When you have a child diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, your world turns upside down overnight. Within hours of going to the emergency room you are whisked away to the Intensive Care Unit where you spend the next few days in a crash course about living with diabetes. You are shown a wide variety of diabetes supplies, and you must learn how to check glucose levels, count carbs, and administer insulin.
When it comes to administering insulin, syringes are not the only way to go. You probably have been introduced to a diabetes pen and may be wondering if it a good idea to try. My family has tried two different diabetes pens for my son. The Novopen Junior is how we administered his Novolog, and the Solostar Lantus Pen is how we administered his Lantus. We experienced mixed results.
Quick Overview of Diabetes Pens
Diabetes pens use a small cartridge with a small pen needle on top. To measure the insulin dosage, you simply rotate a dial on the pen. You then insert the needle into the body just like you would with a syringe and depress a button. You unscrew the needle and dispose of it properly. Sounds, simple, huh?
Advantages of a Diabetes Pen
The simplicity is the biggest advantage of a diabetes pen. No more fumbling around with a vial in one hand and a syringe in the other. It also makes for easier storage. The pen is probably 5-6 inches long, but it is in just one place, instead of having syringes and vials located in different places.
The biggest advantage of all is the cost involved. Novopen Junior cartridges come in 300 unit increments, and they come in packages of 5. So for one prescription you get 1,500 units. If your child is young, you probably do not get to 300 units in a month, so the Novopen Junior prescription lasts 5 months. When you use vials, you get 1,000 unit vials and end up trashing most of it at the end of the month. With a diabetes pen you can make your copay go further.
Disadvantages of a Diabetes Pen
The Novopen Junior and Solostar Lantus Pen are not perfect, though. The biggest problem my family had is that the pen continues to drip insulin even after removal. We were told about several remedies to this problem, but nothing seemed to work. The insulin that dripped was probably not a material amount, but it was enough to make us leery.
Another disadvantage is that–as mentioned above–while the pens are simple to use, they are a little clunky which can make administering insulin a tad difficult for squirmy children with Type 1 Diabetes. Also, the size of the pen can be uncomfortable for someone who is self-conscious about getting a shot in public.
New Techniques Are Worth a Shot
As researchers continue to search for a cure to Type 1 Diabetes, new diabetes supplies will constantly become available. If, after discussing with your doctors and nurses, you think that something new will help you manage the disease, then definitely go for it. If you do not like these diabetes pens, you are always free to go back to the way things were before.