Last bit of insulin in bottle?

[steveinblackpool]

Hi All

I was just wondering do people use all the insulin in the bottle or do they discard it and start a new bottle.

For example if you usually take 20 units of insulin and there is only 10 in the bottle do you inject twice (10x2).

Also do people really change their needles each time they inject or like me when they change the bottle (I got told off at the hospital as they were wondering why i havent ordered needles for over a year)

 

[robphpps]

i tend to discard it if there isnt enough and start on new one. ...... oh dear. no wonder you got told off for not changing your needles each time you inject, you can get some nasty infections using the same needle over and over again.i am guessing though that no one told you any different. you were lucky that the needle didnt break off whilst you were injecting.the needles are made for single use, they are not strong enough for mulitple use.. hope this helps

 

[copepod]

Do you mean a cartridge (usually 3ml) that fits in a pen or a bottle / vial (usually 20ml).

Actually, needles can be reused - when pen devices and disposable 1ml syringes were introduced in 1980s, people who injected insulin had to buy their own oen needles and syringes. Naturally, they reused these items - many remembered the days of glass syringes and filing blunt needles back to sharpness.

As long as you are sensible about when to change needles, you will probably never get an infection. At home in the UK, I only change pen needles about once a month (I have 1 long acting and 2 long acting pens in use at all times), but when I'm sitting in a tent or car or bothy for up to 3 days and nights constantly staffing a check point on an adventure race or mountain marathon in UK or Poland or Portugal (or anywhere esle in the future), I change needles a bit more often.

Just this week, I was discussing NHS resources with my GP - we were trying to work out a strategy to get my surgery for a damaged knee brought forward - and he endorsed my strategy of conserving NHS resources by reusing needles and lancets. He certainly didn't tell me off, as he realised I was behaving rationally and carefully.

 

[Hobs]

I'm T2 and inject Victoza once daily. I always have approx 1/2 a daily dose left in every other pen, but rather than throw it away I always use as part of the next day's dose. I soon discovered that it takes exactly 20 clicks of the dosage knob to give myself a full dose so it is easy to know exactly how much is left. . . so if I have say 7 clicks left, then I will use that + 13 clicks from the new pen. It does mean stabbing myself twice to get the last part dose that day, but at £39.24 per pen, I feel obligated to get every last drop out of each pen.. :thumbup:

 

[steveinblackpool]

Many thanks for ur replys

We seem to have both ends of the discussion which is good

Ive been T1 diabetic for 37 years and remember the glass syringes where u had to soak them in meths overnight and a metal attachment for the needle.
But went on to plastic syringes for many years which said single use which i used many times also.
Been on the "Pens" for about 10 years which are brilliant and so easy to use; but I dont change the needle as I too find it a waste. It goes the same with the lancet which ive also used the same one for a couple of years also.

The doc started a discussion about when I inject/prick finger about cleaning the area with a sterile swab too because ive never ordered any too? I told him the last time I used that practice was 30 years ago with cotton wool/sterilising solution . He did have a smile on his face because I did tell him that I have a bath "every" night.

Probably not the way to do things so im not condoning my way of doing things but changing needles/lancet each time might be seemed a bit excessive. Over the years probably saved the NHS a fortune anyway ;-)
Any way I inject my dose of insulin and if the pen doesnt go down to 0 will look at the number and change the bottle and inject the rest of the dose.
Thanks

 

[copepod]

To take the slogan from another source - "every little helps" - not just saving the NHS's money, but also saving environmental resources.

And when backpacking, carrying up to 10 days food, fuel, camping kit etc, I don't want any non essential items. So, I always get the last possible drop of insulin out of each cartridge.

 

[noblehead]

Steve,

If there isn't enough insulin left in the pen to inject the full dose then I just change the cartridge rather than inject twice. I use to leave the needle on and change when blunt (awful habit) but now change the needle after every use.

Nigel

 

[steveinblackpool]

Im a tight [ word removed ] lol and will inject twice... dont like waste

 

[jopar]

The risk factor of getting any infection let a nasty one from reusing needles and/or lancets is actually very low indeed.. I use a pump now so can only use an infusion set once but it does stay for 3 days at a time.. Before that I would change my needle either on a cartridge change or if I had to, normal cause of a 'Had to' change was because the needle had gone through the cover when I put it back on?

Before I had an insulin pen I used my disposable needles until the blunted never got a site infection and I've always reused my lancets generally change when I remember to change the lancet, in over 20 years not on infection,

My husband the same been diabetic 34 years, so used glass syringes and they were actually soaked in surgical spirit not Meth's (meth's isn't medical grade and wasn't used as a steriliser) the like me onto disposable syringes and now the insulin been, all same practice of reusing and never had a site infection in all that time..

The swabbing of injection site practice was stopped many years ago when it was realised that it increased the risk of infection and not lowered it.. When you inject any bacteria that might be pushed through the skin is bacteria that lives on your body and is harmless to the individual. But when you swabbed with the area what was happening the alcohol dries and hardens the skin out which produced fine cracks, lesions which would allow any bacteria that the individual came into contact with to enter the body.. Just ensuring that the site was clean with normal washing practices is more effective than sterilising the area!

As to disregarding insulin from the end of the cartridge, I used to practice and my husband still practices it depends on how many units is left, if it's only a couple of units then it gets dumped more then it's a case of double injection,,

 

[AMBrennan]

bacteria that lives on your body and is harmless

swabbed with the area what was happening the alcohol dries and hardens the skin out which produced fine cracks, lesions which would allow any bacteria that the individual came into contact with to enter the body

Either the bacteria, including ones you get from the environment, on your skin are harmless or they're not - you can't have it both ways. Any bacteria able to enter the body through cracks can also enter the body when you pierce the skin with a needle.

 

[jopar]

I'm shaking my head here..

The difference being the puncture left by a needle almost seals as soon as the needle's removed.. a lesion in the skin is a lot bigger and with body movement with split open which a puncture doesn't do.. So the lesion takes longer to heal which increases the risk of a contaminate getting in.

I've actually not seen anybody mention a site infection caused by injecting, plenty of problems when somebody allergic to either the insulin or one of the lubricants used in the manufacture of the needle itself..

But that probably because diabetics aren't like drug users who inject, they share with family and friends, and will use a blunt needle come what may :shock: And yes the risk of infection for a illegal drug user is a lot higher than the diabetic.. Purely based on how they use it, what they do with the drug being injected before hand, and their personal hygiene are more likely to introduce an unfriendly bacteria into their bodies.

Don't forget we use a insulin which is not only manufactured in a sterile environment, but is also suspended in a sterile fluid in a sterile container heroine is not!