Has anybody had too much insulin come out of the Echo pen? Does anyone prefer the Junior pen? It has been discontinued, but I have two at home and I am wondering if I should switch back from Echo to Junio.
I was given the new Novo Echo insulin pen several months ago. Last week, I had a very unfortunate experience with it. I injected one unit of insulin (or so I thought), but when I pulled the pen out of my skin, a LOT of insulin leaked from the needle tip. It landed on my table and it was close to maybe 5 or 6 units. I am LADA and require only 1/2 to 1 unit of bolus with meals. It took me hours to stabilize my blood sugars since I have no idea how much over a unit I was given. My blood sugars just kept dropping. I contacted Novo and they were of little help; very vague and non committal as to whether or not this insulin pen regularly has issues. I was afraid to use the new one they sent me, which left me with highs. Not good.
I have two of my old Junior pens at home. I never had an issue in the six years I used either of them. Does anyone still use the Junior pen?
I use the Novo Echo and have not had any problem with the pen. I, too, use very small doses. 1/2 to 1 1/2. My problem has more to do with matching I: C.
I’m on a pump now but I still carry my novo pen echo and I often inject with it if I’m having a high and there are delivery issues with the cannula. I’m just trying steel ones now so hopefully most of those problems will be resolved. I have the junior also. For some reason I stopped using the junior, I can’t remember why. I didn’t have overdose problems with the echo, just sometimes had problems with it not delivering the bolus, which may or may not have been due to me putting penfills from the plastic pen into it. I don’t know. I sent one back to them and they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. I recommend always priming with a 2 unit injection first to make sure insulin is coming out and everything is ok. If the piston falls down at all it may cause dosing issues. I noticed after I put the penfill left over from filling my pump cartridge and I inject the novopen until the piston is at the right place some times a big amount comes out, I’m not sure why.
Another thing that can effect the dose is if something is wrong with your needle- another good reason to prime.
Sorry that happened, It must have been scary. You could try syringes instead maybe. One of the things I liked about the novopen echo is it records the dose for you.
