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Concerns - Diabetes Technology, pens, pump, meters etc....

Exactly my point. Lots of us would be happy to pay a one-off fee for a super smart meter but no more revenue for the manufacturers. I believe the technology exists to make DB equipment so much better but either too expensive or not lucrative enough for Pharma companies to invest.


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mo1905 said:
Exactly my point. Lots of us would be happy to pay a one-off fee for a super smart meter but no more revenue for the manufacturers. I believe the technology exists to make DB equipment so much better but either too expensive or not lucrative enough for Pharma companies to invest.


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Yes Mo, but think about the purchasing power of the US insurance companies and the NHS as an example, if they were smart as an organisation (they have some very clever people working for them, but that's different) they should be comissioning the research and development of these kind of devices and getting them through trials themselves.
 
Who knows. I'm just of the opinion there could be some big improvements and I think the technology exists. I agree the US and UK have a huge impact but I still think the profit on test strips must be huge and is a massive, regular income. Just my opinion, no stats or anything to back this.


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Jaylee said:
I remember the glass syringe back in the mid/late 70's with the disabled car blue screw cap surgical spirit container to keep it in.. The container had a removable flute base so you could stand it upright... You have no idea how many times that glass shattered in transit....
I much prefer my Novopen....
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Yeah the stand was detachable as I use to put the container in my coat pocket. The surgical spirit was difficult to get out of the syringe and I swear half the time we were injecting insulin and surgical spirit......:rolleyes:

The plastic syringes were a godsend, I was told that I wasn't allowed them on prescription and had to buy them, yet only a few months ago someone said on the forum that their gp did give them on prescription.
 
noblehead said:
Yeah the stand was detachable as I use to put the container in my coat pocket. The surgical spirit was difficult to get out of the syringe and I swear half the time we were injecting insulin and surgical spirit......:rolleyes:

The plastic syringes were a godsend, I was told that I wasn't allowed them on prescription and had to buy them, yet only a few months ago someone said on the forum that their gp did give them on prescription.
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When i was about 9 my mum was taken ill, they took a blood sample off her with a big bore plastic syringe with an off set needle... All i was thinking was this is the future..! The Doc even let me play with one at the time without the needle. They wouldn't do that nowadays.. lol
 
Jaylee said:
When i was about 9 my mum was taken ill, they took a blood sample off her with a big bore plastic syringe with an off set needle... All i was thinking was this is the future..! The Doc even let me play with one at the time without the needle. They wouldn't do that nowadays.. lol
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No they wouldn't :)

Remember back then they always advised that we cleaned the skin with surgical spirits and cotton wool prior to injecting, the surgical spirit had a really strong smell and you would go out stinking of the stuff...............happy days..........not!!!
 
noblehead said:
The plastic syringes were a godsend, I was told that I wasn't allowed them on prescription and had to buy them, yet only a few months ago someone said on the forum that their gp did give them on prescription.
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I bought them to start with, but one day the pharmacist said "Do you know you can get these on prescription now?" So I asked my Dr and got them added to my script.
 
@rober72 & noblehead. Back in my teens when the dreaded spots came. I was lucky enough to only get one or two..
Anyway this one particular check up for the diabetes I had this fierce zit in a prominent place so I decided to treat it with surgical spirit..
( I kind of fancied the nurse at the time.) so at the end of the check up consisting of the usual weighing, neuro checks on the feet, looking at the injection sites.. All stuff I felt invaded my "personal space" I might add, but was necessary.... Her eyes home in on this zit..
Er um, I've been lancing & cleaning it with surgical spirit..? I owned up. "Oh no" she said "you shouldn't do that." & she actually gave me a prescription for zit cream... I never knew the stuff existed at that time!
 
robert72 said:
I bought them to start with, but one day the pharmacist said "Do you know you can get these on prescription now?" So I asked my Dr and got them added to my script.
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Never got told that Rob, pleased they invented insulin pens :)
 
Noblehead,

I see the Novopen as a more stylish rethinking of the concept on the same old wheel...
 
If anything corresponds medically to the wheel, it must be the disposable plastic syringe.

You don't see many doctors or nurses in hospitals using pen-injectors on patients - for insulin, or anything.

The disposable plastic syringe will continue to be with us, mercifully, until there's an equivalent of the gadget used by Star Trek's Dr McCoy to aerially inject stuff straight through clothing.

Even then, for simplicity's sake, I think I'd stick with the plastic syringe.
 
michaeldavid said:
If anything corresponds medically to the wheel, it must be the disposable plastic syringe.

You don't see many doctors or nurses in hospitals using pen-injectors on patients - for insulin, or anything.

The disposable plastic syringe will continue to be with us, mercifully, until there's an equivalent of the gadget used by Star Trek's Dr McCoy to aerially inject stuff straight through clothing.

Even then, for simplicity's sake, I think I'd stick with the plastic syringe.
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A fair point well made.. To be fair to the basic pen, it's simple enough... Just a ****** when the unit markings rub off on the likes of the "Auto pen" models....
 
I'm sure pens are very good indeed for those who need the convenience of something that already contains insulin..

What I don't like is that everybody who developes diabetes is automatically introduced to its control using a pen-injector, rather than a disposable syringe. And that's a bit like using a fountain pen before you've ever used a pencil.

What's so wrong with pencils? ... sorry, that should be: What's so wrong with plastic syringes?

I believe it's clear. Indeed, I'm pretty sure I saw you write something about it recently. (It may have been earlier in this thread, but I haven't looked.) In an awful lot of people's minds, syringes used outside of a medical environment are associated with illegal drug use.

And that very hard fact is itself, for me, a very good reason to MAKE A POINT of using the ordinary plastic syringe.

I'm shy about injecting in public, if I can avoid it. But I'm not at all shy about the syringe.

And if I had a child who developed diabetes, I'd make a point of ensuring that my child got to know and understand about a simple syringe before introducing the more sophisticated pen-injector.
 
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Ease of us for those people who have arthritic hands or hands that are not too flexible. Place the needle on the pen, prime, dial the dose required at that time and inject.
Horses for courses and thank goodness for the development and research into these pieces of equipment.



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That's very true.

However, I hope I'd find it a bit embarrassing if I were one of those who are very much into .... er, ... comparing their pen-injectors.
 
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michaeldavid said:
I'm sure pens are very good indeed for those who need the convenience of something that already contains insulin..

What I don't like is that everybody who developes diabetes is automatically introduced to its control using a pen-injector, rather than a disposable syringe. And that's a bit like using a fountain pen before you've ever used a pencil.

What's so wrong with pencils? ... sorry, that should be: What's so wrong with plastic syringes?

I believe it's clear. Indeed, I'm pretty sure I saw you write something about it recently. (It may have been earlier in this thread, but I haven't looked.) In an awful lot of people's minds, syringes used outside of a medical environment are associated with illegal drug use.

And that very hard fact is itself, for me, a very good reason to MAKE A POINT of using the ordinary plastic syringe.

I'm shy about injecting in public, if I can avoid it. But I'm not at all shy about the syringe.

And if I had a child who developed diabetes, I'd make a point of ensuring that my child got to know and understand about a simple syringe before introducing the more sophisticated pen-injector.
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Yep, I see your point. Even NASA were reported to use pencils in space because the pens didn't work in zero G..

Twas I that mentioned about the "druggie" tag when I was at college using the syringe to "spike up"...
 
Although the 0.3ml syringes are tiny, they dont have the 4mm needles and I for one would feel very uneasy at drawing insulin from a vial in a syringe in front of people and then injecting myself. I would be offended myself especially if I had children with me.

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I too feel a little uneasy about injecting in public, if I can avoid it. But that's irrespective of whether I use a syringe or a pen-injector.

By and large, children have no notion about illegal drug use: such ideas exist in the heads of adults, and are shared amongst those same adults.

Yet children may of course be susceptible to indoctrination - be it active and witting, or passive and unwitting.

The 0.3ml syringes I use have 8mm needles. But you don't have to stick the needle all the way in.
 
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Jaylee said:
Noblehead,

I see the Novopen as a more stylish rethinking of the concept on the same old wheel...
Click to expand...


Possibly, but there's no denying that it's far more convenient than using a syringe and drawing up insulin, plus the NovoPen Echo has taken things a step further with having the memory function built in.
 
Together with the stupid 'purse' they come in, pen-injectors are not so convenient to cart around as is a vial of insulin and a plastic syringe or two.

Pen-injectors make the following enquiry just about plausible:

Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just diabetic?
 
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