Did I take my insulin?
It is the age-old question. You are standing in the kitchen and you cannot remember whether you had your morning dose.
NeedleBay answers it for you: a used needle back in its bay means that injection is done, and a sealed needle means it is still to come.
NeedleBay is a small case with four bays, one for each pen needle.
It helps prevent missed doses and double doses, with no app and no batteries.
Why do I forget whether I have injected?
Because injecting becomes automatic, and automatic things do not leave a memory. In one survey of people who inject insulin, over 9 in 10 said they had a memory slip in the past month, from forgetting a dose to not being sure whether they had taken it.
The risk cuts both ways. Miss a dose and your sugar runs high. Take it twice and you risk a hypo, a low blood sugar. Either guess can harm you, so the answer is to stop guessing.
How does NeedleBay help me remember?
NeedleBay works like a pill organiser for insulin. Four bays, four injections. You look at the bay for the dose you are unsure about, and the needle tells you.
| Problem | How NeedleBay helps | What does it |
|---|---|---|
| The phone rings and the dose goes out of your head | After the interruption, one look shows whether the dose you were about to take is already done | The see-through lid shows each bay at any moment |
| Not sure whether you injected at all | Each used needle goes back in its bay, so the number of used needles is the number of doses taken today | Used needle goes back in its bay |
| When unsure, you guess, and either guess can harm | A sealed needle means the dose is still due. A used needle means it is done. Nothing left to guess | Clear lid shows new against used |
What if my memory is not what it was?
Then the same four bays do a bit more. The Alzheimer’s Society suggests compartment boxes for medicines, and NeedleBay is that idea for insulin, with one bay for each injection of the day.
Hypos and memory loss feed each other, and a double dose is one of the known triggers of a hypo. Each bay takes one needle, so each dose can only be done once.
If someone helps you, they can check the day’s doses at a glance, with nothing to read and nothing to write down. A visiting nurse can see whether you have already injected before giving insulin, which is where mistakes happen.
Does it fit my day?
The standard NeedleBay has four bays to fit a typical four-injection day on basal-bolus insulin, that is a long-acting dose plus one with each meal: breakfast, lunch, evening meal and bedtime.
Fewer injections a day? The same four bays last longer: two days for twice-daily, four days for once-daily.
How do I use it?
NeedleBay is a purely mechanical system. No batteries, nothing to charge, nothing to go wrong. It works with the pen needles you already get on prescription, including BD Micro‑Fine, NovoFine, mylife and GlucoRx.
See every step with photos and a short video on our How it works page.
Where can I get one?
