Insulin Injector or Pen

[rikleo2001]

Hi
This is my first post and this is about my father live in Asia. He was dignosed with Dibeties 20 Years ago. since then he was using tablets to control his sugar level.

3 weeks ago he started to have breathing problem, taken to emergency and found out kidney is effected and heart is grown bigger. Suger level gone up to 430. (23.8 mmol/l) They given him immediately insulin.

Now he is on Insulin, using normal injection syringes.

Here is what I want to ask you.

How can I make this process easy for him with which tools.
1. Injectors (Which one)
2. Pen (Is this injector too?)
3. Jet injectors?
4. Pump (It is bit expensive to maintain from here to my home country)

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks

Rik

 

[Hobs]

I am not T1 but a T2 who injects Victoza Pens on a daily basis and can assure you that a pen with very fine needles is almost painless to start with and when experienced it can be used without any pain whatsoever.
I have no idea how pens compare with standard syringes as far as cost is concerned, but pain-wise, I would certainly suggest a pen.

 

[jwilki]

I am T2 and also have to inject because of other problems and I use a "Nova Pen" which I find is very easy to use and the refills are easy to obtain, I live in Cyprus.

 

[rikleo2001]

Many thanks for your reply.

But if they get insulin in bottles then that won't work with Pen? will the injector ok for that?
Will pen works like injectors, select the dose and then click the button and insulin injected?

Thank you very much.

 

[sugarless sue]

This may be what you are looking for but you would need to contact the company to see if it can be used with refillable syringes.

http://www.owenmumford.com/en/range/8/autoject-2.html

Here are the contact details for the company.

http://www.owenmumford.com/en/contact/

Another worth looking at if he can get this.

http://www.wockhardtin.com/press_releas ... evice.html

 

[phoenix]

If your father wanted to use pens he would need to use insulin that comes in disposable pen or cartridge form.(the cartridges are prefilled, you put them into a non disposable pen. You don't buy a pen and fill it with insulin.
I don't know what part of Asia your father came from but I did some research on insulin availability in India.
As you probably realise, there are very many different types of insulins (they vary in what they are made from, how long they last and some are mixtures of 2 different insulins. They can also vary in strength, though in Europe and the US it is almost always a strength of U100 )

The big insulin companies Eli Lilly, Aventis, Novo Nordisk all market insulins in Asia. Wockhardt, has also got a large market and makes insulin in Asia. The modern insulins they produce are available both in vials for syringes or in disposable pen or cartridge form. All these 'branded' insulins are many times more expensive in pen form than in vial form.
The Wockhardt pen mentioned by Sue is one of these, it's cartridges contain a specific type of insulin (wosulin) http://www.wockhardtdiabetic.com/inner/pen_royale.htm
If your father is using one of these insulins then he could obtain them in cartridge form rather than a vial and buy the appropriate pen. Wosulin seems to be cheaper than the other brands and comes in several different types including a mixed insulin .
However, according to Diabetes India the majority of insulin used in India (and I assume this may be the case in other Asian countries) is not modern branded insulin, it is generic insulin and in India most of it comes in U-40 strength. These insulins are cheaper than the branded insulins but they do not come in pen or cartridge form, only vials. If your father is on one of these generic insulins he would have to ask his doctor to prescribe a suitable alternative that was available in pen form.(at a considerably higher cost)


Modern syringes, If your father has the dexterity to use them are a good option. In Europe most people use pens but there are many in the US who say that they prefer to use syringes. Indeed I think there are a couple of people on this forum who also prefer them. The BD India site shows that syringes are available for both U-100 and U-40 insulin with very fine needles. It also has an 'injector' which hides the needle . (similar to that mentioned by Sue above, though such a device still needs someone to fill the syringe and put it into the injector)
http://www.bd.com/india/products.asp under Diabetes Care.

 

[rikleo2001]

Thank you so much guys for your help and useful advise.
My father is in Pakistan, and here are the details he sent to me.

He is using 70/30 mixtard insullin and using that syringe to fill it up and inject manually. Now he has needle fobia so that's why I needed soemthing for him easy and less painfull.

Thanks again.

 

[phoenix]

Mixtard 30/70 is made by Novo and is available in pen form.
A quick search of an online pharmacy in Pakistan found this:
MIXTARD 30 HM PENFILL 100IU 3ML
Rs. 1,034.55 / Pack (a pack is 5 x3ml pens so 15ml in total)
MIXTARD 30HM 100IU 10ML
Rs. 439.20 / Pack
(if you decide to buy it on his behalf do double check it's the right insulin, )
It is a relatively modern insulin and is U-100 strength (just in case you decide to go down the syringe, and injector route)
Hope that either a pen or an injector will solve the problem.

 

[rikleo2001]

Many thanks all, I beleive I got my answers.
Great people, great help.
Thank you again!