Hi,
I never really did it. Until recently I saw this pretty big air bubble. I got nervous. So I read that we should prime it every time and in order to get a stream you have to waste at least 3 units. What a waste!! Is this necessary??
Well from what I read if you are using a 23’ tube you need to prive .3 units and if you are using a 40+ tube you need like .6-7
you do not need to prime the needle. Once the needle has been removed you prime the cannula that has been left behind. The air bubble is not going to kill you but may make you spike because of the gap in receiving insulin.
HI,
I use the levemir flexpen and the humnalog pen. I have no idea what a cannula is. Can you enlighten me please?
Amy:)
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
If I understand you, you’re not talking about pumping but rather multiple daily injections. I took injections for almost 53 years before I went on the pump in January. I was always warned that air won’t do anything for keeping your BGs in control. And,If you would happen to inject into an artery, it could be fatal.
I never streamed the prime because I was usually paying for my own insulin. However, I was careful to snip the bubles to the top while holding the needle up and watch for insulin to come without bubbles.
The bubbles freak my husband out…he always watches for them when he’s around while I’m taking a shot. Even though I’ve told him and told him that an little bitty bubble wont do anything to me. I asked the nurse while I was stuck in the hospital learning to give myself shots with an orange and she looked puzzled by the question and said as long as I don’t hit an artery bubbles don’t really make a difference.
It is a waste of insulin but is necessary if you are going to get the correct dosage. If the needle has a bit of air in the end of it and you dial a dose of 15 units, (assuming you are using a pen) How accurate is it if there is air in the needle? Not so accurate. When I was first starting out I figured my units per day (including the primed loss) and then multiplied it by 3 months.(I get my perscriptions in the mail every 3 mos.) So that the nurse would make sure to write the perscription out correctly!! I take a shot 4 times a day. I prime the needle 2 units. So thats 8 units wasted a day, Times 30 days =240 units… Multiplied by 3 Months = 720 units wasted every time I re order my perscription… A pen is 300 units, so thats 3 extra pens I need because of priming. The pens come in boxes of 5 and they dont break open the box… So I need an extra box of pens (and I get 2 extras) very time I re order my perscriptions.
As far as injecting air under the skin (subcutaneously) inadvertenly when injecting insulin wont hurt you.I would not suggest it, but it is not like injecting air directly into a vein that is carrying blood to or from your heart.(that could kill you if it is alot of air) But we are not coming close to injecting insulin into a vein so don’t freak out about air in your pen/syringe. Just waste the insulin to make sure you get the correct dosage (prime needle) and if it freaks you that you see the bubble tap the pen a few times lightly before you prime to dislodge any “stuck” air bubbles and then prime.
Dear Dave.
1/8 of an inch ID tubing 110 inches long gives me 1.35 cubic inches of air not 5. The cross section is pixDxD/4= 3.14 x 1/8 x 1/8 x 1/4 = 0.0122 square inches x 110 inches = 1.35 cubic inches.
Dear Dave.
The web site asks for the radius as an input which is 0.0625 when the diameter is 0.125. Don’t feel bad my son told me a funny story about his bosses all graduate engineers getting the area of a triangle wrong. Thats the bad side of computers nobody has a feel for the correct solution. the reason why I checked your numbers was that I used 0.125 inch tubing and was surprise at the volume.
Anyways this is interesting do you have to use 110 inches of 0.125 id tubing for the pump.
To me that seem an awful lot of insulin at 1.35 cubic inch sitting inside the tube or does that not matter. would 0.125 o.d. tubing be acceptable or would the finer tubing be susceptible to kinking or collapse by body weight? Do you loose any insulin that is in the tubing on occaision. Sorry if these are dumb questions but I do not use a pump at present but would like to learn about them. My main worry is that I am a very poor sleeper and seriously wonder if being attached would make me so self concious as not to be able to sleep. What do you think?