Pen tricks: worth it?

[stormySalmon]

Been using this for roughly five months now, never had access to a pen that lets you adjust the dose. It's either the full amount or nothing at all.

 

[tryingtoprogress14]

Up here cost stays flat regardless of dose strength, so I'd always grab the biggest pen size available and just count clicks to use smaller amounts as needed.

 

[boredsipper79]

Does your country carry the quick-dial pens? You can grab a stronger dose pen and just dial down to a lower amount. Real money saver that way. Also heard some people on maintenance just space doses out every 10 or 14 days instead of weekly.

 

[toasty_cottage89]

Asked the pharmacist about it. They actually pointed me toward the bigger pen and counting clicks since every size costs the same and it'd save money. They walked me through the click count for each dose level too.

 

[mango-steadyloss41]

Could you grab the larger pen and just count clicks to land on your actual target dose? There's a chart floating around for exactly that. Every strength runs the same cost where I'm at, so this approach stretches a single pen across several months! Definitely run it by your doctor first though.

 

[apricot-rebooting]

You could cut costs by requesting the strongest pen option (15mg) from your prescriber and counting clicks yourself. Twenty clicks off a 15mg pen lands you right at 5mg. That's exactly what I've been doing. Started a 15mg pen back in June, drew multiple 5mg amounts out of it over time, then once hunger and food noise crept back, checked with my doctor and bumped up to 7.5mg, still relying on that identical pen right now. Just have to stay diligent about keeping it refrigerated, plus cleaning it thoroughly with an alcohol swab pre and post injection.

 

[tipsyramen]

Others already covered the basics well. Your doctor's prescribed a stronger pen so you can dial in a lower dose through click counting. They should walk you through exactly how many clicks correspond to each higher amount. Honestly, they probably should've explained upfront how long this particular pen would actually last you.

Since you'll be using it past the recommended thirty-day window, make sure it stays refrigerated the entire time and keep up excellent hand, skin, and pen hygiene throughout.

 

[tryingtoprogress14]

The pharmacy was going to fill a single 1mg dose, though my dr had actually written for the pen with four 0.25mg doses that total 1mg. Luckily their track record is awful, so I verify everything. My start was 0.125mg via click counting, shots five days apart until I'm comfortable, then shorten to 4 days, next 3, finishing on a weekly 0.25. I'll repeat that approach whenever I go up.

 

[sunny_simmering42]

calm_regrouping64 With a generic pen the click count could be anything. Check which dose the pen labels as standard, then do some math. If you pay for a 1mg pen (cheapest), count clicks to 1mg, then half of that gives .5. It all depends on which dose your pen was built for.

 

[apricot_sipper]

calm_regrouping64 If youve got the standard US starter pen, its already built for the 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg settings, so you just pick one on the dial. Click counting only matters when you take a dose smaller than what the pen is labeled for, like my 0.5 mg from a 1.0 mg pen.