I almost never did reuse the disposable syringes, only when I did not have a extra one, I would save one (only because I had to). It was so so nice to get disposable syringes, cheep, sharp, and clean, no worry's, I just don't think it makes since to stack on another worry, dirty needles can be deadly. Everyone says not me, one person even said [Yes you can reuse as long as the needles are clean it is safe]...now that's funny...
We all choose to run through our own mine fields of some sort during our lives, I guess a dirty needle is just one more mine in the field, most of us will walk through the field never touching a mine until we step on old age, heart attack, or cancer . There are a few of us that will get struck buy a bus, die in a plane crash, or even get struck buy lightning, Oh, yes and don't forget die from using a dirty needle.
I see your point JohnG however, when you say using a 'dirty' needle, I for example have done on the odd occasion but I think you need to define 'dirty'. As soon as I have done my jab the pen goes straight back to the fridge, it has only been used on me and I very rarely use the same one again, but have done. Now would I use the needle from someone else, absolutely not!
I'm not talking about using another persons needle, just the fact that you have uncapped it, stuck it in your body and gave it a coating of body fluid has gotten it dirty, you have now created a medium that will support the fast growth of many types of bacteria I'm not saying it's a huge risk we do a lot of things that are just as risky as reusing our own needles every day. I have a suppressed immune system so every time I leave the house, put food in my mouth, go to work, insert another infusion site, just about anything, I run the risk of infection, just the fact that indaviduls refuse to get vacations puts me and other high risk indaviduls (like transplant recipients and small children) at risk.
Life is a risky business...just whear a helmet and enjoy your life...;-)
Microbes are all around us and many organisms live on our skin and in our bodies. The needle gets used by the same person so typical infectious diseases are not an issue, and pretty much all of the infections would come from stuff already on your skin. The bulk of the body fluids typically get scraped off the needle as it passes back out from the skin, and scraped again as it passes back in. Things get through all the time and are typically taken care of by our immune system.
As near as I can tell, the worst case scenario is that I need antibiotics, but diabetics do reuse all the time, and I've never even heard of someone getting or dying of an infection. Also, IMHO infection is far more likely with insulin pump infusion sets stuck on the body for days, and pretty much no one is dying from those either. Omnipods themselves cover quite a large area. Then there are people getting about a month off of their CGMs without dying.
And while the medical establishment is generally against it. The research on diabetics reusing their needles seems to support the practice.
Me too, I keep my long acting and short acting insulin syringes separate by marking the long acting syringe so I never mix them up. I remember well the days of mixing R and N in my syringe. Not exactly nostalgic, though ...
No..honestly Jag, I do not put air of any sort into the vial. I even push out the air that comes with the syringe. I do not get a vacuum unless I hit that circular protruding rim on the rubber part, so I try to hit just the flat rubber part inside the rim when ever possible. There is clean air in the bottle from factory, so a vacuum isn't there unless you hit the circular rubber rim or the outer side of it.
It used to drive me nuts before the '80's when I would inject air into the bottle as told to. It would take a good amount of time trying to get the bubbles out by continually flicking it. Sometimes I couldn't get them all out. So I solved that problem and went to work.
Correction, my Hubby said that even though I push out the air from the new syringes, it still has a unit of air in the tip compartment, if that counts for much.
I thought I replied to this discussion already, but can't see where.. anyway, I do reuse my syringes.. I'm on pens. At the end of the pen I syringe what's left and I first fill the syringe then push is back into the pen then resyringe it- that is what the directions say to do to not get air into your injection of insulin. I also syringe the insulin out of my older prefilled pens and then syringe it into the older prefilled cartridges for my novopen junior. I have had some issues with big air pockets in the cartridge but it doesn't seem to affect the insulin at all- this last lot I'm syringing it out early because the insulin wasn't getting into me properly. So far there seems to be no problem with the insulin though. As far as infections etc. I haven't had any problems with that, I use alcohol swabs to clean off the syringe needles etc. I do find the syringe needles seem to get blunt more quickly than my pen needles, not sure. The one thing I don't like doing is injecting through clothing because I can't see what is going on and I'm never sure if the insulin gets into me properly, also if you bleed you will damage your clothes.
Hmmm. To avoid adding bubbles to the insulin, just inject the air when the bottle is right side up. You inject it into the air on top, not into the insulin. Then turn the bottle over to fill the syringe with insulin. No bubbles possible this way.
The vacuum is created when you remove the liquid from the bottle without replacing it with an equal amount of air. Every time you fill your syringe, taking out more liquid insulin, you create more of a vacuum. It doesn't matter where on the top you insert the needle.
Do you use all the insulin in your bottles (I do)? If so, don't you find it hard to fill your syringe when you get towards the end?
If this was a problem, there would be many discussions about how to deal with infections from syringes and lancets, and our endos would be giving us horror stories. Syringe manufacturer BD would be taking pictures of sick people with horrific infections instead of showing us pictures of used needles under a microscope with their tip bent. People just aren't getting sick.
I'm quite certain I tried putting the air in the vial when it was standing upright back in the early years but I still got bubbles.
It took a while of trial and error to figure out the way with the least or no bubbles. As I mentioned in my other post, I've been doing it this way since the '80's and I'm pleased with it. The little air in the tip of the syringe only causes one bubble which is easy to be rid of in the vial.
*I push out the factory air from the new syringe into the air. Then I put the tip into the vial and draw out 6 units. There is one bubble in it. I then push the insulin and bubble back into the vial and I slowly draw out the amount of units that I need with no bubbles. If there is a vacuum it is so insignificant(unless I hit that rim area) that my Hubby and I haven't noticed it.* I could do a video. It's not that complicated.
Yes, I normally use all the insulin in the vial unless on the odd occasion that I notice my sugars are higher than normal for a day, then I toss it.
I use some of my syringes multiple times depending on where I am and what they're exposed to. Usually after 3 tries or more it gets a bit dull and I discard them.
I have no reason in particular for doing this, at the same time I see no reason not to, unless you know for a fact the syringe has been exposed to some bad surroundings.
Before my pump 1/01 start date i reused syringes since 1982. And, I even used the same syringe for the long acting and regular. Although I see a reason not to do that. I did not keep it in the refrigerator between shots, 3 times a day. I used it until the needle got the little bur on the end. Ouch!
But, I do wonder about the amount of time between injections for you, Rich. I am not sure i would use one longer than a week in that case. And I have no evidence for that reasoning. I rarely use an injection for an elevated BG. I am more likely to increase the bolus dose more than the bolus wizard calls for. If I get to 300 or 400, yes, I will use a syringe if it is not responding to the pump insulin. But then, I am not as strict on keeping my BG below 140 all the time. I try to but...just call me moderate.
I my first trip 'back home' to the UK for 11 months and my first journey since being on insulin pens. All prepared blood test meter, spare strips and needles in small bag, one pen in 'man bag' wrapped will 'cool gel, you guessed it arrived in UK with small bag having been left at home in Spain! So, as the units I had been injecting over the last couple of weeks had not altered I carried on sans BG tests and with the same needle, after the 5th day it was getting a little blunt but no big deal. Arrives back in Spain, to a phone call from home, you have left insulin in fridge!
No worries I will back over in three weeks for Christmas, but no ill effects from blunting needle.
Same with "FHS"...I use my syringes until it is pretty dull. Probably after 8 uses or so? never counted but I've been reusing forever (over 20 years) and never had a problem. I don't mix of course and with the pens, I reuse the needle tips similar to FHS. Okay, maybe not "ball-peen hammer required" (haha) but I do reuse then replace the tips when I switch to a new pen. Since I only use syringes now for Levemir at night, one will last a pretty long time.
