Can pen needles be recapped?
My pen is in a case I carry. So I inject,then place the larger plastic cover over the needle unscrew it and put it in my case. Less danger of a needle stick this way. Discard when I get home. Has worked fine for years with no problem. I always discard at home. Nancy
I have bad habits. so don’t necessarily do what I do (did) 
. I put the small cap back on and leave the needle on the pen (then cap the whole thing. When discarding a needle, yes, I also put the bigger cap back on and pop it in my bag to discard later - no problem.
1 Like
[quote=“Cocheze, post:1, topic:49988, full:true”]
I’m still a pump user, but might do pens when it warms up. Just a quick question: Can a diabetic recap a pen needle they just used, and the just stick it back in their diabetes bag? YES
I was just wondering the best way to discard in public a freshly used pen needle. There is no best way, it is not okay to do at all. Thanks.
[/quote]If I happen to be away from home and have a sharp I put it in a safe place till I get home. When I travel I put my used sharps in a strip cannister that says SHARPS in red. Please take them home and discard them properly, Cocheze. Here is some info regarding any kind of sharps:
Importance of Safe Sharps Disposal
Used needles and other sharps are dangerous to people and pets if not disposed of safely because they can injure people and spread infections that cause serious health conditions. The most common infections are:
•Hepatitis B (HBV),
•Hepatitis C (HCV), and
•Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
Safe sharps disposal is important whether you are at home, at work, at school, traveling, or in other public places such as hotels, parks, and restaurants.
Never place loose needles and other sharps (those that are not placed in a sharps disposal container) in the household or public trash cans or recycling bins, and never flush them down the toilet. This puts trash and sewage workers, janitors, housekeepers, household members, and children at risk of being harmed.
Pet owners who use needles to give medicine to their pets should follow the same sharps disposal guidelines used for humans.
1 Like
Just curious… Why are we convinced that our sharps are so dangerous because of the microscopic traces of blood on them but so absolutely convinced that it’s completely sanitary and safe and appropriate for us to prick our fingers in public places and get microscopic traces of blood on many things we come into contact with and other people do too?
That’s partly a rhetorical question, but it does make one think…
[quote=“Sam19, post:6, topic:49988, full:true”]
Just curious… Why are we convinced that our sharps are so dangerous because of the microscopic traces of blood on them but so absolutely convinced that it’s completely sanitary and safe and appropriate for us to prick our fingers in public places and get microscopic traces of blood on many things we come into contact with and other people do too?
[/quote]It’s not just the blood it’s that the “sharp” can cause harm. The lancet of a finger prick can kill a tiny chickadee if it were to find it and swallow it 
I wish people did think about stuff more!
Nobody seems to be terribly concerned about the sharp pokiness of them before they’re used… And I’m not familiar if anyone ensures they properly dispose of sewing needles…
A microscopic speck of blood on a surface isn’t going to get driven under the skin (and therefore bypass the immune system) the same as a microscopic speck of blood on a needle.
Even if our needles are not dangerous, some worker who gets poked by one isn’t going to know that, and it’s going to cause all sorts of stress and agnuish that I personally don’t want to be responsible for even if there were no health consequences.
Thas, I have grown to love your habits, good or bad. lol.
Jen You are ABSOLUTELY WRONG about a speck of blood on a needle…if someone gets poked accidently by a used sharp and there is blood, no matter how microscopic, on that sharp, it most CERTAINLY can get into the blood stream and if it is contaminated with say HEP C, or HIV, then the person who got poked is at risk of developing those diseases…As a medical professional of over 30 years it is required in my state that I take an Infection Control course every 3 years in order for me to keep my license and that is the FIRST thing they teach is about Sharps and the possibility of getting a poke and what could happen as a result…I am not arguing with you I am just educating is all…
1 Like
I agree completely, @weaver3. My post was supposed to be a rhetorical argument in response to @Sam19’s post above (i.e., why do people use sharps containers even if they don’t have a disease like HIV).
2 Likes
And maybe some of you have not or do not live in cities where simple little insulin syringes that have not been disposed of properly end up in dumpsters, trash cans, and right on the streets and those used sharps pose great dangers. If the container were designed to protect from “infection” alone it would be called an “infection” container. The “sharp” container protects us from both. Please just use them - they might even be free from your own waste disposal system in your own zip code!
1 Like
My rhetoric was not to imply that we shouldn’t dispose of sharps properly, but to imply that maybe we should pay more consideration to getting traces of blood on all sorts of other things throughout our society too, but apparently we feel we are immune to any responsibility for that at all, as long as we throw our needles in a proper receptacle…
[quote=“Sam19, post:14, topic:49988, full:true”]
My rhetoric was not to imply that we shouldn’t dispose of sharps properly, but to imply that maybe we should pay more consideration to getting traces of blood on all sorts of other things throughout our society too, but apparently we feel we are immune to any responsibility for that at all, as long as we throw our needles in a proper receptacle…
[/quote]The OP (which is gone now) said “I was just wondering the best way to discard in public a freshly used pen needle.” The answer is NOT to dispose of a pen needle in public at all. Take it home and dispose of it proper!
Blood, spit, mucous, scabs, eyelashes, even hair getting in the trash are huge EWWWWs but what do you suggest we do about all that?
1 Like
Sorry for changing the question. I was simply trying to ask if it’s recommended to put the caps back on the needle and if that is possible anyway. I was watching a tutorial on the Novolog pen website and it said to not recap due to possibility of needle sticks. But I wouldn’t want to put a exposed needle back in my diabetes bag.
I’m legally blind and put the pen caps back on (the small and the large one, though not sure why I put the small one back on) by touch. I don’t think I’ve stuck myself with the needle (besides, it’s my own needle…I definitely wouldn’t do this with a needle that someone else had used!).
I poked myself with a needle replacing the small cap once – somehow, it hurt a lot more than pen needles have EVER hurt when I used them for injections… Figures, eh?
1 Like
The tips of your fingers have exponentially more nerve endings than your stomach thighs, butt cheeks, etc… If you’re familiar with “homunculus man” it’s a tool they use in education to graphically demonstrate the amount of nerve connections in different parts of the bodies as depicted by their size in the humonkulus man… Pretty interesting actually… There are a lot of different graphical depictions, the concept is based in science… Here’s one example: http://dc-injuryclinic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/HomunculusMan.jpg
Here’s another 
Ps I’m sure I spelled it wrong.
1 Like
Oh, I’m sure @Sam19 that that’s all true! Course the accidental stick hurt more than anything my lancing device has managed to do, too (and that does “attack” fingers! 
).
In any event, as I tend to learn my lessons (albeit, sometimes the wrong lesson!), I’ve been careful enough since that it hasn’t happened again… (though, it also hasn’t stopped me from replacing the caps, heh.)
here in spain, when i was diagnosed i asked for a sharps container. you dont need one, they said. just throw them in the bin. so thats what i have to do. if im out, i recap my pen so i can throw them away at home.