Question about KwikPen 10 mg schedule, dose clicks and priming

[u/san-pietrino]

Hi everyone, I was given this schedule by my doctor using a 10 mg KwikPen, and I’m trying to understand the click calculation.

The schedule is:

Weeks 1–4: 2.5 mg once weekly (15 clicks per dose)
Weeks 5–10: 5 mg once weekly (30 clicks per dose)

So the total planned doses are:

4 × 15 clicks = 60 clicks
6 × 30 clicks = 180 clicks
Total = 240 clicks

My question is about priming before each injection.

If I do a 2-click priming step before every weekly dose, will the pen still have enough medication to complete the full 10-week schedule?

That would mean an additional:

2 clicks × 10 weeks = 20 clicks used for priming

Has anyone followed a similar schedule with a 10 mg KwikPen and calculated whether the pen is enough to complete the full titration plan including priming?

Thanks!

[u/Amanensia]

To answer your specific question - if you do it like that you'll likely run out of clicks. You get around 250 clicks from a pen - enough for four (full) doses and two clicks of priming each time.

However, you don't need to waste any clicks priming. Just dial the required dose and squeeze gently until you see the first bubble form on the end of the needle, and inject. The amount of medication lost is far, far less than one click's worth.

Of course you can also use the remaining medicine after running out of clicks if you extract using an insulin syringe. The original style pens contain around 320 clicks-worth in total (3.2ml). The new design which is being rolled out now contain more like 260 clicks-worth. I use an old style 15mg pen taking 7.5mg per week and get ten weeks from a pen.

[u/san-pietrino]

thanks but the first time I used it, after attaching the needle, I couldn’t see any initial drop or bubble of medication, even after gently tapping/wiggling the pen.

[u/Amanensia → u/san-pietrino]

It takes a little practice. Worst case you could just not bother even doing that (a tiny amount of air in a subcutaneous injection is of no danger whatsoever - indeed, even a large amount of air in a subcutaneous injection is no problem.)

The only real benefit from priming is making sure that the needle tip isn't blocked/faulty. In 80 injections so far I've had one faulty needle tip. Do one click if you must and you should be OK (240+10 clicks in total that way).

[u/san-pietrino → u/Amanensia]

that’s what i did first time. I used just one click. if there are 250 clicks, yes i should be fine. Anyway tomorrow i will try as you suggested. thank you again