In the fall I will be sending my four-year old to a new preschool. This last year I was able to come to his old preschool room during lunch and give him a shot 30 minutes after he started eating. At this new preschool I can do the same thing, but one of the days he is there I will not be able to come and give him a shot during their lunch hour as I will be teaching during that time. The director at the preschool has very graciously offered to help me by giving him his shots those days I cannot be there. This has me a little anxious. I would hope she would be very accurate in her dosing and not give him too much. Currently, he is on humalog vials where I draw up what he needs from 1/2 unit syringes. A woman with a diabetic son told me about Novolog junior pens. I thought maybe I could get the humalog pen that is in 1/2 units (HumaPen Luxura HD). That way there is no question as to too little/too much insulin drawn up. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you/your child have used this HumaPen Luxura HD did you like it? pros/cons? Or if you have other suggestions as to what else I can do to give him insulin without me being there…Thank You!
I don’t use pens but I wanted to say that waiting 30 minutes after eating to give a shot may cause unnecessary bg spikes. Everyone is different but generally people bolus with their first bite or even sometimes before eating.
The only issue I have had with the pens is that if someone really doesn’t know what they are doing (i.e., properly priming the pen), that too could result in inaccurate dosing. Personally, while I love the pens for convenience, I have had a few instances where I’m pretty sure I didn’t prime properly and, as a result, didn’t get the insulin I needed. Syringes and vials, while cumbersome, are often the most accurate, surefire way to administer insulin IMO.
As far as I know the HumaPen Luxura HD has a digital readout of dosing and stores the past few doses in memory, which could be useful to know whether they are using the pen correctly. However, I don’t think it comes in a half-unit version. I used to use Humalog (use Apidra now) and they do have a half0unit version of their pen, but it doesn’t have a digital readout nor memory. I think pens are a good idea, though, as they are easier to use and less intimidating than vials and syringes. You could write up instructions on paper so the staff can use them as reference if they need to (in addition to in-person training from you, of course!).
I have this pen and it works great. I can’t always handle full units and am often taking 1/2 unit in the morning, or 1 1/2 units for a meal. I wish to God that Lantus came in 1/2 units…
EDIT – mine is not electronic in any way. I get cartridges and I put them in. That’s it. There are no statistics to go with it.
so can you take just half a unit? I thought the minimum dose was 1 unit?
Yes! I can take and sometimes only need 1/2 unit – that’s only ever in the morning, though.
We use this pen for my son and really like it. We use a vial & syringe for his Lantus at night, but we do his Humalog with the pen. In my opinion, the pen is so much easier to use, especially if you prime (we always prime with 2 units) every time. When the pen is primed, we don’t have to worry about flicking out bubbles like we do with a syringe. One thing I really like about the pen is the clicks it makes as you push the button - 1 click per half unit. We always count the clicks when we inject as a double check that we’re actually delivering what we intended; e.g. If we inject 1.5 units, we should hear 3 clicks. (The teacher in me can’t help but think this would be a cool way for your little one to get some counting practice!) We also like the half unit dosing as my son uses relatively little insulin.
You probably already know this, but there is a little set up required for a new pen. Be sure you understand how to prime it prior to the first use with each new insulin cartridge. We prime in 2 unit increments until is starts squirting, then we measure out 20 units and shoot it into the cap of a needle. There are markings on the needle cap that show where 20 units should be. If your insulin doesn’t come to that marking, the pen isn’t delivering the correct amount. We’ve never had a pen not deliver that 20 units as expected.
The Luxura is not electronic and doesn’t store any data. There is a pen that does that, but it’s not the Luxura.
When used and primed properly, I don’t see any cons to using the pen rather than a vial/syringe.
Good luck!