How many things do you forget every day? Where did I put my keys? Did I lock the door? Did I turn off the lights before I left the house? And... ever wonder whether or not you took your insulin injection?
Now, thanks to Timesulin, one of your worries can disappear.
Timesulin is a replacement cap for insulin pens which tells you when you last used the pen. Once your cap is in place, a timer begins counting. Look at your pen cap minutes later, or hours later, and you’ll see exactly when you took your injection. Timesulin works with all major insulin pens and is ready to use straight out of the package with no need for programming.
I met the creators of Timesulin at IDF World Congress in Dubai last December, where they gave me a sample to try. Since then, it’s left the production floor and is available in Europe. (Yes, I know, everything seems to happen in Europe before the U.S. But Timesulin is now speaking to distributors and the cap should be available here this summer.)
When you use Timesulin, your standard insulin pen cap becomes “smart”. If the cap is removed from the pen for longer than eight seconds, it assumes the user has taken an injection and the LCD screen-timer is reset. It will continue to display in hours and minutes the time that passes until the next time the cap is removed. The timer will not reset if the cap is removed for less than eight seconds, taking into account that sometimes users will need to check the level of insulin left in the pen.
I’ve had a great experience using Timesulin. Not only did I like the confirmation that I had taken my shot, but it kept me more regular in dosing my Lantus, which I take every 24 hours. Often, I take my Lantus without thinking about it. Did I take it at 8:00 a.m. yesterday or 9:00 a.m.? With Timesulin, I know.
The idea for Timesulin came from the experiences of co-founder and CEO, John Sjölund, who has been living with type 1 diabetes since age three. In an interview with Diabetes Mine’s Allison Blass, John explained, “For the longest time, I was asking my doctors when a solution to forgotten injections would be coming along, and I never got a conclusive answer. After years of having this problem and often speaking with my family about it, it was actually my brother Andreas who had the ‘Eureka!’ moment for how to solve this back in June 2008. If you figure that the average person with diabetes takes four injections per day, that equates to nearly 1,500 shots per year. Of course we are going to forget every once in a while, right? It happens to the best of us; young, smart, active people just like me.”
John told me – and I couldn’t agree more – “Given the hectic lives we all lead, keeping track of the four-times-a-day ritual can be difficult for anyone living with a chronic condition. It’s like trying to remember if you turned the stove off.”
No more missing injections or double dosing (a serious potentially life threatening problem). No more the anxiety about whether you’ve taken their shot or not. No more guessing.
If you live in Europe, you can buy Timesulin online.
This is an old idea… The Lilly Memoir Pen was much better than this. I am really annoyed by the onslaught of these despicable, disposable insulin pens. There is not a single good reason to choose disposable over reusable pens. They are more accurate, look and feel better, they are more discrete, environmentally friendly and just make sense. If you are unable to load a reusable pen with a cartridge i wonder how you manage to put on your clothes in the morning, let alone your shoes. It couldnt be simpler. I really, really hope that reusable pens wont be… Read more »