Can I fill the syringes in advance with Humulin N?

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inkmahm

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My cat, Cheyenne, is newly diagnosed as being diabetic. She is getting 4 units of Humulin N in the morning and 3 in the evening. We will be out of town next week and my mom will be taking care of the cats at her house for me. Mom is coming over to practice giving the insulin shot to Cheyenne while we are home this week. The problem is that she has arthritis and really has a hard time filling the syringes from the vial of insulin.

Is there any reason that I couldn't fill the syringes for the 6 days we will be gone and store the syringes with the insulin in the refrigerator for my mom to use? She has asked me to do this at the suggestion of a relative of ours who is diabetic. He says he fills his syringes in advance for when he is going to a restaurant to eat. That is a few hours in advance though, not days in advance.

Has anyone done this and does it work okay?
 
I know as a general rule this is not advised, especially if your talking about a few days worth.

Is there anyway someone else could call round and do that part for your mum? You could premark the syringes yourself so they would be drawing the right amount.

Humulin is rarely used now, so not sure if there are any old users on the board. You could cross post this question in the health forum., We don't get a lot of traffic in this forum now as so few use the insulins talked about here.

Are you hometesting? 4u and 3u are high doses of insulin. Ethos here is start low, go slow. In the main people usually start at 1u and increase in incrementys of .2u (u40 insulins, using u100 syringes and a conversion chart) or .25u. This is so you don't miss the ideal dose for your cat and keep your cat safe (avoid hypo numbers).

A lot of vets are woefully lacking in their knowledge of FD and way behind on latest research and insulins taht have affected excellent results in cats.
 
Yes, you can prefill insulin syringes with NPH and store, needle side up, in the refridgerator for up to 30 days.

It will be important to take them out and roll between your hands to remix and to warm before administering the injection.
 
Jenny can you expand please?

No offence but you have just joined FDMB-I certainly don't know the answer to this for sure, but from what I have read, it advises against storing insulin in syringes.

Can you explain your reasoning.

Thanks
 
No offense taken...

I may be new to this particular forum but I have had a diabetic cat for about 4 years now as well as a diabetic dog for 6 years so I am by no means new to pet diabetes.

Here are two of many links expaining that it is a practice that can and is done by human diabetics as well as pet owners.
If you google this question you will find countless explanations of how to do this.

It is not recommended to prefill syringes with Vetsulin / Caninsulin or when using Lantus as they both can interact with the coating on the syringe.

The question presented was "can Humulin N be prefilled"...

NPH insulins (Humulin N as well as Novolin N), yes, they can both be prefilled and stored needle side up in the refridgerator.

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/art ... =100059409

and another...

http://diabetesindogs.wikia.com/wiki/Syringe
 
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