Hello! I take Tresiba at night. Currently 10 units too much ( day BS are dipping too low) while 9 not enough. Just filled my prescription of pens. Can I use the pen cartridge as a vial then draw out my dose with a syringe that has 1/2 markings?
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Yep! Absolutely!
BD has 1/2 unit syringes. There may also be other companies who make them, but this NDC number for BD syringes will get you the 1/2 unit syringes with an 8mm needle length.
NDC number 08290-3284-40
In most states (all but two I think), you can get syringes without a prescription!
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That is what I do. I just use a syringe.
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Back in the day when I was on MDI and I was still honeymooning, I would use the syringes with the half unit markings, and I would also dilute it with injectable saline.
I could go .25 units by doing it like that.
I also mixed insulin back then so it wasn’t so worrisome to do it, I was used to it.
I would push air into the saline. Then push air into the insulin. Draw out 5 units of insulin then use the same syringe to draw 5 units of saline.
Then I had 10 units of half dilute insulin and I would use it throughout the day. So I would use maybe 3.25 units or what ever I needed. Reusing that same syringe all day and sometimes the next day. I never had issues with it.
Then as my diabetes progressed, I stopped needing to cut down my insulin like that and I just take it straight !
You can do the same thing in a pump if you want to cut the minimum basal rates in half.
If the syringe option doesn’t work for you, and if Tresiba doesn’t come in bare cartridges that can be used in a 1/2 unit cartridge pen (I have not seen reference to that for Tresiba yet), you could also try a sort of makeshift solution alternating 9 and 10 units per day. For lots of us, the Tresiba activity curve goes 36 hours or longer, so if that were true for you there would be a bit of averaging to help smooth things out. Not ideal, but maybe workable.
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I do miss the days when half units were discernible as a meaningful difference in dosage!
I have tried averaging Tresiba injections, but it doesn’t work well for me. I wish it did.
You could also switch to buying in vials once you use up pens. May be easier to withdraw. May be lower cost, using the 1/2 unit syringes + vial.
Tresiba® is a once-daily, long-acting insulin indicated to improve glycemic control in patients 1 year of age and older with diabetes mellitus.1 Tresiba® comes in 3 administration options: Tresiba® FlexTouch® U-100, Tresiba® FlexTouch® U-200, and a U-100 10-mL vial.
I did even calendar days even number 10 units and odd number calendar days 9 units. You can also get tresiba through a vial but the half units needles aren’t easy to draw up IMO.
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Thank you all! Found the BD 1/2 unit syringes from a pet supply company of all places!
@Tbk
Be careful! A lot of pet syringes are not U-100, they are U-40.
Make sure it is a U-100 syringe!
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