• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Airshots With Insulin....why?

Lynz84

Well-Known Member
Messages
344
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi guys

A couple of you have posted about doing airshots before you inject? Why do you do this? In 5 years I have never done this.....am I doing something wrong? Im on novorapid and toujeo.

Thanks

Lynz
 
I was told to do it to make sure the insulin is coming though the needle ok, and to get rid of any air bubbles.
 
It clears the air in the needle, any crud (to be honest as they are sterile there is bound to be none, but if you reuse needles it will help) and ensures there is no blockage ensuring you get the right dose of insulin.

By blockage it could be both something in the needle or a manufacturing defect stopping the insulin going through. Basically dial two units and press. If you see a constant stream from the needle you are good to go.

In the note of air, I am pretty sure its not great to inject air into you.

Edit: see BD's pdf

https://www.bd.com/resource.aspx?IDX=10256
 
Lynz84 said:
Hi guys

A couple of you have posted about doing airshots before you inject? Why do you do this? In 5 years I have never done this.....am I doing something wrong? Im on novorapid and toujeo.

Thanks

Lynz
Click to expand...

It's to make sure insulin is ready at the tip of the needle and that there's no air in there @Lynz84 It ensures all's working properly and that you get the dose of insulin you think you're getting

Dial up two units and press the pen button/end. You should see a spurt of insulin. If none comes out, or only a tiny drop, then repeat. You can then do your injection in confidence.
 
Not sure what equipment you use. But if you were to dial up just 1 or 2 units on a flex pen, you can depress the plunger even when the needle is blocked. So you would think you had injected when in fact you hadn't. I've had this once since I started injecting.

Also, if there is air in the front of the needle, you are not injecting the full dose, you might be half a unit or so under which makes a difference to some people.
 
Or you could do what I did the other day, Airshot 6 units injected 2, it was only the press of 2 units that made me realise what I had done. I blame the meds
 
It can also be referred to as Priming the Needle, thought everyone was taught this from the onset.
 
Hey All. Thanks for this! After 5 years this is the first im hearing of it, though at diagnosis I was only in overnight and completely shattered so could have missed this bit of info. Thank you all x
 
When I start off a new flex pen I always needed to dial up 5 units as airshot before anything comes out. Then 1-2 units before every injection just to check there is something going out, no dud needle. I used to keep my used needles in an altoids tin while on the move, so just did air shot into the peel off needle wrapper bit in the tin.
 
I always do a 2 unit airshot to prime the pen as this gets rid of bubbles and makes sure insulin is flowing correctly. My DNS showed this when I started insulin and all package inserts always state you need to prime the injection.
 
Last edited:
Airshots are certainly required whenever you start a new pen/cartridge to ensure the needle is primed. Typically before a bolus I will do multiple air shots of 0.5units just until I see that little bubble of insulin from the needle, the same with my lantus (when i was on MDI) I would do 0.5-1u at a time just to make sure its not plugged or damaged - to much insulin need not be wasted on airshots - its a precious resource lol
 
In the instructions for my Echo pen, it says to do an air shot of 2 units, which I do every time I use it, it's better to be safe than sorry.
 
I always do an air shot. When nothing comes out I'll take a look at the needle and the usual cause is that the needle has bent when screwing it on the pen so it's not actually sticking through the rubber
 
I never bothered with air shots until one day I somehow bent the needle connecting to the pen when screwing it on. Injection seemed normal but 1 hour later I was high as a kite and realized what had happened. Not sure where the insulin went.

I do an airshot everytime now when I inject for both basal and bolus.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…