Insuflon Review.... My personal review of using Insuflon for Injecting Insulin

#Insuflon review. #Type1Diabetes #Type2Diabetics #Injecting

After I discovered Insuflon existed, I took to google to find out a little more. I found AMT "Applied Medical Technology" who would be a distributor of a Insuflon to find out a little more about it.

AMT were very helpful with the information I requested and they sent me out a box of them to try so Id know exactly what they were like.

Within a few days my samples arrived and after ripping open the package ( I love getting packages ) I had a good look at them, o and a good read of the literature that came with it.

Now I'm being totally honest in this review so please read to the very end:

My very first reaction when I inspected the goods was, "that needle is a little big" in length, not width. 

The Insuflon has no applicator, it's a manual application without buttons to shoot it into place. I can honestly say there is no pain involved.

Once in place, it neatly sits on the skin, and it's relatively flat ( no protruding bulge ) or as Id say no VIP lol "Visible Insuflon Pucker" as a matter of fact, you would never detect it under a body con dress, ( yes that's important )

The cannula is tiny, soft and a little longer than Iv used before, Id say kinking would be unlikely.

I felt nothing while wearing it, it's extremely comfortable.

Now let's get down to business :

As I found before, using a devise like this does help improve blood glucose. 

My opinion for this, and it's only my opinion is that after injecting directly into skin, even after holding the needle there for 10 seconds after injecting, you still get that drip on the end of the needle after you withdraw it from your chosen injection site. It's nearly a unit of insulin in that drip so we don't get the full advantage of the injection of insulin we have just administered. 

Basically if your carb counting and (example) inject 6 units to cover the carbs in your meal, it's  less than 6 units your actually getting, it's more like 5ish units.

However, when injecting into Insuflon or other cannula type device, as you withdraw the needle after administration, you pull it back out from / through a membrane or seal that extracts that last drip while still inside the cannula device. The result ? Units of insulin injected completely, and entirely, so your carb counting works.

The 1st insuflon I placed in position, was on the right side of my tummy with the membrane / seal pointing outwards toward my hip. This made injecting awkward, so my second application was more thoughtfully placed with its membrane pointing upwards, so I could inject directly down into it and I found this a less awkward situation.

The Insuflon it small, neat and very discreet, so because its small and discreet I found I needed my reading glasses on to correctly target the membrane with my needle. 

Would I continue to use it ? Yes ✔️

I wish the Insuflon and the Iport were available on our LTI scheme in Ireland. As well as better BG control, it means breaking skin only once every 3-5 days instead of 5 + times a day, every day.

As a last word, the Insuflon fitted in with my lifestyle very well and with no problems.

#Impressed 

Davina 

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Iport & Insuflon, HSE expence, the cost of wasted Insulin

#Iport #Insuflon #InjectingInsulin #Type1Diabetics #Type2Diabetics #HSEcost 

Ok so personal little exercise for a various reasons.

#IportCost #InsulinCost #HSEexpense @HSElive @OB_Recuitment

Just 1 #NovoRapid #InsulinPen is aprx €10 @ cost price

In the picture attached You'l see, that all too familiar drip we have on the end of our insulin pen needle after injecting our insulin. ( even after the 10 second rule )  If we inject 5 times daily ( 3 meals, 1 snack & a possible correction ) that's at least 5 units of insulin wasted........

A Novo Rapid insulin pen has 60 units of insulin, costing €0.17 per unit.

So that's €0.85 cent per day, €5.95 per week, €25.78 per month of wasted insulin.

#Iport costs €160 @ cost per month. It comes as a pack of 10 each lasting 3 days, so 30 day supply. €16.00 each for 3 days, €5.35 per day. This would save on lipohypertrophy complications and treatment, it would save on even more insulin as injecting to a lipohypertrophy area would mean using even more insulin than should be required to cover the carbs in a meal or snack.

#Insuflon costs aprx €60 @ cost, comes as a pack of 10, each lasting 3-5 days. If we say 3 days each box would last a month. €6.00 each, €2 per day.

For a 5 day period a box of insuflon would last for 7 weeks, and the daily cost to the HSE would be €1.20 per day & €36.00 per month. 

Now as the definite waste of insulin per month is aprx €26.00 and maybe more in some cases, I would have thought covering both the iport and Insuflon on our LTI scheme would be a cost effective measure even the HSE can't ignore. Using one of these devices would reduce the cost of insulin to the HSE and in some cases & circumstances it might even balance out.

However we are still awaiting a decision from the HSE as to whether they will cover the iport on our long term illness ( LTI ) scheme. Wouldn't it be nice if both the Iport & the Insuflon were included ? Then we could choose which one we would prefer to use. 

I do think the iport is possibly a little more suitable to children. However the Insuflon has a potentially important role to play for people / adults with type 1 diabetes And adults with type 2 diabetes injecting insulin.

Iv used both and I'm happy with how effective both devices are when used correctly. There are advantages with both devices, and very few disadvantages, however at the end of the day it is down to personal choice, age, circumstances, and lifestyle.

At the end of the day, when using either of these devices, the insulin we are injecting is more effective and with no waste because the little rubber seal we inject into catches every single drip of insulin we inject. If we inject 6 units, we get the effect of 6 units instead of 5 units with a 1 unit drip wasted.

Davina "T1"

Not professional but experienced

Diabetes T1 Ireland