[Scratch]

Up til today, whenever my Novolog flexpen got down to near the bottom, I would discard it and grab another one. But by coincidence today I happened to need a 3 unit correction for my post lunch blood sugar and after that was done, I went to check to see how much the pen had left to give me by way of dialing up the dose.

Nothing. Yep, the 3 unit correction had maxed out the dosage clicker. But I'm looking at the end of this pen, and have a syringe with me, so I get curious and decide to see how much Novolog I could draw out of the flexpen's remaining reservoir.

12 units. There was 12 units of insulin left.

Sometimes I ponder about these things and I ponder how precious all of us here must consider insulin, needing to supply ourselves with these exogenous supplies every day of our lives to remain part of the living. And here I see the makers of the flexpen have constructed a device to deliver this precious liquid into us, constructed it such that at the very least, 12 units of insulin go into the trash.

Of course, how insulin is precious to us, those in need of it, is much different from how the pharmaceutical companies consider insulin precious.

[andypoo]

Originally Posted by Scratch

Up til today, whenever my Novolog flexpen got down to near the bottom, I would discard it and grab another one. But by coincidence today I happened to need a 3 unit correction for my post lunch blood sugar and after that was done, I went to check to see how much the pen had left to give me by way of dialing up the dose.

Nothing. Yep, the 3 unit correction had maxed out the dosage clicker. But I'm looking at the end of this pen, and have a syringe with me, so I get curious and decide to see how much Novolog I could draw out of the flexpen's remaining reservoir.

12 units. There was 12 units of insulin left.

Sometimes I ponder about these things and I ponder how precious all of us here must consider insulin, needing to supply ourselves with these exogenous supplies every day of our lives to remain part of the living. And here I see the makers of the flexpen have constructed a device to deliver this precious liquid into us, constructed it such that at the very least, 12 units of insulin go into the trash.

Of course, how insulin is precious to us, those in need of it, is much different from how the pharmaceutical companies consider insulin precious.

I discovered this also,I have just recently started with the pens one for lantus,one for novolog. The lantus pen has been miserable for me( I keep injuring myself with it) so I've been drawing it out with a syringe. After the lantus prefilled pens are used,I'm going back to the syringes.

[shabbie6247]

with the flexpens i always discard the last 10-12 units (i get a bubble in mine), i can turn the dial all the way until it stops to show me how many units are left and dont waste any in doing so.

with the np3 demi though i have absolutely no idea how much is left at the end, it will even dial more than i have in the vial. i think i probably waste about 20 units at the end of each cartridge.

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by shabbie6247

.... with the np3 demi though i have absolutely no idea how much is left at the end, it will even dial more than i have in the vial. ...

The way around this is to get rid of any bubble before the last injection at the end of the cartridge. That way, if there isn't enough insulin for your last shot, you will able to see from the dial how many outstanding units you need to take from the next cartridge. And you won't waste any insulin .

[Olidus]

I am using the new Novolin-Pen4's Novo Nordisk Canada - NovolinPen 4
I am new to all this but am told that the 4s fixed alot of issues in the 3s. More user friendly for sure.

My only question is - How long do you use the cartridge? I know there is a orange line around thr 50 mark. Does that mean you need to stop? Or can you keep going?

I found I was getting air bubbles in mine as well, this would only happen if I did not hold the inject button, (end of the pen down) when I was putting the cap back on after use.

[BlueSky]

.... How long do you use the cartridge? I know there is a orange line around thr 50 mark. Does that mean you need to stop? Or can you keep going?....

The orange line is part of the colour coding to avoid confusion. It is there so that you can easily see that the pen contains Novolog. Actrapid cartridges, for example, have a yellow stripe in the same place. It makes a difference for me as I use Actrapid before breakfast and Novorapid for corrections and before lunch & supper. You are supposed to use all the insulin, as I described in the previous post.

[xMenace]

I bought some 180u minimed reservoirs by mistake awhile ago. I filled them right up to the max. My pump registered 160u. That's 20u wasted. I almost always pump an extra 10 or 12 past empty now, and I've seen no indication that I've run out.

[sofaraway]

Originally Posted by shabbie6247

with the np3 demi though i have absolutely no idea how much is left at the end, it will even dial more than i have in the vial. i think i probably waste about 20 units at the end of each cartridge.

This is probably the only bad thing about this pen, and it is really annoying. so i normally change the cartridge just before I think it's going to run out. I don't really think about wasting the few units of insulin, if I payed for it, might be a different story

[BlueSky]

I don't understand. You will know the cartridge is empty when you can't push the pen plunger down anymore. Isn't this how all pens work?

[shabbie6247]

Originally Posted by BlueSky

The way around this is to get rid of any bubble before the last injection at the end of the cartridge. That way, if there isn't enough insulin for your last shot, you will able to see from the dial how many outstanding units you need to take from the next cartridge. And you won't waste any insulin .

i seem to get quite a big bubble in all of my pens...apparently something to do with my using the same needle for 24hours on each pen!
no matter how i try i cant get rid of the bubble without wasting a stack of insulin into the bargain. so i charge my pens up the other way and use only .5 or 1 unit each time. that way i know the bubble is well out of the way of my shot. wasting 12 to 20 units for me usually includes the bubble of air ive been saving lol!

using more insulin isnt really an issue for us here in the uk as we get ours free anyway, i just hate to waste it!

[Dervish]

Throwing away the extra at the end of my flexpens doesn't bother me at all. Novolog is not scarce. I can easily get more, and I can even get it pretty cheap, thanks to my insurance. 12 units of it costs me a few pennies - hardly worth making any fuss over. (Early on, I extracted those last few units with syringes to avoid wasting them. I stopped when I realized that replacing the syringe cost more than replacing the insulin.)

[BriOnH]

This is why I have a syringe in my car and at work.... For exactly that reason. Saved me so many times.

[dar917]

how do you get rid of the bubble??

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by dar917

how do you get rid of the bubble??

Turn the pen upside down so the bubble rises to the top of the cartridge (where the needle is attached), flick the pen with your finger so that any insulin above the bubble drains away, dial up a few units and and push the plunger to eject the bubble. It works pretty well with resuable pens. But I haven't used disposable pens and don't know if it works quite as well with them.

In my experience, the size of the bubble is very much a function of the quality of the pen. It was a problem with the older pens, But since I got new novopen demis, I haven't had any bubbles at all.