Reusing insulin pen needles.....on holiday, four days to go and one needle left...

[Molly56]

I know it is probably not advisable but is it ok to reuse insulin pen needles.....with four days to go of our holiday he has just discovered that he only has one insulin pen needle left....somehow he must have miscalculated when packing..
....is it ok to try and extract old needles from sharps container and reuse....am guessing they will not be as sterile as new unused needles but what other option does he have...
...have suggested he saves the one remaining sterile needle for plane journey home.....

 

[Celeriac]

I think you should make husband go to a hospital clinic or doctor etc to get more. Totally his fault that he miscalculated and he's got you worrying about his feet when you should be on holiday TOO.

Reusing needles doesn't sound too hygienic to me.

 

[phoenix]

Some people reuse them but not necessarily a good idea .
Infection apart, they are very fine and so can get damaged easily.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/insulin/reusing-insulin-pen-needles.html
You don't always need a prescription for needles, why not try at the local pharmacy?

 

[Lozj82]

Going to dr or hospital would be the best option obviously, however if for some reason or other this cant (or wont) be done. My opinion (and its only my opinion) that the best bet would be not to extract any other needles and depending how long the one he has been using has currently been, make it last as long as possible (i know i have made needles last longer than 4 days before in my bad days where i couldnt be bothered) and then change to the one remaining one if it gets to bad with the current one

Hope this helps and like i say its just my opinion

 

[bigjohn9916]

If you can get one out of the sharps box? its unlikely they will work as they will be bunged up with dried insulin,

 

[tim2000s]

Many of us reused needles many time when we had to pay for them. I've used them for a week. They will start to be less comfortable, but it's not really an issue. Having said that, as @Celeriac says, make him sort out his own mistake.

 

[Robbity]

Molly, What does HE think he should do about it?
I agree with @tim2000s - he's old enough to sort out his own problems, so stop mollycoddling him. It's sometimes necessary to be cruel to be kind.

Robbity

 

[petdell]

Have often used needles for a few days with no problem. If you don't fancy that you could buy a pack of plastic from a chemist and draw up from the cartridge.

 

[petdell]

Plastipak insulin needles

 

[hels]

I'd make sure he has some spares as it doesn't take much to bend one by mistake or it to block making it unusable. A couple months ago I went away for a long weekend and on the way realised I only had 4 needles. I worked out that I probably could manage to reuse them if necessary (knowing I had 4) - I didn't know if prescription was required. I went into boots and bought a new box, no prescription required - was about £11 for a box of the ones that screw onto Novorapid/Levemir pens.

 

[Molly56]

Managed to extract five needles from sharps box with aid of tweezers to cover until we get home....bit of a tricky task but no joy at local pharmacy or local clinic earlier.......potential to get in main city Espargos (approx 10 miles away) or from hospital (also in main city) but doesn't seem worth it for three days left of holiday.....travel rep did suggest sterilising in boiling water but not sure that is strictly necessary ....have saved sealed needle for use on flight home...
.....more concerned about state of potentially infected toe than fact he has run out of needles........

 

[AndBreathe]

Managed to extract five needles from sharps box with aid of tweezers to cover until we get home....bit of a tricky task but no joy at local pharmacy or local clinic earlier.......potential to get in main city Espargos (approx 10 miles away) or from hospital (also in main city) but doesn't seem worth it for three days left of holiday.....travel rep did suggest sterilising in boiling water but not sure that is strictly necessary ....have saved sealed needle for use on flight home...
.....more concerned about state of potentially infected toe than fact he has run out of needles........

Whilst I wouldn't really want to suggest how to manage one needle over several days, I just wanted to throw in one question:

What is so important about the flight home that makes it need the last, sterile needle?

At least on the flight home, you are home-bound, to a fresh supple of needles? If he were to miss an insulin dose, on the plane, it seems unlikely he would come to any catastrophic harm. On that basis, I am assuming he has more needles at home he can go to immediately?

As I say, from a cross infection perspective re-use of needles isn't ideal (but you know this), so any approach is sub-optimal and carries some degree of risk.