Please change insulin needles and lancing device needles EVERY single time.

hale710 said:

Doom and gloom to put on a new needle?!? I certainly don't suffer from that!!

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No I agree Hale. iHs will remember well when we were all encouraged to re-use needles when glass syringes were around, they did hurt like hell and it didn't get any easier as the needle became more blunt, I still think that if you do change the needle each time the insulin is delivered and absorbed better, might be wrong but I do believe I seen a difference when I started changing the needle after every use.

Could you please state WHY it is so important?
You've clearly stated your opinion but you haven't said why it's so necessary.

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Do you ignore all safety advice you don't understand?

Yes, it is theoretically possible that you (and your fellow forum dwellers) are smarter than all the scientists working in the field (for example, the NHS isn't known for paying for interventions unless they save them money or significantly improve outcomes) and you, Indiana, are the only person in the world to have see trough the pharma industry's scam to sell more lancets (which cost maybe a tenth of the glucose test strips so obviously they are making most of their money on lancets)... But I don't think the odds are in your favour.

AlexMBrennan said:

Do you ignore all safety advice you don't understand?

Yes, it is theoretically possible that you (and your fellow forum dwellers) are smarter than all the scientists working in the field (for example, the NHS isn't known for paying for interventions unless they save them money or significantly improve outcomes) and you, Indiana, are the only person in the world to have see trough the pharma industry's scam to sell more lancets (which cost maybe a tenth of the glucose test strips so obviously they are making most of their money on lancets)... But I don't think the odds are in your favour.

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There is no need to be so rude.

Indiana.


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There's nothing wrong with questioning things you don't understand. This doesn't mean "you ignore all safety advice". I would be more concerned with somebody who blindly accepted all NHS guidance without question. The NHS also advices eating normally, including carbs. Does this mean those that low carb are ignoring NHS safety advice ? It's good to have an opinion and to discuss things on an open forum but to mock others views is unnecessary and does not add anything to the thread. The NHS guide is to change needle and lancet every time.
As usual, each to their own


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When I was prescribed lancets I changed them daily, now I have to buy my own I've become an ouch man

Why is it such a problem if its own use?

Crikey, how often do you all change your toothbrushes? You stick them in your mouth with all sorts of germs and then leave them to airdry next to other toothbrushes in your family.... And then restick in your mouth....

I cant see a prob with reusing lancets or needles ... Done it over 25 years.. And have lost more teeth from gum infection than fingers....




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I wonder sometimes about newbies who post and run.

Re-using lancets here. Can't afford not to.

AlexMBrennan said:

Do you ignore all safety advice you don't understand?

Yes, it is theoretically possible that you (and your fellow forum dwellers) are smarter than all the scientists working in the field (for example, the NHS isn't known for paying for interventions unless they save them money or significantly improve outcomes) and you, Indiana, are the only person in the world to have see trough the pharma industry's scam to sell more lancets (which cost maybe a tenth of the glucose test strips so obviously they are making most of their money on lancets)... But I don't think the odds are in your favour.

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The young lady merely asked for the details of the evidence,.
To blindly do without asking , clearly marks you as a blind obeyer, not a reasoner!

Just thinking about changing mine - bit blunt now!

FergusCrawford said:

The young lady merely asked for the details of the evidence,.
To blindly do without asking , clearly marks you as a blind obeyer, not a reasoner!

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Thank you

Indiana x


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Hi Indiana, the reason for changing needles is that every time you reuse them there is a greater risk of infection as germs and bacteria can travel through the used needle in to the pen/cartridge there has been threads on this before and I believe a video or pictures showing the deterioration of a needle each and every time it is reused, as for lancets I change them occasionally


Type 2 diagnosed 24/01/2013.
Novomix 30, Victoza, metformin 2000mg sr (but not taking them as they play havoc with my insides,

Other reasons put forward for changing needles

- bluntness will cause lipotrophy
- dosing will become unpredictable
- insulin in the cartridge will "go off" faster
- micro blood vessel injuries will occur

Can anyone think of other reasons that are given?

I'm not aware if there is or isn't any evidence supporting these reasons. Often in public health there isn't evidence for or against as such. What you often have is a "protocol" that was designed without evidence but based on common sense or professional best judgement. All subsequent evidence (if any) then takes this protocol for granted. But no one ever tests what happens if you don't follow the protocol. So they can say "X million diabetics have followed this protocol for Y years, and there have been only very few (Z) infections etc". But they can't tell you how many infections or whatever would have occurred if the protocol wasn't followed.

For example, it's becoming increasingly difficult to estimate how many lives are saved by seat belts, because they have been mandatory for so long, there's no usable data on not wearing seat belts.

mo1905 said:

No comment

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Thanks guys very helpful

Indiana x


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In relation to re-use, I remember being told by a doctor at Whipps Cross Hospital that the skin has its own antiseptic properties.

That was thirty years ago, shortly after I was first diagnosed. Disposable syringes had only just been introduced for diabetics.

I still use disposable syringes for around a week before disposal.

I was also told to re use my disposable syringes when I was diagnosed 30 years ago. I have always reused up to my pump 4 years ago and I can honestly say that I have not got 1 lump or scar tissue anywhere. Luck perhaps, but also 90%+ has always been in my cheeks of my bum.


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Not changing the needle can make it more painful plus block insulin coming through the needle so you don't receive the correct dosage too.


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I was looking here to see if anyone had actually had a problem from re-using needles, and I don't see any report of this kind. All the discussion seems to be about terrible things that MIGHT happen. I admit I am a skeptic on these things, and it goes back to lancets. I read all the stuff about how you had to change the lancet every time. And then in "Type 2 Diabetes: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed," which has a lot of impressive praise, I read: "The instructions to your meter will tell you to use a fresh lancet every time you test, but many people use the same lancet for days, weeks, or even months without changing. It seems that people usually build up immunity to germs on their own skin, and infections from used lancets are rare." I took this to heart, and it worked for me. I bought a box of 100 lancets 12 years ago, and I bet over 90 are still in there. I used one lancet for two years with no problem. I finally changed it because I had some time on my hands one day, and nothing else to do. I suspected the same overstatement of the need to change needles would be true when I switched to insulin, and pressed my doctor hard on this issue. He finally said I could use a needle "until it hurts." (Apparently the silicon coating eventually wears off.) So I´ve been experimenting, using needles several times. So far so good. One always has to keep in mind the number one rule of the medical profession: CYA ("Cover Your Ass.") I was hoping for more empirical information and candor on this forum, and less simple passing on of the conventional wisdom. Anyone have any real information?.

These are images I've found really quickly on google image search. It's not so much that it might hurt more with a blunter needle, but that re-using could be doing unseen damage that could become progressively worse and cause more serious problems later on. And if you're basing your judgement on whether or not it hurts when you inject, well, quite often the places where it doesn't hurt so much are the points at which problems may occur because we tend to use them more often precisely because they hurt less.

I have a hard time understanding why people are so reluctant to change the needle every time.

I wonder what that "Needle used 6 times" was used for, exactly.

If it was used by a normal diabetic to self-inject, then I can't imagine what my currently-in-use needles would look like under a microscope. However, I know full well what they'd FFEL like.

So I'm not taken in by those pictures. I presume they come from a manufacturer.