How to Use an Injectable Pen & Humalog

The an injectable pen is a prefilled, pen-like injection device. Instead of drawing insulin from a bottle into a syringe and calculating units via the lines on the syringe, the pen can be twisted to calculate more precise dosages. It has a removable, disposable needle on the end so the pen itself can be used multiple times. Eli Lilly offers four devices for Humalog--the original prefilled pen, KwikPen, HumaPen Memoir and HumaPen Luxura HD.

Things You'll Need

• Original prefilled pen, KwikPen, HumaPen Memoir, or HumaPen Luxura HD by Eli Lilly

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Instructions

• 1

  Determine which Humalog-compatible pen device best meets your needs. The original prefilled pen and the KwikPen both come prefilled with 300 units of Humalog insulin, and have a single dosage maximum of 60 units. Once you use up the insulin in either of these pens, you must get a new pen.

  The HumaPen Memoir and the HumaPen Luxura HD both have replaceable insulin cartridges. You keep the pen itself, but replace the cartridges as they run out. The Memoir retains the date, time and amount of your last 16 injections in its memory; it holds 300 units of insulin, has a maximum single dosage of 60 units and dispenses insulin in one-unit increments. The Luxura HD is best for more precise dosages; it holds 300 units of insulin but has a maximum single dosage of 30 units and dispenses insulin in half-unit increments.

  All four insulin pens have removable needles; you must change needles each time you inject yourself.

• 2

  Check with your health insurance company, if applicable, to see which Humalog-compatible pens they cover. This may affect your decision about which pen to use. If you have to pay some or all of the costs out-of-pocket, you may want to compare the cost of replacing the entire pens (as with the original prefilled or KwikPens) with replacing just the insulin cartridges (as with the Memoir and Luxura HD pens).

• 3

  Check Humalog.com to see if they are offering free trials of any of their pens; they frequently run free trial pen promotions. Free trials are useful ways to try out different pens firsthand to determine which feels best to you.

• 4

  Schedule an appointment with your doctor to discuss switching to a Humalog insulin pen and to go over which pen you believe is best for you. Your doctor may have additional feedback that impacts your final decision. You must have a prescription from your doctor in order to start using a Humalog insulin pen; your doctor also must approve any free trial offers before a pharmacy can dispense them.