Insulin Pen Injecting Properly?

[Marisa829]

Hello everyone,

Recently I began using insulin pens after years of injecting with syringes.  I appreciate the convenience of the pen, but  have had a few incidents that caused some concerns about the insulin actually injecting properly.

I was told by my diabetes health staff that the way to verify that the insulin has injected properly is to  look for  a small drop of insulin on the tip of the needle after injecting.  Now that I've done some research online, I see that many people recommend injecting a few units into the air first to make sure all is working fine before actually performing the real injection on myself.  So, I'll definitely begin doing that as it seems like the best solution.

I'm a bit worried though because this evening (before I read about testing a few units first) when I took my lantus injection (which was a brand new pen fresh out of the refridgerator), there was no insulin on the tip of the needle though I felt the units clicking when I pushed down to inject.  Does it seem as if I didn't really inject since there was no insulin drop on the needle? Or might this be the result of a fresh new pen coming of the fridge? I"m worried because I wouldn't want to take the injection again and accidently get a double dose of my large lantus injection.  For now I'll just have to wait and see how my BS levels reflect tonight's incident.  I was just curious if others had had similar experiences?
Thanks everyone!

[JDRF-VOL-RL]

Hello, Marissa.  I'm not a medical professional, just the parent of a kid with diabetes.  There are about as many techniques on how to dose from a pen as there are people who do it.  The simplest way to figure out if you are getting the insulin is by checking your blood sugar to make sure that it is at the level you'd expect.  My daughter doesn't use the pen, but I've talked to a lot of people who do.  One of the things they say is to make sure that you leave the pen in the skin for a few seconds after you dose.  That helps make sure that everything gets out and no insulin will leak out.  Now, depending on how you do the dose, it may leave insulin in the tip of the needle, as it depends on how much of the liquid is absorbed during the dose.  Hope this helps!

[Raiden66]

If you don't know whether or not the insulin was coming out correctly then you could watch the plunger that pushes out the insulin to verify that it at least went down, this may help a little.

Rob

[Marisa829]

Thanks Rob, that's a good idea and actually that's what I meant when I said I heard the clicking meaning that I could see the plunger going down, so I guess it's probably okay..but it still made me nervous.