Pen needle quality

[Westley]

For decades I was prescribed BD micro-fine ultra 4mm pen needles.
I do a lot of small correction doses, so typically inject at least 7 times a day.
Injections never really bothered me though and even when I use only 2 needles a day, it was only painful on the rare occasions it hit a particularly sensitive spot.

A few years back I moved to a new practise and they keep switching me to other needles like greenfine and insupen.
They feel more 'sticky' going in, and hurt almost every time.
Even using the same micro-fine needle for the fifth time feels better than using a fresh insupen one the first time.
I've raised it with the diabetes team when I see them at the hospital, and they put a note on my file to switch me back to micro-fine, which the GP does at first, but then switches me back to the bad ones again the next month.

I know it's a relatively small thing. The pain isn't agonising and it's only a few seconds, but it's just a drag to to have this extra point of (literal) friction a few times a day when I'd got quite comfortable with my diabetes management. It's also quite an intimate thing - there are some things I don't mind cutting costs on, but this literally goes inside me, and these lower quality needles feel icky. All for the sake of saving around £2 extra a month.

So my questions are -
-Have any of you been through this and managed to get them to consistently prescribe the good ones?
-If I can't persuade them for micro-fine, are there any of the 'preferred' cheap options that are better? I find Greenfine marginally better than Insupen, but both are far worse than micro-fine.
-If I'm unable to get them prescribed I might just order them myself - where's a good online source for these?

 

[ElenaP]

For decades I was prescribed BD micro-fine ultra 4mm pen needles..

So my questions are -
-Have any of you been through this and managed to get them to consistently prescribe the good ones?
-If I can't persuade them for micro-fine, are there any of the 'preferred' cheap options that are better? I find Greenfine marginally better than Insupen, but both are far worse than micro-fine.
-If I'm unable to get them prescribed I might just order them myself - where's a good online source for thes

I believe that I understand exactly about the pain with cheaper needles. I, also, prefer Micro-fine Ultra 4mm needles.

The GP surgery that I belong to, is in a village without a pharmacy, which means that the GP surgery dispenses medication. Because they to not have a Pharmacist, they send off for any but the basic painkillers and antibiotics. However, it means that the GP surgery gets the same fee per prescription that a Pharmacy would get. Therefore, it is in their interest to prescribe the cheapest medication available rather that the "proper" named medication. So it is with these BD needles, also. Twice now I have managed to get them changed back when I explained the pain factor to the Dispenser.
I do not use very many needles because I am on a pump, so my current box was prescribed in July. However, I can see that I may not be as fortunate another time. The GP surgery changes other medication also. Last year I managed to get one medication changed back to the original, when I explained the problem that I had with it. However, a week ago the same thing happened with the same medicine. This time the Dispenser said that she is not allowed to prescribe my preferred one but said that she could offer another one that was cheaper, but not quite as bad quality as the one that they had changed me to. So, that's what she did. Slightly better than the very cheapest.

Getting back to your current dilemma: I think it may be worth you trying to buy the needles yourself from pharmacies. That is what I did last month when I was in a different European country, and had ran out. I think it was something like £12 for the box.

 

[Scubastu]

Hi Westley,

Maybe use an online pharmacy to deliver your meds. My needles are specified on my repeat prescription and I use Pharmacy2u

 

[Westley]

Thanks, but the GP still has to approve it each time I request a repeat, even if it comes via a pharmacy, so they keep changing it back.
I'm resigned to sourcing them privately for now, so just trying to find the most economical way to do so.