over this morning to do my injections and ended up using an out-of-date FlexPen for my Novorapid. I have informed Novo Nordisk who are sending me new pens and am waiting for a call from my docs so I can get some Flexpens to tide me over until I get the new pens.

This happened within a couple of days of inserting the new holders so I haven't a clue what is going on. Maybe not a proper fit between the holder and the cartridges?

Luckily the out-of-date (06/17 so not too much) seems to be working....
 

jazzyone

Member
Messages
19
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
I had a severe hypo with no symptoms and my diabetic nurse thinks it was my novopens fault because it's one of the recalled ones but no one told me. No idea what happened but was totally unexplained

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app
 

donnellysdogs

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They arent replacing the whole pens, just the cartridge holder withthhe novo echo and 5.

Mine snapped in half around the end bit of the cartridge hollder just tryinb to get the cover off , and defnitely never in contact with cleaning liquids ever.

It is best to have a spare pen at home.
 

22nw22

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378
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I had problems with my Novopen Echos. The dialler got stuck, the first time it got replaced the next time it didn't, just some advice to get the pen going. I am sorry you were having issues. Also, 8.4 isn't high at all. Just a little it but not too much. Neither is 13.4. Your last BG result you said about is.
 

22nw22

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I had problems with my Novopen Echos. The dialler got stuck, the first time it got replaced the next time it didn't, just some advice to get the pen going. I am sorry you were having issues. Also, 8.4 isn't high at all. Just a little it but not too much. Neither is 13.4. Your last BG result you said about is.
I used a red one for my Levemir. Changing from Levemir to a new long-acting insulin tomorrow but had my last ever dose of Levemir today and I use a blue one for my ever-to-stay NovoRapid. I used a Blue Echo longer though. Only reason why I got red and blue is so I don't get the Levemir and the Novorapid pens mixed up I presume. Might need new pen when I change Long-Acting Insulin
 
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steve_p6

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They arent replacing the whole pens, just the cartridge holder withthhe novo echo and 5.

Mine snapped in half around the end bit of the cartridge hollder just tryinb to get the cover off , and defnitely never in contact with cleaning liquids ever.

It is best to have a spare pen at home.
Unfortunately i managed to mix up the replacements with the old holders. The new ones are exactly the same even with the same serial codes so I'm just going to keep on going and not return the old ones (not that i know which are the old ones). The irony is that when I reported the breakages last Dec Novo were unable to simply send me new holders and replaced both pens.
 

donnellysdogs

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I lost the envelope to return mine!!
When I broke mine the whole pen replaced-but it was completely unusable!!-lol...
Trouble is with me I'musing 3 insulins and only two coloured pens and all 3 have different qtys of insulin at 4am and 8am so very easy to get confused. I have to line them up in order each night!
 
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steve_p6

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Looks like there are skins available for echo but not sure from Novo site how you actually get them. Alterative is Silver Novopen 5?