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Using Levemir pens - can anyone help!

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Silverannie

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I have been using Levemir pens for almost a year, having switched from Lantus. I am used to checking for air bubbles and getting rid of them. However, over the past couple of months every pen I have used has (usually big) bubbles that sit there and I can't get rid of!! I usually end up with letting them sit at the top and make sure I hold the pen upright as I inject, which is obviously not ideal. Does anyone else have this problem? The first couple of injections are fine, but then it seems that those bubbles just want to stay!
 
I'm new here, but not new to diabetes! Gestational diabetes 40 years ago, then diagnosed Type 2 in 1995. After various tablets etc I am now on tablets and insulin. Insulin added about 10 years ago.
I have been using Levemir pens for almost a year, having switched from Lantus. I am used to checking for air bubbles and getting rid of them. However, over the past couple of months every pen I have used has (usually big) bubbles that sit there and I can't get rid of them! I usually end up with letting them sit at the top and make sure I hold the pen upright as I inject, which is obviously not ideal. Does anyone else have this problem? The first couple of injections from the pen are fine, but then it seems that those bubbles just want to stay! Does anyone else have this problem?
 
It sounds like it may be an issue with your injection technique. Do you always change the needle every time and do an air shot with the pen pointing upwards. As @trophywench says, do you hold the pen in the injection site for a while after injecting. I usually count to 20 before removing the needle from my skin.
 
Hi - I've asked on your other thread - do you remove the needle immediately after your jab and only attach it when you're actually ready to jab that minute?
 
I too responded to your other thread.
 
@Silverannie your question suggests you use the single use pens?
Have you asked about the reusable pens.
I far prefer these because they are more robust, the cartridges take up less room in my fridge (and my bag when I used to travel) and are better for the environment.
 
Do you use reusable or disposable pens? It could be that you need to replace your reusable pen if it's a recent problem for you.
 
Silverannie said:
I'm new here, but not new to diabetes! Gestational diabetes 40 years ago, then diagnosed Type 2 in 1995. After various tablets etc I am now on tablets and insulin. Insulin added about 10 years ago.
I have been using Levemir pens for almost a year, having switched from Lantus. I am used to checking for air bubbles and getting rid of them. However, over the past couple of months every pen I have used has (usually big) bubbles that sit there and I can't get rid of them! I usually end up with letting them sit at the top and make sure I hold the pen upright as I inject, which is obviously not ideal. Does anyone else have this problem? The first couple of injections from the pen are fine, but then it seems that those bubbles just want to stay! Does anyone else have this problem?
Click to expand...
Yes, I sometimes get this. Turn the needle end to point to the sky and airshot a few units into the air. That should get rid of any bubbles.
 
I have a re-usable pen and virtually always get a bubble after a few uses of a new cartridge; I just ignore it.
 
I used to get a bubble until I figured out that I was doing my air shot all wrong... Duh. Felt like a right plonker! Never had a an air bubble since I sorted my technique out.
 
Where are you storing your insulin pens? Have you been putting your heating on recently?

Oxygen is more soluble in cooler liquids, so if your pens have been in the fridge (where you should store those not in use) and then get taken out and put in a warm centrally heated room for the 28 days you are using them, any dissolved air bubbles may be forced out of the insulin as it gets warmer?

As has been suggested, you may be able to flick them to rhe top of the pen and eject them with your airshot before each injection. Alternatively your technique of ensuring the pen is vertical(ish) and they are away from the needle during injections is a pretty good one.

As @trophywench suggests, it can help to remove the needle immediately after jabbing too, so that there is no way for any air to leak back into the cartridge between jabs.

Hope you manage to find a way to bust those bubbles!
 
rebrascora said:
I used to get a bubble until I figured out that I was doing my air shot all wrong... Duh. Felt like a right plonker! Never had a an air bubble since I sorted my technique out.
Click to expand...
Just in case I am doing my air shot wrong, how do you do yours? I turn the (disposable) pen upwards, tap to get the bubble to the needle end, then shoot 2-4 units out. It always worked with the Lantus pen before I switched to Levemir, but with the past two boxes of pens, there has always been a big bubble that just won't shoot out! Looks like the bubble on a spirit level. It drives me mad, as when it gets to the last few doses I have to abandon the pen as the bubble is too near for comfort !!
 
trophywench said:
Hi - I've asked on your other thread - do you remove the needle immediately after your jab and only attach it when you're actually ready to jab that minute?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. Well,this is how I inject. I check the pen for bubbles. Attach the needle and upend the pen, tap to get the bubbles to the needle end and shoot off a few units. With the Lantus pen I used to use, that usually solved it. But with the Levemir pen, when I turn the pen the right way to inject, that pesky big bubble scuttles back up to the top. So, I repeat the exercise a couple more times. In the end, I hold the pen upright, so the bubble is at the other end from the needle and inject.
I get really annoyed as I often have to abandon the (disposable) pen - with usuable units left in it - because the bubble is too near. That bubble is like the bubble in a spirit level!
 
Yes, that sounds like a good technique.
Where do you keep your pen? Just wondering if there is a fluctuation in temperature which causes the insulin to suck air in when the needle is fitted. I know that when I was doing my air shot wrong and ended up with a bubble, I couldn't get rid of it by doing an air shot, or at least, not a small air shot. I never tried dialing up 6 or 10 units to get rid of it. I just did much the same as you and made sure it was at the opposite end of the pen when I injected. Maybe it wasn't my technique after all and it was a bad batch of pens but it was very coincidental that when I started doing it right, the bubble problem stopped.

Just to reassure you, in case you didn't know, injecting a bubble with your insulin won't harm you as such but it does mean that you will likely not have got your full dose of insulin. Obviously it is to be avoided as much as possible.
 
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I’ve merged your threads @Silverannie - to keep all the responses in the same place 🙂
 
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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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