The CeQur Simplicity is a mealtime insulin patch.
This new, distinctive system wants a little bit of clarification. It will not be an insulin pump. It attaches to the physique, after which it does precisely one factor: With a click on, it delivers two items of fast-acting insulin.
If you employ a number of every day injections (MDI) of fast-acting insulin earlier than meals, the CeQur patch affords enhanced discretion and comfort. This assessment ought to assist you to resolve if it’s price a attempt.
CeQur (pronounced “secure”) kindly supplied me with a pattern package deal for this assessment. All phrases and ideas are my very own.
What Is It?
The CeQur Simplicity is a skinny, plastic, single-use system that attaches on to your pores and skin with an adhesive. Just like an insulin pump, it delivers insulin underneath the pores and skin via a cannula, or tiny tube. After three days, you toss it in the trash and apply a brand new patch.
You load the patch up with insulin earlier than attaching it to your physique. It’s accredited to be used with Humalog and Novolog U-100 insulins — fast-acting insulin for meals (and blood sugar corrections). This insulin patch doesn’t ship insulin constantly and can’t be used for basal insulin necessities.
Image courtesy CeQur
This patch has no digital parts in any respect. It doesn’t have a battery, and it doesn’t sync up with a smartphone or receiver. It has just one operate. By clicking two plastic tabs concurrently, it delivers precisely two items of insulin. You can click on it a number of occasions in a row to ship 4, six, or eight items of insulin, and so forth. (The tabs are on reverse sides of the patch, making it extremely unlikely that they get pressed by chance.)
You put on the CeQur patch in your stomach or stomach. It’s gentle and simple to put on, water resistant, and low profile. It is extraordinarily straightforward to make use of discreetly — you may click on the two tabs via a shirt or different clothes, permitting you to bolus at a restaurant or assembly with out anybody noticing the slightest factor.
Insertion
Getting the patch absolutely loaded and onto your physique does take quite a lot of steps:
- Fill the particular syringe with 100 to 200 items of your fast-acting insulin.
- Inject that insulin to the patch’s reservoir.
- Prime the patch to take away air bubbles and get insulin loaded into the tubing.
- Load the patch right into a particular laborious plastic inserter and snap it into place.
- Expose the needle and adhesive.
- Complete the insertion.
- Carefully take away (and eliminate) the needle.
The needle, to inform the fact, appeared menacingly lengthy as soon as it was uncovered. But I discovered the utility fully painless, even much less painful than inserting a CGM. I didn’t even really feel a pinch.
But all these steps do imply that insertion has a studying curve and may’t be achieved on the run. You can see the way it works in this YouTube video.
(I admire, by the means, that the CeQur system reuses the inserter, which reduces plastic waste.)
Who Is It For?
Anyone that makes use of a number of every day mealtime injections to handle their kind 1 or kind 2 diabetes might profit from the CeQur.
But you’ll get the most worth out of this system should you:
- Currently use MDI
- Use a vial and syringe, not insulin pens
- Use 25-plus items of fast-acting insulin per day
- Are content material along with your basal insulin injections
- Wish you can ship your mealtime insulin in a quicker, simpler, and extra discreet method
The CeQur patch may additionally be an enchancment for these with “needlephobia,” dramatically decreasing the variety of occasions that you must stick your self with an uncovered needle.
The system is certainly not for everybody. Anyone that already makes use of an insulin pump has no want for it. If you employ insulin pens, versus syringes and vials, the system most likely received’t give you the results you want both. And should you use fewer than 25 items of fast-acting insulin per day, it may not make sense for you.
My Take
Once I had the CeQur patch on my physique, it labored precisely because it was imagined to.
I actually appreciated eradicating the annoyance of utilizing my syringe and vial each time I ate. I was capable of bolus two items effortlessly, at any time when I wished, with out reaching for my diabetes provides and even lifting up my shirt. I can’t let you know what number of occasions I’ve lazily determined to not eat an apple simply because I didn’t need to hassle measuring and injecting my insulin (and have as an alternative opted for low-carb-but-high-calorie cheese, nuts, or darkish chocolate).
I additionally beloved the way it diminished the variety of diabetes provides I wanted to hold round exterior of the home.
CeQur claims that its system leads on to enhancements in A1C and time in vary. It didn’t assist my management, however I suppose it might be an actual benefit for sufferers who recurrently enable the problem of injection to forestall them from correctly bolusing (and prebolusing) for meals. Once the patch is in your physique, delivering a bolus is extremely straightforward.
The fact is that I wouldn’t put on these patches throughout my regular on a regular basis life. I have the good luck to be pretty insulin delicate, and I eat fairly low carb on prime of that. I typically dose for one, three, or 5 items at a time, so the count-by-twos dosing reduces my flexibility. More importantly, I nearly by no means use sufficient speedy insulin to empty a 100-unit reservoir each three days. I would find yourself throwing various insulin in the trash — waste I may by no means dwell with, even when I may afford it.
But there are occasions when I know I’ll want extra insulin and admire the enhanced discretion. On trip, for instance, I eat extra carbs than standard, and I eat out for a lot of meals. And I’m much less more likely to have tried-and-true carb counts and insulin doses to lean on. It’s an ideal time to make use of the CeQur. I would love to simply click on my patch throughout meals, fairly than repeatedly brandishing my syringe at a restaurant.
You can arrange a trial of the CeQur Simplicity insulin patch by first scheduling a telehealth appointment. If you’re concerned with getting began for actual, discuss to your physician: The CeQur patch requires a prescription to make use of. The producer reviews that its system is roofed by many insurance coverage carriers.
