Insulin Pens
For decades after the discovery of insulin in the early 1920s, the only option for getting the lifesaving medicine into your body was with a vial and syringe. Today, all types of insulin are also available in pen form, which makes the injecting much less ‘medical’, more comfortable, and quicker.Insulin pens come in two basic varieties: disposable and reusable. The disposable pens come prefilled with insulin and should be stored in the refrigerator before use, then stored at room temperature once opened. When the insulin is used up, these pens are discarded. Reusable pens are loaded by the user with 3ml insulin cartridges. While the cartridges can be stored in the refrigerator prior to use, the reusable pens should not be put in the refrigerator at any time. To use either type of pen, you fit on a special pen needle, dial in a dose, insert the needle under the skin, and press a button to inject the insulin.Choosing an insulin pen may be dictated by what type of insulin you use. There are three makers of insulin world-wide: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi-Aventis. Each company manufactures its own pens for use only with its insulin. Insulin pens allow you to give doses in increments of half a unit, one, or two units, some with maximum doses up to 80 units. (This may not be in reality of any significance as no-one would ever give a dose bigger than around 40 units in one go – for comfort reasons and most importantly, for reasons of unpredictable and delayed absorption from such a huge pool of insulin!)  

When choosing a pen device, it is important to consider how much insulin you need to deliver at one time and how precise changes (0.5u or 1u) in your dose might need to be. Children taking mealtime insulin may need a pen that allows dosing in half-unit increments (both NovoPen Demi and HumaPen Luxura HD are available), while someone who takes a daily injection of basal (long-acting) insulin may require a pen that can give a larger dose.

Downloads:

The mealtime dosage calculator is intended as an aid in figuring mealtime rapid-acting insulin requirements. It should only be used under the supervision and guidance of you diabetes nurse team. See below links to five excel spreadsheet forms, one for each meal of the day. Choose and download the relevant sheet, then follow the instructions:

Find out about our: Insulin Pump & CGM Training Course



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