Half units

i have one ,its novopen 3 demi x

Novopen echo delivers half unit doses of NovoRapid.

If you are currently using pre-filled NovoRapid pens then you'd need to change to NovoRapid cartridges but you don't need to change from NovoRapid insulin.

Or you can use disposable syringes - that's what I do. (BD Micro-Fine + Demi.)

And I'm sure any nurse or doctor would always use a disposable syringe to administer insulin, in preference to a clunky 'pen'.

Mind you, it can be a bit tricky using a simple syringe to get insulin from a pen-injector cartridge.

First, one must inject extra air into the cartridge to get the rubber bung flush with the bottom end. Then one needs to gently press with one's finger on that rubber bung, and simultaneously withdraw the insulin.

But if one has the option of using either a typewriter or a pencil, and if one can get away perfectly well with using just the pencil, then only an idiot would use the typewriter. Never mind about carrying the thing around in one's pocket.

And I'm sure any nurse or doctor would always use a disposable syringe to administer insulin, in preference to a clunky 'pen'.

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What are the concrete advantages that justify using a vastly more complicated delivery system? Sure, there are theoretical advantages like the ability to mix insulin if you need a very low doses but none of that applies here.

Mind you, it can be a bit tricky using a simple syringe to get insulin from a pen-injector cartridge.

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That's why you can get insulin in vials for use in syringes.

But if one has the option of using either a typewriter or a pencil, and if one can get away perfectly well with using just the pencil, then only an idiot would use the typewriter. Never mind about carrying the thing around in one's pocket.

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The syringe is the typewriter (needlessly complicated tool that does the same job) in this analogy, right? And you can't seriously be trying to say that it's easier to carry a dozen syringes with you (you need a new one for each injection) rather than just having to swap the needle with a pen.

RosieDred said:

Is there any way I can get half unit pens delivering novorapid? I was sure I read somewhere that I could but just spoke to the clinical nurse and she said that if I wanted a half hint pen then I would have to switch to a different insulin

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Why on earth can't she just give you the NovoPen Echo Rosie? Just by-pass the nurse and ask your gp to prescribe the Echo, no point in changing insulins just for the sake of a pen.

RosieDred said:

Thank you everyone, I knew I didn't have to change insulin but she was insistent. Not my usual nurse. I will go to my gp tomorrow and ask for the novopen echo. Is it easy to figure out?

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Just the same as the other NovoPens except it has the built-in memory function. Just remember when you do dial-up a half unit pen that each click is half a unit and not a full unit, this takes some getting use to if your in the habit of not looking at the little pen window when your dialling up

RosieDred said:

Thank you everyone, I knew I didn't have to change insulin but she was insistent. Not my usual nurse. I will go to my gp tomorrow and ask for the novopen echo. Is it easy to figure out?


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Very easy. If you already have novorapid cartridges they just slot into the pen with a twist, if you are using pre filled pens then you'll need to ask for novorapid cartridges as well.

I changed to a novopen echo recently. They come in red or blue, take your pick. I got one of each just because I could I like to keep a spare just in case............

As for the advantages of using a disposable syringe rather than a clunky pen-injector, I would defer to the demonstrable opinions of doctors and nurses who use the former all the time.

Surely the only time a doctor or nurse would use a pen-injector to administer insulin would be for demonstration purposes: to demonstrate the use of a pen-injector to a new diabetic patient.

I cannot imagine any serious medical professional calling a disposable syringe a "needlessly complicated tool".

Unlike the doctor or the nurse, however, I don't tend to throw a disposable syringe away after a single use. (I try to remember to replace my syringe each week.) I have never yet got an infection. And in justification of such re-use, I remember a doctor telling me - when I was first diagnosed, 30 years ago - that the skin has its own antiseptic properties.

I believe that, like the insistence that meters are intrinsically superior to visually read testing strips (I use both, but mostly the latter), the idea that pen-injectors are better than disposable syringes is an instance of reverse-Luddism.

But thanks very much for pointing out to me that Novorapid is available in vials. I'm afraid I must admit I took it for granted that the two medical professionals who told me Novorapid was only available in pen-injector cartridges were .... well, I guess they were just trying to get me to use the blasted pen injector.

So, for the past three years or so, I've needlessly been fiddling around getting insulin into my syringe from a pen-injector cartridge! I feel like a bit of an idiot. Indeed, I know I am an idiot. (It's no accident that the Latin root of 'idiot' corresponds in meaning to the Greek root of 'autism'.) But still, I wouldn't use a pen-injector.

Moreover, I won't be in a hurry to get Novorapid in a vial. For I am a bit paranoid about the risk of confusing different insulins. And if I have to fiddle around a bit more in order to deliver the Novorapid, then I believe there's less chance of me doing, without noticing, what I did only a few weeks ago: namely, taking 11 units of Novorapid when I had intended to take 11 units of Actrapid.

Oh! And never mind about half units, with a disposable syringe one can withdraw a small (or large) fraction of a unit. I quite often want to do that last thing at night. But with a pen injector, it's units, and half-units, or nothing. They have no subtlety.

I have a NovoPen 3 Demi, which I do not use. (I've only ever used it once or twice; the original box it's in is a bit dusty.)

You'd be very welcome to have it!

I could post it to a DUK address (if someone would like to give me such an address), and they could post it on to you.

Or you could just PM me with an address.

I also have the Demi pen as well Rosie but I keep it just in case I contemplate returning to injections again.

I can to a certain extent, understand why your GP is a bit hesitant in writing you out a prescription for a new pen, as you have only just become diabetic bla bla blah......

However.........Novo do make half unit pens so GP was wrong to tell you otherwise.

The PIP codes for the following half unit pens are:-

Novopen Echo Blue PIP code 368 7076
Novopen Echo Red PIP code 368 7365
Novopen 4 Silver PIP code 340 1544
Novopen 4 Blue PIP code 340 1551

The Echo pen has a memory function to it whereas the Novopen 4 hasnt

It will be the PIP codes for the pens that you will need to quote.

I would accept Michaeldavids offer to get you rollin although you will still need a change in prescription for the cartridges
which are

Levemir penfill cartridges PIP code 305 5472
Novorapid penfill cartridges PIP code 265 2782


Hope this helps you get what you need

RosieDred said:

I'm getting a little annoyed now. I've now just come back from my gp who also told me that there is so such thing as half hint pens for novorapid. He did look it up and everything but said he can only find stuff about one unit adjustment for novorapid. He said that they don't really deal with pen changes down the surgery and to contact my dsn. He is a diabetic specialist doctor too.


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Hi Rosie
Just noticed this response I noticed that you are in South Wales, I don't know whereabouts but if you are in RCT the diabetes centre at the royal glam are brilliant if you are covered by them give them a ring


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Such complexity and confusion over giving oneself a simple insulin injection.

Clearly, there is a serious problem with the management.

And I don't mean your diabetes' management, Rosie!

I suspect that prt of the problem is that the half unit pens are more marketed as paediatric devices which the doctor in question may not necessarily be considering/aware of unless he's paediatric endocrinologist.

I was issued with my novopen echo with no questions. I'm insulin sensitive, using smaller doses than some children, they couldn't issue it fast enough!

Look on the website and you'll see the Echo there. Maybe print off the info for your GP?


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