Making life more boring with Timesulin

By | 15 February, 2012

Things would be much easier if diabetes was the only thing on my mind. If the only challenge in my day was to calculate my carbs and stick in the right amount of insulin. That would also be quite a depressing way to live, I admit. So, in the interest of preserving sanity, we diabetic types tend to introduce something else into our existence, commonly known as life.

Life is fun. But it does tend to take up brain space. Unbelievably for those not reliant on stabbing themselves daTimesulinily to stay alive, it is possible to have an injection without spending the whole morning fretting over it and the whole afternoon talking about it. It’s like brushing my teeth, it happens regularly but often while my brain is thinking about something else entirely.

When I started on the pump, one of the unexpected pleasures was the discovery that I could check the screen to see when I’d last bolussed. This has removed hours of frustrating conversations with the husband – did I inject for dinner? I can’t remember. Did you see me inject? Well I saw you take your pen out, but I’m not sure if you actually used it. Or maybe that’s yesterday I’m thinking of. All these injections tend to merge into one, you need to make each individual injection experience memorable and unique in some way, so we can clearly remember them. Did I inject? Ah yes, that was the one with the goldfish, I couldn’t forget that. What about breakfast. Well of course, that was when you stood on one leg and pirouetted as the needle went in.

Apparently there is now a duller alternative to the unique injection approach. A clever pancreatically challenged type has invented Timesulin – a handy little cap you can fit onto most insulin pens that records when you last injected. So rather than spending hours trying to rewind and replay your life to remember if you injected, you can simply look at the cap of your pen.

If such a boring form of existence appeals to you over the living by the seat of your pants, did I inject, I don’t know, let’s explore it through the medium of shared recollection and then conclude we’ve no idea approach – you can splash out 25 of your hard earned pounds to purchase one.

I have no idea if they’re any good and I have no intention of stopping using my pump just to try them out. But I really like the idea and their website tells you everything else you need to know.

21 thoughts on “Making life more boring with Timesulin

  1. Paul

    Presumably it logs when you remove the lid which doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve injected. I used to get interupted a lot & the two wouldnt necessarily tie up for me!

    Reply
    1. Susan Moolman

      Hey Paul –

      I’m married to the CEO and co-founder, who is also Type 1 for the past 26 years (and just lovely…but I digress…) – the timer has an 8 second delay built in before it restarts. So what happens is that when you take the cap off, the screen starts flashing, but continues counting. This allows you to check the insulin levels on your way out the door to dinner, etc. If you leave it off for longer than 8 seconds, the timer assumes you’ve taken a shot (which we’ve ascertained takes a minimum of 15 seconds) and the timer is reset.

      If you don’t typically leave the cap on your pen you may find that Timesulin is not necessarily right for you. We created it purely to help people by removing some of that gnawing anxiety that they often feel about whether or not they’ve taken a shot.

      It’s a simple solution to a daily problem. No?

      Reply
      1. Paul

        It’s a nice idea & the timer will help, but it wasn’t a daily problem for me when I was on a pen.

        Have you spoken to any of the pen manufacturers about it?

        Reply
        1. Susan Moolman

          Yes. So far they seem to love it.

          I think for people with diabetes questioning yourself about whether or not you’ve injected adds to that constant gnawing at the back of your mind. We just want diabetes to gnaw a little less…open up some space for more fun things to take up energy.

          Reply
          1. Tim

            If you’ve been speaking to pen manufacturers have you taken out patents and got your intellectual property sorted out?

            /off on a complete tangent

            Reply
          2. Susan Moolman

            Yes! Timesulin uses technology developed by the team at Patients Pending LTD, the company that owns Timesulin.

            Reply
  2. Mike

    Yes Indeed! However Elgringo does not merely have the 1 but he has the 2 caps which lovingly replace the existing caps for both NovoRapid and the Lantus.

    So far so good.. As some of you know, Elgringo has been pretty busy the last couple of days and the Timesulin has been a real help.

    As Alison mentions, it help remove some of that doubt that would otherwise send Elgringo into a panic!!

    Reply
    1. Susan Moolman

      The last thing we want is Elgringo in a panic! Happy that your Timesulin caps are working out so far, Mike. x

      Reply
  3. Mike

    @furrypaul Yes I agree! Sometimes I will get distracted especially by my boys. I think having the cap on and seeing the timer helps focus a little more. A reminder so to speak to perhaps get on shooting up! 😉

    Reply
  4. The ... Diabetic

    Thanks for the witty article Alison!

    By coincidence I’ve just arranged to get a new pen from the DSN which does half units. I normally only inject between 2 and 6 units, and going in halfs would be a nice improvement (I was trying to hint at a pump, but she suggested a pen, I will ask her face-to-face about pumps!).

    Anyways, the DSN mentioned they recently had a demo of a pen which remembers when the last injection was, so I wonder if this will be a Timesulin cap. I did tell her that I don’t panic about if I’ve injected, but more about how much I injected… Goldfish memory! Does anyone know if that kind of thing already exists?

    Anyways, meeting her tomorrow, so will let you know the details of my new pen: apparently it’s very new -they only got a demo last week- but comes on NHS-presciption 🙂 So free!

    The … Diabetic

    Reply
    1. Alison Post author

      Hi, welcome to ShootUp. I wonder if your DSN is talking about the Novepen Echo, which does have a memory function but has only just been launched in the UK. The other one is the Humapen Memoir, but Lilly who make it have withdrawn that from the market at the moment to make improvements. Obviously, they both depend on you using the insulin that matches the pen – I’d be stuck because I use Humalog which is made by the aforementioned Lilly, the Timesulin cap seems to work on most pens so you have free choice (but it’s not free on prescription).

      Reply
      1. The ... Diabetic

        Hi,

        thanks for the welcome Alison. I’ve really enjoyed reading the Shoot Up News and Blogs.

        I mentioned I’d give a quick update, so here goes. It is indeed the Novopen Echo. I got to look and play with one, but it was the clinic’s only one, so I have to see my GP and get a prescription sorted. I’m on Novorapid, so I think that’s why the Lilly products didn’t come up for discussion.

        I have so far only been using disposable pens, so my impressions are that of a rookie, but it looks really good, and seems to do all that I want from a pen: half units, remember the time since my injection, and how many units I injected. I see the GP next week, so fingers crossed I’ll be having a new gadget soon after.

        Reply
      2. Mike

        I hadn’t realised that Novo have *finally* got round to launching the Echo in the UK. I actually switched to using Humalog specifically to get the memory function of the Memoir, and it seemed madness that such a useful bit of kit was available elsewhere in Europe but not here. Now that the Memoir is off the market Novo has become the only dose-memory injection pen, which is what makes Timesulin such a good idea (though that doesn’t record doses, of course, only the interval between injections).

        The Novo UK website is still very coy about the Echo. Is it ditributed by DSN only?

        Reply
        1. The ... Diabetic

          I’ve touched one! And was told to get a prescription for one from my GP. DSN didn’t have any spares, and as I am seeing GP on friday, I think she thought I would be able to get everything sorted quicker that way. But she told me to get in touch again if I had problems. Will keep this thread updated with if/when I get my own personal one 🙂

          Reply
        2. The ... Diabetic

          Hi, as promised a brief update! I managed to get the Novopen Echo very easily. It isn’t in the electronic prescription system yet, but my GP kindly hand-wrote one. I handed it to the local Boots on Friday over lunch, and collected a Novopen Echo on Saturday afternoon. Am absolutely loving it already!

          Reply
          1. The ... Diabetic

            Hi Alison & Tim,
            many thanks! I’m still figuring out the “code of conduct” for plugging your own wares, but thank you very much for the kind words re. the blog.

            Reply

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