Insulin Pens

WhimsicalWays

Active Member
Messages
34
Hi everyone,

I am what I guess you could call an 'old-school' diabetic (still using a glucose monitor and syringes...) and want to start using a humalog pen to administer my insulin at meals (just think it would allow me to inject in restaurants etc, without running to the bathroom every time). I have tried a couple of times (I think it was the Huma-Pen, made by Lily) and found that (even when I pushed the plunger slowly, and waited a long time after pressing it all the way down etc.) it did not deliver all the insulin! I pushed the plunger again after injecting and a lot of insulin came out. After this, of course, I went high... This has happened to me with two separate pens (I first tried it years ago, and then again more recently with the new model).

If there are any pen users out there, please let me know what brand you use and whether you like it. Do you similarly find that it doesn't deliver the entire dose of insulin that you dial in? Any tips to avoiding this? [as I said, I followed the directions carefully, and really did wait a long time while holding the plunger down after injecting...].

Thanks for any advice!
 

Sid Bonkers

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,976
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Customer helplines that use recorded menus that promise to put me through to the right person but never do - and being ill. Oh, and did I mention customer helplines :)
Hi Whimsi, Ive been using the Huma Pen since March this year, I have two pens, one for fast acting insulin and the other for long, they are different colours which helps select the right one without looking at the cartridge.

Ive not experienced the problems you describe, I just dial in the units I need to inject, select an injection site and insert the needle, then press down the end of the pen which I can hear clicking, one click for every unit, then after a slow count to ten I withdraw the pen. I have never found that some of the dose has not been delivered, and once the pen end has been pressed fully down it cant pop back out until I dial in the next dose.

As I have only been using the pens for a short time I have no idea what previous models where like, but the ones I use seem both accurate and easy to use.

Hope this helps
 

kegstore

Well-Known Member
Messages
771
Dislikes
Unnecessary rudeness, and any PC
Have you tried using a longer needle? I used to have a NovoPen and from distant memory the needles came in lengths of 6, 9 and 12mm, which can make a big difference. I'm sure other manufacturers would offer similar alternatives.

Also what are your injection sites like? It almost sounds like there's some hardening of the tissue where you're injecting, which would make the insulin less easy to absorb...
 

kewgirl

Well-Known Member
Messages
678
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi Whimsi

Don't worry about being an "old-school" diabetic - its what works for you to manage your diabetes & I know from experience when the pen injectors first came out I resisted - now I would not want to use anything else but I do have "fond" (!) memories of the old glass syringes kept in an enamel kidney dish covered in methylated spirit! :lol:

Occasionally between use the piston mechanism on the pen injector disengages from the rubber bung on the cartridge of insulin - even though technically the piston should be up against the cartridge rubber ready to administer the next dosage. Hope that makes sense. :?
I have noticed occasionally in the past with the Novopens this has happened. I currently use Autopen Classic.

Do you dial up a few unit and with the needle cap on inject and if you see insulin coming out from around the needle cover the piston is engaged with the cartridge of insulin - this can easily be done at a table and you don't need to hold the pen injector upright.
If you are doing this then the problem might lie with

Needle Depth - as kegstore asked what size pen needles are you using? :idea:
Angle of injecting :idea:
Where you're injecting - :idea: sorry as in body area not where you physically when injecting! :lol:
What are your injection sites like :idea:

Play detective and I'm sure you will get to the bottom of this. :D

best wishes

Old Diabetic Tracey xx
 

WhimsicalWays

Active Member
Messages
34
Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. [And sorry it has taken me so long to reply].

All good points, and I will do some investigating. :wink:

As for syringe size: I used 12mm, which sounds like it is the longest. [too bad, because I was hoping that might be the culprit]

Injection sites: with the pen, I mostly used my stomach. This site is fine - no hardening of tissue, no bruises even and, further, my endocrinologist checked this site very recently and said it looked great (it's one of my favourites, but I am pretty good at rotating).

Angle of injection: To be honest, I'm not sure if you still inject on a 45 degree angle with pens or not, but I would have looked at the directions. Any tips on injection angle from you pros? :D

Pre-injection injection: Kewgirl, thanks for this tip. I will definitely ensure I check to make sure the insulin's ready to go before injecting.

Thanks to everyone, once again, for all the advice. You have helped encourage me to try again with the Humapens - fingers crossed because I think it would help a fair bit!