Need help from someone with calipers and terumos

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itzj

itzj

Member Since 2014
So the terumos are gone in all the stores. I ordered bd to replace them given that there is an insulin ruler I can print to go with that. I also ordered calipers from harbor freight so that I could translate the dose as we have just been measuring the terumos by the markings. However, harbor freight decided to take forever to ship them and now I am going to run out of terumos before they come. My plan was to measure the terumos to make sure the dose is what I think it is and then use either the insulin ruler or the bd caliper rate and then measure accordingly and hope for the best. But the plan is wrecked and he has got weird numbers right now.

Is there anyone with calipers and terumos that can measure the dose distance for me? He had been dosing at 3.5u on the the 31g terumos with half markings. He then went down to 3.25u 2 2 days ago and today hit 3u.

Please, if anyone could measure this on a couple syringes and tell me the mm I would be most appreciative.
 
Are you wanting the measurement on the Terumos and then plan to use that for the BD? I don't think that will work because the barrel is probably a little different diameter so the amount of insulin would be different w/ the same caliper reading. Do you have the BD now?

If you were using the barrel markings on the Terumo, dosing probably wasn't terribly accurate anyway, I'd just go w/ the BD and the ruler. If you are worried you could shave the dose a little to see how it works, then adjust the dose. The accuracy of the calipers is most important for those cats on a very low dose, under 1u. For larger doses it is much less of a variation.
 
What I would do is save a few used terumos. Count the number of drops you get for your dose and then count drops using one of the new ones. It's not just the distance but also if there is a hub that holds extra insulin. If you look at the video on calipers that Marje made she has a chart with terumo units and what it would be using calipers though which is what you want.
 
No, I know that the measurements won't compare. I wanted to verify that the dose we've been giving on the terumos is close enough to what the marking is since I have now learned that the markings can be off. If it isn't quite what the measurement says I'd like to know it. Then I will take what the dose it actually is closest to and use the insulin ruler on the bd. Hopefully the dose will be close and there will be minimal tinkering. Does that make more sense?
 
I have both syringes now. I'll have to see if we have any old insulin around from that first vial.. I'm not willing to waste good insulin.
 
I believe the BD syringes have a "hub" that holds insulin. As a result, there's almost a 0.5u difference between the two brands of syringe. A 0.5u dose on the BD will actually be close to a 1.0u dose on a Terumo.
 
The caliper measurement for 1u in the Terumos is 1.52 mm. Each 0.1u is .15mm. So for 3u, the caliper measurement for the Terumos would be 1.52mm x 3 = 4.56mm.

I have tried to use the insulin ruler and I think it is really difficult to use. You'd be better off getting the caliper mm measurement for 1u from a BD user and then multiplying it by your dose.

@Wendy&Neko uses BDs and I believe she has determined 1u = 1.09mm but I have tagged her so she can verify it for you because she would be the one to know that info.

Sienne and Gabby said:
I believe the BD syringes have a "hub" that holds insulin.
Click to expand...
The Monojects have a hub. The BDs don't. But see Wendy's note below on the "space".
 
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I use 1.6mm for a unit in the BD syringes. It makes the math really easy and at the time I determined it I had calipers with only one decimal place. For me being accurate compared to the lines on the syringe is less important than being consistent. I've seen some other BD users with 1.4mm per unit, and I think that is more accurate. I just did a measurement from the bottom of the zero line to 3 units (and divided by 3) to get 1.4. However, the issue is that there is a space between the zero line and the top of the syringe that can hold a little or a lot of insulin. My yesterday AM's syringe held about .25U of insulin there. So you have to measure from the plastic piece inside the syringe that is the top of the syringe, not from the zero line.
 
Although you can't "bookmark' within the board, you can bookmark threads in your browser. On the Terumo we use 1.5mm for 1 unit, so depending on that hub right in the middle of what Wendy said.
 
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