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Injecting 0.5 units

mountaintom

mountaintom

Well-Known Member
Messages
574
Location
Lauragh, Kerry
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Does this actually work? If you dial up 0.5 units and shoot it in the air nothing comes out. Is this the same subcutaneously?
 
Just make sure you do hold the needle in for the count of ten.
 
If you are not seeing anything come out (not even a drop on the top of the needle), it suggests to me that the pen is not fully primed.
A 0.5 unit dose will go in if your pen is primed ... and, depending on your insulin sensitivity, it could have a noticeable affect,
 
becca59 said:
I would so love half unit pens but cannot get them.
Click to expand...
Why is that?
When I was on MDI, I was able to get children's half unit pens for my bolus (NovoRapid) but compatible half unit pens were not available for my basal (Lantus)
 
I do half units, nobody said I shouldn't. I would totally be prepared to believe that they weren't doing anything as it's all so random anyway but I have done it a lot.
 
If you squeeze out 1 unit on to a table or other surface you realise it hardly anything.....so I can imagine a half unit being even harder to spot....

if it primes up and you have the half unit pen then you just need to trust its functional...;)
 
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becca59 said:
I would so love half unit pens but cannot get them.
Click to expand...

I don't seem to be able to get them where I live, but that's more the inability of my surgery as they're on the local formulary, so I rang Eli Lilly customer services and blagged them to send me a 'Humapen Luxura HD' for my Humalog as a replacement for the one I dropped on the floor :p, I'd assume NovoNordisk could do the same for Novorapid users.

Worth a try anyway :)
 
helensaramay said:
Why is that?
When I was on MDI, I was able to get children's half unit pens for my bolus (NovoRapid) but compatible half unit pens were not available for my basal (Lantus)
Click to expand...

Neither of my insulin’s do half units unfortunately. As 8 units of basal a day is not enough but 9 is too much, I do alternate days which has helped enormously. (Consultants on board )
 
becca59 said:
Neither of my insulin’s do half units unfortunately. As 8 units of basal a day is not enough but 9 is too much, I do alternate days which has helped enormously. (Consultants on board )
Click to expand...
I am sure you have looked down all options but just in case ...
Do you use pre-filled pens or cartridge pens? I think there is more flexibility/options for cartridge pens.

... I'll shut up now :-)
 
kev-w said:
I don't seem to be able to get them where I live, but that's more the inability of my surgery as they're on the local formulary, so I rang Eli Lilly customer services and blagged them to send me a 'Humapen Luxura HD' for my Humalog as a replacement for the one I dropped on the floor :p, I'd assume NovoNordisk could do the same for Novorapid users.

Worth a try anyway :)
Click to expand...
Hi. If you are in the USA I think NovoNordisk may have a different pen range from Europe but the 0.5 unit Novo pen has been around for many years now so I'd expect it to be available
 
I always used to use 1 unit to prime, though now I’m on a Cellnovo pump, lets u add 0.05 unit doses! Good for me, insulin sensitive, type 1, total basal is 12.35 units! On average 1 unit of novo rapid bolus per 15g of carb
 
Daibell said:
Hi. If you are in the USA I think NovoNordisk may have a different pen range from Europe but the 0.5 unit Novo pen has been around for many years now so I'd expect it to be available
Click to expand...
NovoNordisk do the Echo pen in the UK for half units... And they work very well.

Shiba.
 
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