Proper way syringe & bottle

[Becky & Baby Girl GA]

I just read on a sticky in Lantus. If I pull too much out of the bottle I should not empty what’s left back into the bottle? Does this apply to all insulin’s? I’ve been just pushing the extra bit I overdrew back into the prozinc bottle. I guess I’ve been doing it wrong all along because this is how my vet showed me. How did I miss this very important step?!? Thank you, doing it right now but I’m sure my bottle is full of syringe goop. Switching to Lantus on Monday, I’m scared.

 

[Bellasmom]

I just read on a sticky in Lantus. If I pull too much out of the bottle I should not empty what’s left back into the bottle? Does this apply to all insulin’s? I’ve been just pushing the extra bit I overdrew back into the prozinc bottle. I guess I’ve been doing it wrong all along because this is how my vet showed me. How did I miss this very important step?!? Thank you, doing it right now but I’m sure my bottle is full of syringe goop. Switching to Lantus on Monday, I’m scared.

Not sure of answer but love new avatar cutie pie

 

[SpotsMom]

I’m interested in the answer to this too. My vet told me the same. Pull it out further than you need then push it back in... also for Prozinc. Maybe something specific to Lantus?

 

[Becky & Baby Girl GA]

@Bellasmom - thank you!! She’s my doll baby!!
@SpotsMom - yes that is the way my vet showed me but the Lantus sticky said the overdraw should be expelled in the sink & not in the bottle. It said there is a lubricant in syringes that should not be expelled into the vial. It could contaminate the insulin. Hopefully we’ll get an experts opinion here!

 

[Chris & Lucy]

I'm no expert, and I've read the same thing. And I admit I questioned it at the time. I highly doubt there's a lubricant inside a sterile syringe, then it wouldn't be sterile. At 40 cents a unit I'm not washing anything down the drain. I just can't afford to. And lastly, I've always done it the way the vet showed me and never had an issue. But you have to do what you feel comfortable with.

 

[Phoebes (GA)]

I'm no expert, but that's what I was told. It's possible the lubricant from the bore of the needle could be expelled into the vial. So shoot the extra in sink. If you don't see any floaties and it's clear I wouldn't worry to much. But from here on out I would exspell into sink. Hope that helps.​

 

[Jill & Alex (GA)]

yes that is the way my vet showed me but the Lantus sticky said the overdraw should be expelled in the sink & not in the bottle. It said there is a lubricant in syringes that should not be expelled into the vial. It could contaminate the insulin.

Yes, the lubricant in both disposable and glass syringes could contaminate insulin if shot back into the insulin vial or pen. It is thought that the silicone lubricant may affect Lantus more than other insulins... which is why it's mentioned in the stickys in the Lantus/Levemir forum, but it's actually a good practice no matter which insulin is used.

I highly doubt there's a lubricant inside a sterile syringe, then it wouldn't be sterile.

A silicone lubricant is used in disposable syringes in both the syringe barrel and on the plunger. Disposable syringes come with the lubricant applied at the manufacturing level. One adds the lubricant when using a glass syringe. The lubricant makes it possible to easily slide the plunger up and down the barrel in order to draw the dose. See: Medical syringe and syringe lubricant.

Hope this helps...

 

[FurBabiesMama]

When I was reading up on Levemir before switching to it from ProZinc, I also became concerned when everything I read said not to push excess insulin back into the vial, because that is something I was shown to do with ProZinc and always did. So, I started specifically looking for handling instructions for the different insulins, and everything I found had that difference in the instructions - with ProZinc, instructions included pushing excess back into vial, but with Lantus/Levemir, they specifically said do not do that. Similar to the fact that instructions always say to roll a ProZinc vial before drawing insulin from it but never to roll/shave a Lantus/Levemir vial. They are different, so handling is a little different.

It makes sense to me that injecting a lubricant into any insulin would probably not be ideal, but I do not think it hurts anything with ProZinc since instructions so consistently say to do that. So, I do not think we hurt our insulin too much doing that.

 

[Becky & Baby Girl GA]

Thank you everyone. New way with Lantus... noted. It’s wonderful to have this forum!