In May of 2003 my doctor switched me from insulin syringes to the insulin pen. Although I was skeptical at first, the insulin pen is a more convenient way of taking insulin, and I have come to really appreciate the flexibility that it gives me compared to my old method of taking insulin.

The insulin pen that I use is made by Eli Lilly and comes pre filled, which means that I just throw it away once all the insulin in it is used up. When I first started using the pen, I really wasn't a fan, mostly because it was new to me and because I was doing really well the way I had been doing things before. But the pen certainly allowed me to be more flexible with my life.

The Old Way
Things were very schedule oriented for me before I began using the pen. I had to make sure I had all three meals through out the day. I had to make sure I took my morning shot at around the same time and the same thing went for my dinner shot. I almost never missed a meal before I started using the pen and that was because I had to stay on such a tight schedule. If I missed a meal or took a shot at the wrong time, my whole day would be thrown off as far as my glucose readings went.

Back then I took NPH and Humalog insulin. The NPH insulin worked over an eight hour period, and that is the insulin that would work on my lunch in the middle of the day. But if I missed lunch, the NPH wouldn't stop working, and I risked going low, hence the reason I rarely ever missed a meal. Also, if I didn't take my shots at the same times every day, the times that the NPH would be working would be different and all thrown off, which wasn't good for me. Basically, it was annoying that I didn't have any flexibility at all.

The New Way
With the insulin pen, I have total control of when I eat. I don't have any schedule to follow or anything. The only drawback would be that I take a few more shots during the day than I used to, but I think it's worth it. The pen comes pre filled with Humalog insulin; that's the fast acting insulin, basically it starts working a few minutes after it is injected. I stopped taking the NPH insulin and started taking Lantus insulin, which works at a low level for 24 hours. I take the Lantus once a day, right before I go to bed, the old fashioned syringe way.

The reason there is no schedule is because without the NPH, there is no insulin working in my body. The Lantus works at a lower rate, with the insulin slowly doing it's thing over the course of the day. And if I don't take a shot of Humalog, I don't have to worry too much about going low. Then when I do want to eat, I can eat whenever I want, I take a dose of Humalog from my pen. I can carry the pen around with me in my pocket because it's that small, just like a pen. The dose of Humalog I give myself depends on the meal and how much I plan to eat.

So theoretically, if I feel like eating breakfast, I would take my shot and eat. Then if I didn't have time to eat lunch, I would be able to skip it. I would just have to make sure to keep an eye on how I felt to make sure I didn't go low, but nothing like that usually happens, I'm just making sure of myself. When dinner comes around I would give myself another dose of Humalog and eat. If I felt like having a snack later on that night, I could give myself a small dose of Humalog to make sure my blood glucose didn't go too high. And then before bed, I would give myself my dose of Lantus. It's very flexible and I really have grown to appreciate it a lot.

How the insulin pen works-The insulin pen works a little differently than a normal injection and here's a little bit about how.