Know when your pen runs out: tracking doses left

Few things in a GLP-1 week are as stressful as realizing, on dose day, that the pen in the fridge is the last one and the pharmacy can't fill your prescription until next week. Supply can be unpredictable, refills take time, and prescriptions sometimes need a check-in with your prescriber first.

The good news is that your supply is easy to predict if you count it. This guide shows how to know how many doses you have left, the day your current supply ends, and when to ask for more.

Count doses, not days

Pens and packs come in different shapes. Some pens hold a set number of doses; some are single-use; tablets come in packs and bottles. Your pharmacist and the leaflet that comes with your medicine will tell you how many doses yours holds. Once you know, counting is simple: start with that number, and take one away each time you log a dose.

This is counting, not measuring. A tracker should never try to work out what's left from units or volumes; that's a job for the leaflet and your pharmacist. Counting logged doses is reliable precisely because it's so simple.

Find the day your supply ends

Once you know how many doses you have, including any unopened pens or packs, the date your supply ends follows from your schedule. On a weekly dose, four doses left means your last dose is three weeks after the next one. On a daily tablet, it's a count of days.

That one date answers the important question: when do I need the next prescription in hand?

Ask for a refill in good time

Work backwards from the day your supply ends and leave room for the slow parts:

• Your prescriber may need to review you, renew the prescription or approve a change.
• Your pharmacy may need to order stock, especially for a particular dose.
• Insurance or payment sometimes adds a wait.
• Delivery, if your medicine is posted to you.

Many people aim to ask a week or two ahead. Your pharmacist can tell you what's realistic where you are. A reminder set for that date takes the remembering off your mind.

Count the doses you have, and the day you'll need more becomes a date on a calendar.

Storage matters too

Supply isn't only about how many doses you have; it's also about keeping them usable. Your medicine's label and leaflet set out how to store it: whether to keep it in the fridge, how long it can be kept out of the fridge, and when to throw a pen away. Read that section once, and again if you're traveling with your medicine. If a pen has been stored outside its label's conditions, ask your pharmacist before using it.

Keep it in your log

Supply is easiest to track when it's part of the same record as your doses. Each time you log a dose from a pen, the count goes down by one. When you start a new pen or pack, note it, and note any you were given as spare. Your injection log and your supply become one record, and both are ready for your next appointment.

How Hushweek does it

Hushweek counts the doses left in each pen or pack from your log, dose by dose, and shows the day each one runs out, for free. Each one's own page also shows its days in use and out of the fridge beside the label's storage limits, where the label sets them, and that's free too. With Pro, it adds up everything you have, spares included, into how long your supply lasts and the day you'll need the next one, and a refill reminder can tell you three days, a week or two weeks before: "Your supply runs out before your dose on…", without naming your medicine. It never converts between units or estimates what's left from a volume; it counts the doses you log.

Questions people ask