Chapstick is pocketable. A small swiss-army knife is pocketable. A mini-flashlight is pocketable.
Insulin pens are not pocketable.
I have been using an insulin pump for a long time. Before I started pumping, they did not have these giant portable all-in-one “solutions”. These are easier to carry around and use than the old vial and syringe, I admit, but they are big. Too big.
I started carrying these around recently. When I was working I would often drive very far from home (300-400 miles), and I wanted some backup that I could rely on. In the winter I can’t keep my insulin and symlin from freezing when stored in the car, and I’m too absent minded to remember some sort of pouch or package of backup stuff in and out, so I settled.
I settled on sticking these HUGE “pens” in my pocket. Along with all of the other crap already there (picture above is not everything in my pocket, I’ve also got my tube of glucose tabs, a nail clipper, one of those mini space pens, and a USB drive – more crap than anyone should carry).
These pens hold, what, about 300 units? How about marketing a pen that only holds 100 units, or even less. Something that is targeted just for pump emergencies? I just need enough insulin to get me through a day.
Make it small. Make it comfortable and easy to carry around.
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Bring back the Innovo.
Like Scott S I remember the beautifully crafted, much smaller original NovoPen. I whinged like hell when that disappeared from the market, I remember writing to Novo as an irrate teenager complaining that they were sacrificing the needs of the T1 market who didn’t need to carry such huge amounts of insulin around for the much larger T2 market. Sadly it did no good 🙁
This would be a great idea not just because you can pocket them easier, but if you do have a d-emergency, and open one, what if you only needed to use 100u, not the full 300u? I would rather waste 25u out of a 100u pen than 25u out of a 300u pen. You would waste tons of insulin because the rest of it would most likely go bad before having to use the pen again.
I use those pens too. They’re not as small as chapstick, but I can fit one in my jeans pocket if I need to, or a jacket pocket if I’m wearing one. I do sometimes use vial/syringe for Lantus, since I take that only once a day, at bedtime, but when I’m out and about, the pens are FAR more convenient for me. I think it would be harder and much more noticeable to inject with a vial/syringe at a table/in a car/on a plane etc than it is with the pens. I can usually inject without anyone even noticing… Read more »