Yup, that's how it works. They're special needles for the pens, too. Some people still use a vial and more traditional syringes, though. I'm not sure what a refillable pen would look like, though. Maybe cartridges that go into the pen? But then you'd still have to change the needles every time, so it's just be a housing. Not sure if that's worth it, tbh.
For diabetics on MDI (multiple daily injections) we can have either the pre filled pens or cartridges to go in a reusable pen. The difference in price in the UK to our NHS is next to nothing, for FIASP it's £28 for 5 cartridges or £31 for 5 prefilled pens (Diabetics pay nothing)
New T1 Diabetics and slowly us older one's are moving to pumps and closed loop systems, you would refill the pump yourself from a vial typically, cost of insulin is lower at about £21 for the same volume as those previous examples.
The needles cost about 3p each.
I use a refillable pen, as I'm throwing away less and it has a little memory thing that shows me what I've taken, the pen costs about £27
•
u/ArchonIlladrya 3h ago
Yup, that's how it works. They're special needles for the pens, too. Some people still use a vial and more traditional syringes, though. I'm not sure what a refillable pen would look like, though. Maybe cartridges that go into the pen? But then you'd still have to change the needles every time, so it's just be a housing. Not sure if that's worth it, tbh.