Durable Insulin Pens - how long should they be used before you get a new one?

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BadaBing said:
I have no doubt my clinicians will have to prescribe one of them for me or I will have to buy one.
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I'm sure they'll be happy to prescribe some. They're not very expensive, and they're about all that Novo Nordisk will sell in the way of reusable pens so there's no choice.
 
Proud to be erratic said:
I had no problem getting my GP to prescribe my new pens. I happened to be seeing the Practice nurse and asked on the grounds that the NovoEcho allowed me to dose half-units and that I felt the benefit to the environment was important in this day and age.

I think if you just point out that your existing pens are a good age already and it's time that you caught up with the available new tech - hence the NovoPen Echo Plus would be appropriate.

I recommend getting two different colours, although I appreciate you are already sufficiently experienced to be unlikely to confuse your insulins; and if you do want the 2 different colours the prescription must get this exactly right. My Surgery used the part number for a blue pen, wrote that it was to be red and the Pharmacy used the given part number to provide a blue pen; once it had been delivered they couldn't take it back. Not the end of the world!
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Thank you.

I'm sure it won't be a hard sell at all to persuade my GP. After all, I have saved the NHS spending on new pens for me for a long, long, long, long time!
 
Bruce Stephens said:
I'm sure they'll be happy to prescribe some. They're not very expensive, and they're about all that Novo Nordisk will sell in the way of reusable pens so there's no choice.
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Thank you.

What?! You mean to say they don't sell my "old faithfuls" anymore?! How do they expect me to go out into the field without my trusty old faithfuls?!!!!
 
BadaBing said:
You mean to say they don't sell my "old faithfuls" anymore?! How do they expect me to go out into the field without my trusty old faithfuls?!!!!
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I was surprised too, but on their website they just show 4: Novopen 5 and 6, and Novopen Echo and Echo Plus. (Each in two colours.) And the GP pharmacist only had those on offer, too.

So smart pens for everyone who wants a reusable pen (who uses those insulins).
 
Bruce Stephens said:
I was surprised too, but on their website they just show 4: Novopen 5 and 6, and Novopen Echo and Echo Plus. (Each in two colours.) And the GP pharmacist only had those on offer, too.

So smart pens for everyone who wants a reusable pen (who uses those insulins).
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Goodness, I feel old!
 
Very interesting reading the view on this thread! Made me think about my pens both made by Novo Nordisk and about 10 years old. One of which I have had to repair the plastic holder of the pen fill with superglue this year (still works fine though!). I’ve always thought I could swap the pen fill to the other pen if one of them broke, but with both being the same age it may well be worth getting new ones and leaving these as spares. Not particularly bothered about the scannable pens and having a battery is something else to fail so think I’ll stick to similar replacements to what I have now.
 
Eternal422 said:
Not particularly bothered about the scannable pens and having a battery is something else to fail so think I’ll stick to similar replacements to what I have now.
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When the battery goes, it goes. The pens will still work fine, they just won't have any of the smart features. And the battery running out (after 4-5 years, they say) is probably a good indication that the pen's ready to be replaced anyway.

Even if you never scan a pen, it can show the last dose and the time since you gave it. So it's a simple way of answering the "did I give myself that dose" question.

And anyway, if you want a new reusable pen that takes Novo Nordisk insulins, it's going to be one of these pens (so when you ask for a replacement this is what you'll get).
 
Eternal422 said:
Very interesting reading the view on this thread! Made me think about my pens both made by Novo Nordisk and about 10 years old. One of which I have had to repair the plastic holder of the pen fill with superglue this year (still works fine though!). I’ve always thought I could swap the pen fill to the other pen if one of them broke, but with both being the same age it may well be worth getting new ones and leaving these as spares. Not particularly bothered about the scannable pens and having a battery is something else to fail so think I’ll stick to similar replacements to what I have now.
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The battery is just for the dose counter timer..... which I can assure you is a really useful feature. The pen still works to dispense doses after the battery dies, so it doesn't affect the longevity of the pen itself. it just means that that particular feature of the pen dies with the battery.
 
I've just had a new Echo prescribed, because the battery ran down on my previous, (I just wrote a note on my repeat asking for one, and it was fulfilled without question) so I now have a spare pen for each of my insulins. I asked for a bog standard Echo, but they gave me an Echo Plus, not sure there’s any point while I just have it for my Levemir, but in a couple of years time when my bolus pen battery has died, when I have a matching pair, it'll be useful to be able to put the data from both on my Libre view.
As @rebrascora says, it’s so useful for those 'did I didn’t I?' moments when we can’t remember if we injected or not. (happened to me at lunchtime today, resulted in a brief spike, because I hadnt got my insulin in until after I’d eaten, but at least I wasn’t high all afternoon)
 
I was just thinking this the other day. I’ve had my two NovoPen Echos for coming up five years and vaguely had a thought in my head that the battery lasted five years. I have a spare pen but not an Echo and I love having a half dose pen. Think I’ll try and see if I can get a couple of Echo spares. Thanks for this reminder.
 
Well you’ve all got me looking at pens now! I take it the latest ones are the Novopen 6 (whole units only) and the Echo Plus (half units)? But, the max dose of the Echo Plus is stated as 30 units, which would be ok at the moment as the Levemir max dose is 28 for me.

I’ve only ever had whole units, tending to round up the bolus calc, but I see a lot of folks seem to like the half units? I’d be interested to hear about the benefits of half units.
 
Eternal422 said:
Well you’ve all got me looking at pens now! I take it the latest ones are the Novopen 6 (whole units only) and the Echo Plus (half units)? But, the max dose of the Echo Plus is stated as 30 units, which would be ok at the moment as the Levemir max dose is 28 for me.

I’ve only ever had whole units, tending to round up the bolus calc, but I see a lot of folks seem to like the half units? I’d be interested to hear about the benefits of half units.
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The benefits of half pens is that you can take smaller, more precise doses.
This is of most use with smaller bolus doses when your carb counting calculation comes up with something like 3.6 units. If I had whole unit pens, I would take 4 units but this may be too much as I am sensitive to insulin. With half unit pens, I can take 3.5 units and less likely to hypo.

I am not sure how much difference you see in 28 or 29 units of Levemir and whether 28.5units would be noticeable.
 
Thanks @helli - I don’t think a half unit in the Levemir would affect me noticeably, but I do see how a more accurate bolus might be useful. In my attempt to tackle spikes I will always round up a bolus calculation, like you say if it comes up with 3.6 I would go for 4 rather than 3 - even it came up as 3.2 I would most likely still round up to 4 and as you say, run the risk of a hypo. I’ll give this some thought and might ask for half unit pens now that I’m thinking I need to get new pens as I only have the two 10 year old pens I am using now!
 
With my Levemir pen I still find the half unit helpful sometimes but that is because my daytime dose is currently 22 but my evening dose can be anywhere from 0-7 units depending on what I have been up to through the day so the half unit pen is useful for my night time dose. As regards the 30 unit limit, once my dose got to above 20 I decided to split it and I find it gives me a bit more stable release.... so currently 11 units in each buttock on a morning. My thoughts were that if it blebbed under the surface, splitting it between 2 sites would lessen the effect for minimal extra disruption. I feel that this is a good decision for me and lessens the risk of the insulin "pocketing". I might be kidding myself though! 🙄
 
Well, I've been trying for the better part of three weeks to get my GP/consultant/DSN to prescribe new insulin pens to replace my ancient insulin pens.

Haven't heard a thing.

So, I've decided, I'm going to write into BBC's The Repair Shop and ask them if they can repurpose my ancient pens into brand, spanking new pens. It might be quicker.
 
BadaBing said:
Well, I've been trying for the better part of three weeks to get my GP/consultant/DSN to prescribe new insulin pens to replace my ancient insulin pens.

Haven't heard a thing.

So, I've decided, I'm going to write into BBC's The Repair Shop and ask them if they can repurpose my ancient pens into brand, spanking new pens. It might be quicker.
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At the end of the day it is your GP's responsibility to write the prescription. Consultant's and DSNs make recommendations to your GP, who should fulfil that request.
Very occasionally a Consultant might write a specific prescription, as a "one-off" and probably because it needed specific authorisation. But anything that is potentially a repeatable script is a GP's responsibility, and falls within their overall authorised financial allowances.
 
BadaBing said:
Well, I've been trying for the better part of three weeks to get my GP/consultant/DSN to prescribe new insulin pens to replace my ancient insulin pens.
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That's odd. It should be a simple thing for them to do. (I got mine on a phone call with the GP surgery's pharmacist. Before the call she knew nothing about them, and I had my prescription changed in under 10 minutes.)
 
Proud to be erratic said:
At the end of the day it is your GP's responsibility to write the prescription. Consultant's and DSNs make recommendations to your GP, who should fulfil that request.
Very occasionally a Consultant might write a specific prescription, as a "one-off" and probably because it needed specific authorisation. But anything that is potentially a repeatable script is a GP's responsibility, and falls within their overall authorised financial allowances.
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I agree. There is a process and procedure and I understand and respect that.

But only up to a point.

In my line of work, if a client comes to me and I react THAT slowly, I can get in huge amounts of trouble with the people that regulate me.
 
Bruce Stephens said:
That's odd. It should be a simple thing for them to do. (I got mine on a phone call with the GP surgery's pharmacist. Before the call she knew nothing about them, and I had my prescription changed in under 10 minutes.)
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I know.

It's like trying to pull hen's teeth.

I am only half joking when I say I am thinking about contacting BBC's The Repair Shop.
 
Might be worth laying it on thick and saying the pen now broke and you have no safe means of administering your insulin rather than just that it is old.
Do you have online prescription ordering? If so, make a "custom" request. With my online system, a custom request needs to be made separate of a regular medication request otherwise it gets overlooked and it goes through to a GP to authorize. Maybe say something like you are having to interchange vials in your one remaining pen as a result and it is dangerous.
Good luck!
 
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