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Omnican needles?

jharding

Well-Known Member
Messages
47
Location
Middlewich/Northwich, Cheshire
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
When I was diagnosed I had GlucoRX needles from the hospital and not only were they painful but they also left horrendous bruises all over my belly and thighs. When I got my next box of needles from the pharmacy they gave me Novofine which were a lot less painful - and now I hardly ever bruise. I have been asking for Novofine since.

I have received a letter from my doctors, with a thick booklet on how to inject myself (!), saying that I am being switched to Omnican needles. I've written back and asked to be kept on my original prescription as i find these needles to be less disagreeable with me.

But, does anyone have any experience with Omnican vs Novofine?
 
Hi @jharding . I was changed from novofine to omnican. Have to say that I've not had any problems, the only difference was the inner cap on novofine isn't there with omnican.
It's my belief that cost is the main factor for a lot of people being changed over the last year or so.
I use 31g/6mm and they do the job.
 
I used Omnican for a while. I didn't like not having the inner cap and I kept getting needle stick injuries putting the big outer cap on at a silly angle. I didn't like that I couldn't just put a needle on my pen before going out and that I had to fish about in my bag for the pen needle and go through the song and dance of attaching the needle when at the table in a restaurant etc.

I convinced my GP to switch me back to Novofine when I pointed out that I was producing three times as much clinical waste using the Omnicans because the outer cap takes up much more space in the sharps box and you can't re-use them (I tend to use mine twice, three times if I feel like living on the wild side!).

The extra cost of all those sharps boxes & disposal was way, way more than the cost saving of a box of Omicans vs Novofine.
 
CapnGrumpy said:
I've not used Omnican - always found BD Microfine to be nicest.

Have a read of INPUT's advice here: http://www.inputdiabetes.org.uk/pen-needles/


Edit: It's only a page, not a thick booklet ;-)
Click to expand...

Maybe thick booklet was a bit of an exaggeration; it's printed on very thick paper/thin card and is shiny and glossy. And contains useful information such as how to inject myself



I can't help feeling that my GP should not waste their money sending this stuff through the post to people; it's costly, unnecessary and is probably better targeted to those people who either ask for it, or have just (as in this week) been diagnosed!

I haven't had BD Microfine yet.
 
I saw that they didn't have the inner cap. I'm not sure that's a good idea to be honest.

Ahh well, I'll find out soon enough.

John
 
Newly diagnosed and I only have experience of Omnican needles. I don't like the absence of an inner cap either- keep pricking myself, plus I have noticed some bruising. I thought maybe I wasn't doing it right, I'm going to mention it to the nurse tomorrow.
 
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