{"id":50147,"date":"2019-01-29T11:30:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T16:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147"},"modified":"2019-01-29T12:36:33","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T17:36:33","slug":"why-do-long-and-short-acting-insulin-pens-look-nearly-identical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Long and Short Acting Insulin Pens Look Nearly Identical?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On the top Tresiba long-acting basal insulin, in the middle old Fiasp and on the bottom new Fiasp ultra-rapid insulin<\/em><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

\n

Please Novo Nordisk, what are you thinking? Both your Tresiba and FIASP insulin pens are nearly identical. I know already I will at least once, if not more, grab the wrong pen and take seven times my mealtime dose accidentally.<\/p>\n

For the first time ever, after 46 years with type 1 diabetes, I\u2019m using Novo Nordisk\u2019s insulins for both my basal and bolus: Tresiba and FIASP.<\/p>\n

This is the picture I took this morning of my pens just after looking down at the Tresiba pen in my thigh as I had my finger on the plunger having just pressed it, thinking, \u201cOh, my god, is that my Tresiba in my leg or the FIASP? SH*T!!!\u201d All I saw was a navy blue pen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The caps look different because the Tresiba pen (on the bottom) has a Timesulin<\/a> cap on it.<\/em><\/p>\n

I switched to Tresiba and I\u2019m experimenting with FIASP after being a long time user of Sanofi\u2019s Lantus and Lilly\u2019s Humalog. I\u2019m very happy with both insulins. Tresiba covers me a full 24 hours plus, while Lantus only stretched to about 19 hours. And FIASP, which I\u2019ve just started to see if it actually is faster than Humalog, appears to be. No complaints about the insulins. In fact, I\u2019d recommend them easily.<\/p>\n

But how could those at pharma companies, whose hands these pens flow through upon creation and sale \u2013 device designers, engineers, research and development, business development, marketing and strategy professionals \u2013 not consider the risk to patients of confusing these two pens? Untold numbers of people with diabetes will use both these products \u2013 just as the company would like them to.<\/p>\n

How could one not notice that the identical color of the pens, design and shape will cause many customers to mix them up and result in potentially life-threatening consequences?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already done it, mixed up my short acting and long acting pens\u00a0<\/a>once with two pens from two different companies that were not identical.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk is not alone, although I find the choice of navy blue for both pens egregious.\u00a0Here are Sanofi\u2019s Lantus (basal insulin) and Apidra (bolus insulin) pens. Also, far too similar. In \u201creal life\u201d the color difference is not as pronounced; they both share a blue\/grey hue. (Here’s\u00a0a story about mixing up Sanofi’s almost identical insulin pen<\/a>s. The story was written in 2010, and all these years later, we still have look-alike pens.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sanofi.jpeg\"Luckily, this morning the correct pen was in my leg. But trust me, in the middle of making breakfast and picking up a pen to take one of my six or so shots a day, the day will<\/em> come when I take seven units of FIASP (my Tresiba dose) when I meant to take one. Am I to blame? Sure. But make it easier for us to avoid potentially life-threatening mistakes. Make insulin pens mistake-proof.<\/p>\n

Why can we not have pens that are dramatically different colors, especially from the same company, different shapes, different texture or make a sound when you take off the cap. Users of insulin pens already take it upon themselves to distinguish their pens by putting duct tape or rubber bands around one pen, or keeping their pens in different rooms. It should not be so hard.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to see the company that embraces the hippocratic oath, \u201cfirst do not harm\u201d and reflects it in the pens they put in our hands.<\/p>\n

You can do more, you can do better to help people with diabetes have one less thing to worry about \u2013 taking an insulin overdose \u2013 when they take their medication multiple times a day.<\/p>\n

Originally posted on DiabetesStories<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":50153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1441],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Do Long and Short Acting Insulin Pens Look Nearly Identical? | ASweetLife % %<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why can't we have pens that are dramatically different colors, different shapes, or different textures. Insulin pen users already take it upon themselves to distinguish their pens by putting duct tape or rubber bands around one pen, or keeping their pens in different rooms. It should not be so hard.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Riva Greenberg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147\",\"name\":\"Why Do Long and Short Acting Insulin Pens Look Nearly Identical? | ASweetLife % %\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Tresiba-and-New-v.-Old-Fiasp.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-29T16:30:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-29T17:36:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6d40cd415a87ce047f388a30aa8d50e4\"},\"description\":\"Why can't we have pens that are dramatically different colors, different shapes, or different textures. Insulin pen users already take it upon themselves to distinguish their pens by putting duct tape or rubber bands around one pen, or keeping their pens in different rooms. It should not be so hard.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Tresiba-and-New-v.-Old-Fiasp.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Tresiba-and-New-v.-Old-Fiasp.jpg\",\"width\":2524,\"height\":1823,\"caption\":\"Tresiba and New v. Old Fiasp\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Do Long and Short Acting Insulin Pens Look Nearly Identical?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6d40cd415a87ce047f388a30aa8d50e4\",\"name\":\"Riva Greenberg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11ff306bd3be1d6947826b8bf3f71898?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11ff306bd3be1d6947826b8bf3f71898?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Riva Greenberg\"},\"description\":\"Riva Greenberg is finally doing what she set out to do in high school \u2013 writing her observations of life and human behavior \u2013 little did she know then that diabetes would be her muse. Riva has had type 1 diabetes for more than 40 years and is the author of \u201cDiabetes Do\u2019s & How-To\u2019s,\u201d \u201c50 Diabetes Myths That Can Ruin Your Life: and the 50 Diabetes Truths That Can Save It\u201d and \u201cThe ABCs Of Loving Yourself With Diabetes.\u201d She provides workshops and lectures on flourishing with diabetes, is a health coach and blogs on the Huffington Post and her web site diabetesstories.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?author=25\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Do Long and Short Acting Insulin Pens Look Nearly Identical? | ASweetLife % %","description":"Why can't we have pens that are dramatically different colors, different shapes, or different textures. Insulin pen users already take it upon themselves to distinguish their pens by putting duct tape or rubber bands around one pen, or keeping their pens in different rooms. It should not be so hard.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Riva Greenberg","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147","url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147","name":"Why Do Long and Short Acting Insulin Pens Look Nearly Identical? | ASweetLife % %","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Tresiba-and-New-v.-Old-Fiasp.jpg","datePublished":"2019-01-29T16:30:03+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-29T17:36:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6d40cd415a87ce047f388a30aa8d50e4"},"description":"Why can't we have pens that are dramatically different colors, different shapes, or different textures. Insulin pen users already take it upon themselves to distinguish their pens by putting duct tape or rubber bands around one pen, or keeping their pens in different rooms. It should not be so hard.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Tresiba-and-New-v.-Old-Fiasp.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Tresiba-and-New-v.-Old-Fiasp.jpg","width":2524,"height":1823,"caption":"Tresiba and New v. Old Fiasp"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=50147#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Do Long and Short Acting Insulin Pens Look Nearly Identical?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/","name":"ASweetLife","description":"The Diabetes Magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/6d40cd415a87ce047f388a30aa8d50e4","name":"Riva Greenberg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11ff306bd3be1d6947826b8bf3f71898?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/11ff306bd3be1d6947826b8bf3f71898?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Riva Greenberg"},"description":"Riva Greenberg is finally doing what she set out to do in high school \u2013 writing her observations of life and human behavior \u2013 little did she know then that diabetes would be her muse. Riva has had type 1 diabetes for more than 40 years and is the author of \u201cDiabetes Do\u2019s & How-To\u2019s,\u201d \u201c50 Diabetes Myths That Can Ruin Your Life: and the 50 Diabetes Truths That Can Save It\u201d and \u201cThe ABCs Of Loving Yourself With Diabetes.\u201d She provides workshops and lectures on flourishing with diabetes, is a health coach and blogs on the Huffington Post and her web site diabetesstories.com.","url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?author=25"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50147"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50162,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50147\/revisions\/50162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}