help struggling with new pen

[jayne15]

we were really pleased that after 6 months of drawing up out of vials Meg has moved onto her novo pen. the DSN came to our house and showed us out to use this and practice on saline and pretend skin and all seemed to be going well. The DSN advocated the sharp safe needles as this was in line with the latest European directive and would be safer when Meg has to inject in school.

We have had nothing but problems since using this devise some of our own making but some I genuinly think is an issue with the devise heres the list

- difficult to get the right pressure with sharp safe needle causing pain and bleeding
-when we take the pen from her skin there is residual insulin leaving you think she hasnt got enough
- on one time I clicked to 3 and when I checked afterwards the devise said she only had 1 so had to inject again but then panicking that shed then had double-I mean could the pen be wrong? there was 2 of us checking the dose on that occassion.

anyway lots of stress over the last 3 days Meg who diddnt mind injections hates insulin time at the moment as is really upset and to add to it her BM's are all over the show compared to being perfect prior to using the pen.

anyone had similar experiences and have any pearls of wisdom, I am going to try a normal needle this morning but only have 6 of these- I don't really want to revert back to the previous system as this will send the wrong message to Meg.

thanks for any comments/advise
Jayne

 

[phoenix]

Hopefully there will be someone along using this type of needle, you are the first I have read of.
I certainly never had any similar problems dosing using pens and ordinary pen needles but of course it's different injecting yourself to injecting another person.

I looked and found a BD instruction video for their safe sharp pen. If it's the same one then it might be worth going through it to check that there isn't something you missed in the intial training. One thing it mentioned was that when you prime a drop falls back into the needle 'compartment' this may end up be deposited on the skin after the injection.
http://www.bdinteractivemedia.com/AutoS ... eload=true

 

[michaeldavid]

Hello Jayne,

I wonder if, like myself, your daughter likes simplicity and loathes unnecessary complexity.

I have used disposable syringes since they were first introduced (mercifully) shortly after I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, 30 years ago this month. And I have no intention of using the cumbersome, clunky, unnecessarily fiddly pens. (Hospitals use disposable syringes, and they will always be available.)

Moreover, I always re-use the disposable syringes several times over. (I'm always very careful when I replace the cap, of course.) And I have never had any kind of infection as a result of that re-use. (So don't worry that you only have 6 left at the moment.)

Furthermore, one can use disposable syringes even if the insulin only comes in the form of the cartridges intended for the injector pens. I have described how to do this in the 'Diabetes Soapbox - Have Your Say' section of this website: see under 'Blood Glucose Monitors' (it's right at the top of the list just now), posted by daisybell: the posting containing my description is dated May 17th (2.06pm).

Please note the control that I manage to achieve over my blood-sugar.

I believe you would not be sending the wrong message to your daughter - anything but.

 

[phoenix]

Michael, I don't think that this is about the risk of infections to the person with diabetes, it's about the risk of needle stick injury to someone else at school.
Recapping of any sort of needles is actually banned under the legislation and advice is to eliminate risk by using safer devises and by introducing the use of providing medical devices incorporating safety-engineered protection mechanisms. (hollow bore hypodermics are in fact considered one of the higher risks ) This won't affect you in the home , the legislation actually concerns hospitals and workers in a healthcare setting. By extension the nurse obviously considers it might have implications for anyone giving injections in a school setting.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/healthservices/ne ... ective.htm

 

[jayne15]

Thanks all, yes the DSN suggested starting with these retractable needles to save further change when Meg has to inject at school-this is indeed to protect herself and others from sharp injury. luckily we are not at this point yet but it will come over the next few months, I think the problem is with us and confidence of how hard to press ect.... you have to press very firmly to gain the right connection from the plastic to skin- but every time this as drew blood and left a mark in fairness meg says she cant actually feel the needle go in but any slight movement wrecks the seal and the whole process has to start again as once you have pressed down the plastic protector clicks back and sticks in that position- there is no way Meg at 7 will be able to do this on her own- she has been happily injecting herself with the needle and syringe but obviously too young at the moment to draw this up from a vial so the pen will be better in terms of her independence. the DSN has given us a bag of Novo fine needles which I have tried this morning on the pen which has worked a treat and I am confident that Meg got all her insulin so I think this may be the future as long as the team and school agrees :?

 

[michaeldavid]

Hello again, Phoenix,

If anyone comes close to me when I'm taking insulin, then I stop what I'm doing and I tell them to shove off.

Perhaps I may be a little more polite, but I hope you will take my point: I'm not so concerned about giving them a needle-stick injury, I'm far more concerned about being distracted from what I'm doing and making a mistake.

Jayne's concern was that she only has 6 syringes left. The point of my advice was that this is not a problem: the syringes can be re-used without any significant risk.

Of course, if one doesn't want to re-use a syringe or a lancet, then one doesn't have to. I re-use both, perhaps more than I should; but I have never, ever had a problem as a result of such re-use - neither a problem for myself, nor for anyone else.

And I might say that if I can tell that some-or-other legislation runs counter to good sense, then I ignore it. (Does ANYONE follow ANY legislation without thinking about it?)

Surely anyone with a bit of common sense would do the same.

I've seen Jayne's last posting, and it seems very clear that any unnecessary fiddliness or complexity tends to significantly increase the likelihood of making a mistake - especially for a child.

I wonder if a teacher at school could draw out the insulin into a syringe, and then hand it to Meg.

Or is that verboten?