Insulin Pen Disposal - When not empty

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You won’t have any problems with those needles on the Novo 5.
The Novo 5 is a nice pen, it doesn’t do half units, I had one till I dropped it on a tiled floor it bounced a couple of times with not a mark on the outside sadly the plunger thingy wasn’t very happy .

Keep in close contact with your DSN as now you are on a Basal bolus regime , they will need to do quite a bit of tweaking of the units required. Don’t worry you’ll soon get the hang of it and it is really very flexible when you have got the hang of it.
 
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Ljc said:
You won’t have any problems with those needles on the Novo 5.
The Novo 5 is a nice pen, it doesn’t do half units, I had one till I dropped it on a tiled floor it bounced a couple of times with not a mark on the outside sadly the plunger thingy wasn’t very happy .

Keep in close contact with your DSN as now you are on a Basal bolus regime , they will need to do quite a bit of tweaking of the units required. Don’t worry you’ll soon get the hang of it and it is really very flexible when you have got the hang of it.
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That's good to know. At least I don't need to switch pen needles as well.

I am already on a basal-bolus regime; sorry for any confusion.
 
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danielmg said:
In terms of ease of changing prescription/overall cost, would it be fairly straightforward to change? I understand this would be different for each person depending on their GP surgery. I've just watched an instructional guide for the NovoPen; seems very easy to use and the last dose display would be a helpful addition.
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Your Practice are likely to be supportive of the change as it is likely that the cartridges for the reusable will be cheaper. The half unit pens make a big difference to adjustments.
As others have said get two of each that you have a back up. Having said that mine never broke.
 
The instructions for disposal of medical equipment is fairly clear. Commonly misunderstood, Sharps Bins are for the disposal of sharp pieces of equipment (needles, lancets, etc), they are not for the disposal of insulin pens or cartidges. Insulin pens and cartridges that contain less than your dose or are out of date should be disposed of in general waste (unless recycleable). My Humulin I pens hold 3ml of insulin which equates to 300 units, I inject 50 units per day but don't get 6 days injection because of the 2 unit air shot, so end up with a pen containing 20-40 units. I stack these up for a month. when finished all pens go in the household waste. The amount of insulin being disposed of is miniscule (20 units equates to 1/5ml). There isnt an enourmous difference in price to the NHS for a pen ( £2.04 per ml) or a cartridge(£1.88 per ml), however there is a fair difference in the amount of plastic.
 
@Vicsetter that's a lot of waste, there are folks dying in the world because they can't afford to pay for their insulin and you think 20-40 units is nothing? they last so long out of the fridge that if your not getting 6 days worth why not move onto a new one and when there's not enough left just do 2 injections using the 2 used but not finished pens?
 
Kaylz said:
@Vicsetter that's a lot of waste, there are folks dying in the world because they can't afford to pay for their insulin and you think 20-40 units is nothing? they last so long out of the fridge that if your not getting 6 days worth why not move onto a new one and when there's not enough left just do 2 injections using the 2 used but not finished pens?
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that's the Nice recommendations and I am not injecting 3 times for the sake of a few pence (30 units is about 50p, I save that by only testing twice a day) , I have enough trouble with lumps as it is.
 
I'm with Vicsetter here, 100%.

I have non absorbent areas all over the place and they're a PITA - in fact some of them are that literally and I've only been using my actual A for a matter of approx 5 or 6 years! - not the ?40 years I've used tummy midriff bulge and thighs. Still can't use anywhere on my outer thighs as the lipohypertrophy even though the huge hollows have filled out, there is still no absorbency.
 
I always use however many units are left in the first pen/cartridge and then the remaining units I need to make it up to my full dose from the new cartridge, even if it is only 1 or 2 units remaining in the old pen. I hate waste and can't justify it for the sake of another injection. But then a cartridge will last me at least 28 days so having 2 injections for the one dose doesn't happen very often. And of course, I am late to the diabetes club and have only been injecting for 18 months so no problem with injection sites so far and I often skip meals or have low carb meals that don't need insulin, so I regularly have less injections than the 5 that others might have and therefore one more every month or so is neither here or there to me.
A pack of 5 disposable pens costs about £35 I believe. That seems like a lot to me but I know elsewhere in the world, (particularly in the USA), it is considerably more, so I like to make every unit count. Same with food. I was brought up to be aware that their are people starving in the world and that it is therefore morally wrong to waste food by not clearing your plate. I also still scrape all the egg white out of every egg I break open with my finger as my mother taught me.... ingrained habits are hard to break!
 
The instructions for mixed insulin is to dump it if you have less than 12 units left in the pen. So you need to adjust the doses to avoid that situation.
 
My basal (Insulatard) a cloudy Insulin that needs to be rotated before use, the cartridges have a small glass bead to mix it , I have to leave 12 units in the pen.

With my Novorapid I use it all unless their is a bubble in it that I cant shift.
 
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