I just got 180 pen needles delivered with my medications and they are a much different size…much longer than I’m used to! They 29 gauge and 12.7 mm instead of the 8mm 31 gauge I’m used to. There is a little insert that says the “short pen needle” (the 8mm) is for “most people” and the 12.7 mm is for “people with diminished manual dexterity or those who inject 30 units or more of insulin at one time” neither of which is me. I don’t want to go through the hassle of exchanging them if not necessary. What are they like to use? If they are much longer, do I have to push them all the way in? Will they leak if I don’t?
When I started out on MDI the syringes had needles of 26-28 gauge sizes and quite long. And I’m quite fat-free and used to worry about hitting muscle when I injected. That never happened. Later, when the 31 gauge short needles came out, I loved used those versus the earlier syringes. While traveling, I ran out of the 31 gauge needle syringes and luckily found some unused older 28 gauge needle syringes in my travel pack. There was absolutely no problem using them again except for the initial fear upon seeing just how huge these needles looked compared to the 31 gauge needles.
My point is that you should just close your eyes and use these needles as you used your 31 gauge needles. You will not even notice any difference.
I’d get them exchanged. The pharmacy I use ALWAYS does this to me even when my Rx is very clearly written for the MINI BD pen needles. I even had my doctor write “PURPLE BOX” really big on my last RX and they gave me the blue ones, which I think are the 8mm ones. I had them fix it.
Thanks, guys. Unfortunately I do mail away prescriptions which are much cheaper for me, but makes it harder to exchange. I’m going to e-mail my doctor and ask him to fax them and see if they will just send me the smaller ones.