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Diabetic pen and HIV?

M

mac78

Active Member
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38
1st of all i really want to say sorry for this thread, it does seem that i suffer from health anxiety and worry alot about Diabetes / HIV

I am very concerned atm as i have been using my mums test pen over the last week to see if my levels are ok (which they are) Was very happy with that and that was the end.

Then i found out that my sister has used the same pen about a year ago and i freaked out as i thought it was just my mum that has used it. My sister isnt the safest person and i am sooo worried i have caught something from this pen

So do these pens cound as "Sharing a needle"?
 
Surely the same lance would not be in the pen from a year ago!!It would be a bit blunt by now.HIV is contracted fluid to fluid and actually dies off quite quickly in air so I think the chances are very slim.Does your sister even have HIV?
 
Hi Sue

She has never been tested, my mum says that she doesnt think the needle has been changed.
Surely it must have gone blunt by now
 
Im not actually diabetic, just used it a few times this week to check my sugar levels.
Its only my mum that uses it
 
I wouldn't worry too much - the chances of getting HIV like this are very small (unless you know that your sister is infected - even then it is only really dangerous if you use it within a very few hours of the infected person).

However, that said, there is no point in taking unnecessary risks - even if they are small. There is no danger in sharing the pen part of a finger pricking device (i.e. the outer part with the trigger and spring). However, you should never share the lancet (the piece of plastic that clips inside and contains the pin) - that could potentially transmit HIV (or any other number of things). These lancets come in large boxes and are really cheap (they work out a few pennies each). They should be changed regularly, because finger-pricking with a blunt lancet is quite painful (some people change them after each use, but most keep them for a week or so). However, for the sake of safety, they should be changed before a different person uses it. Share the pen, but don't share the lancet.
 
Thank u for the reply

If it is the same needle then my sister used it about a year ago. I used it this week and my mother uses it daily.
 
As others have said, the lancet should be changed after every use, for comfort's sake, if nothing else. Every use dulls the lancet, and the sharper the lancet the easier it goes in, and therefore the more comfortable it is.

HIV? Forget it (in this instance) HIV only survives outside the human body (or laboratory conditions) for a few hours at the absolute most. Yes, there are other blood borne diseases that could be caught from a lancet in this situation, except you'd be catching them from your mother, not your sister, because nothing hangs around on a lancet for a year.

Since it's only your mum that uses the pen normally, I'd guess that she's the one with diabetes, in which case it's a reasonable worry for you that you might eventually develop diabetes: note that I said develop, not "catch". Children of people with diabetes have a higher chance of developing it themselves.

As for your fears about HIV, I suggest you contact the Terrence Higgins Trust on 0845 1221 200. I used to work with one of the Trust's sister organisations and,believe me, we got to the point nearly twenty years when there wasn't a variation on a question we hadn't heard! They'll talk you through your fears calmly and logically and hopefully stop you worrying...

Steve
 
Go back and re-read my reply to your PM. Sorry, but I will not help feed your health anxiety.
 
i have read on alot of sites that i can catch ALOT from sharing a lancet, and my doctor is fully booked so i cant go for checks
 
Simple then, if your that worried about it make an appointment to see your Doc then aleast he can put your mind at rest, BUT get your own testing kit........and stop worring about it :wink:
 
mac78 said:
also that it may have made my blood sugar results inncorrect as it belongs to a diabetic person
Click to expand...

Let's apply some logic here,mac! If your BS results were wrong because you used a lance belonging to a diabetic person then your readings would have been higher than in the 4's which you said yours were!!So i think you can safely rule that one out.
 
I just got this message from a HIV moderator which has calmed my nerves a touch on the situation :

"the type of lancet used is not a hollow core needle...meaning blood cannot get trapped "inside" the needle. YES...once hiv is exposed to outside elements...it becomes inactive.

you are worrying needlessly.

no risk whatsoever...move on"
 
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