Frustrated with air bubbles and numbers

[Lisa and little]

hi all. I am still struggling with air bubbles in my syringe now that I am drawing from a pen and not a vial. I have tried everything. Holding pen upright, sideways, moving plunger on syringe a few times before inserting etc... I never had an issue with these syringes (sol M) when using a vial and I love them because they are marked so so well. I’ve been overdrawing several units each time and expelling excess into sink but tonight I still had an air bubble at the top. Obviously my concern is dosing.. I cannot be sure my 2.25 is accurate each time with air at top of syringe sometimes. I’ve been googling my brains out and came across an old post from FMDB that says turn dial to 2 units and keep clicking button to pressurize cartridge until it won’t click any more. Is that accurate? I don’t have any pen needles so if I were to do that no insulin would be expelled. Also saw another post where a guy kinda turned the pen up and down to supposedly to remove air but I cannot visibly see any air in the cartridge- only in the syringe when I draw it up. That said I am going up to 2.5 in the AM numbers permitting but how can I be sure her dose is consistent if I constantly have air.?!! Sorry to be long winded. I am just really frustrated and not happy with Littles numbers. Starting to wish I ordered a vail and not 5 pens...

 

[Ella & Rusty & Stu(GA)]

Perhaps you should try a different brand of syringe? Those bubbles can be frustrating and some syringes work better with the gasket in the pen than others. I had success with Monojects. They seemed to have fewer problems with bubbles than any of the other brands I tried (and I tried them all when I was forced to switch from Terumos because that company stopped making insulin syringes). I always worked the plunger up and down, then held it all the way in--forcefully--before slowly drawing any insulin.

Don't give up!!

 

[Amanda and a Loudogg]

Ugh, bubbles in the syringe are so annoying. I get bubbles every now and again. I also move the plunger up and down prior to pulling the insulin. If I get a bubble, I bring up 0.25u-ish more insulin and then flick the syringe to push the bubble up to the top. Then I push out a little insulin (usually just the extra I pulled up, but every so often I go to far) to remove the bubble. It usually works pretty well. I hope you can find a good solution. If it doesn't work, it might be worth syringe shopping to see if another would work better!

 

[Cinnie Cole]

hi all. I am still struggling with air bubbles in my syringe now that I am drawing from a pen and not a vial. I have tried everything. Holding pen upright, sideways, moving plunger on syringe a few times before inserting etc... I never had an issue with these syringes (sol M) when using a vial and I love them because they are marked so so well. I’ve been overdrawing several units each time and expelling excess into sink but tonight I still had an air bubble at the top. Obviously my concern is dosing.. I cannot be sure my 2.25 is accurate each time with air at top of syringe sometimes. I’ve been googling my brains out and came across an old post from FMDB that says turn dial to 2 units and keep clicking button to pressurize cartridge until it won’t click any more. Is that accurate? I don’t have any pen needles so if I were to do that no insulin would be expelled. Also saw another post where a guy kinda turned the pen up and down to supposedly to remove air but I cannot visibly see any air in the cartridge- only in the syringe when I draw it up. That said I am going up to 2.5 in the AM numbers permitting but how can I be sure her dose is consistent if I constantly have air.?!! Sorry to be long winded. I am just really frustrated and not happy with Littles numbers. Starting to wish I ordered a vail and not 5 pens...

I am totally with you - I tried so hard to get a bubble out of the syringe tonight - and I also pull from a Lantus Solostar pen - I wasted a dose and started over. Zoot!'s PMPS was 284 and at +4 he is 316. I don't know if I just had a bubble I didn't see but don't values normally go down around +3 or +4? Sigh.

 

[Lisa and little]

Thanks for the replies. I wish I could ditch the bubbles with just an extra .25 Tonight I pulled like an extra 3 and still a really small bubble in the top. Any one have any insight into what I read about pushing the button on the pen to “equalize” the pressure as it was stated ?

 

[Cinnie Cole]

I found another post dealing with bubbles in the syringe drawing from the pan. Here is what one person wrote

“Here are some steps, Shawna covered some, but I tried to list step by step how I do it, if that helps.

Make sure not to inject air into pen cartridge, it works on a different vacuum principle than a vial.

I move plunger on syringe a couple of times to loosen up plunger, then before inserting in end of pen cartridge, push syringe plunger all the way flush to end of syringe so you are not putting air in pen.

Next, while holding syringe plunger pushed to end of syringe, insert in end of pen.

Next, I turn both upside down, so syringe plunger end is toward the ground, and holding both together, pull out a little more insulin than you need. (This usually results in less bubbles, also have heard if you let pen sit out for 5 minutes before drawing insulin so it is slightly warm it helps eliminate bubbles).

Remove syringe from pen, flick to move bubbles to the top of syringe, then push out excess insulin and most air will go out. Some syringes will always leave a small bubble in the little well under where needle meets barrel inside syringe, can’t do anything about that.

Also keep in mind, turning syringe plunger slowly counterclockwise vs pushing it up releases excess insulin slowly and you have much more control where the plunger stops and can land closer to the target of where you want the dose in the syringe.”

I will see if I can find the title of the post again I’m Post here. it was in the Lantus group on June 6, 2019.

 

[Lisa and little]

Thank you much for the above. I am doing all that as I think the original post was to me. Finally got some blue tonight thank gosh. Hopefully we have a nice PS # in the Am

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

After you've pulled the insulin into the syringe, remove it from the pen and add more air!!…..then do your "tapping"

It's easier to get the small bubbles to move up into the "bigger" bubble and then you can remove that

 

[Cinnie Cole]

After you've pulled the insulin into the syringe, remove it from the pen and add more air!!…..then do your "tapping"

It's easier to get the small bubbles to move up into the "bigger" bubble and then you can remove that

Good luck on the AMPS. Ours was not so good - 330 and I think that was partially because of the same air bubble problem that I had last night.

Thanks Chris and China I will try adding more air then pushing it out to the correct dosage!

 

[Lisa and little]

Good luck on the AMPS. Ours was not so good - 330 and I think that was partially because of the same air bubble problem that I had last night.

Thanks Chris and China I will try adding more air then pushing it out to the correct dosage!

Sorry your AMPS wasn’t good. I worked my air bubble pretty well last night as I have the opposite problem.. AMPS IS 69!

 

[Tomlin]

Good luck on the AMPS. Ours was not so good - 330 and I think that was partially because of the same air bubble problem that I had last night.

Thanks Chris and China I will try adding more air then pushing it out to the correct dosage!

I've been dealing with the same issue with this Lantus pen!! I found that if I do what you've mention and key, draw super SLOWLY at first, I can see that air bubble go away/fill in.

I'm with you re: the #s . I'm starting Day 5 & AMPS was 246. I'm trying to remember that it builds so I need to be patient until Day 7 & then go from there. I'm just curious if coming down slowly like this may be an easier adjustment for his body & result in less likely bounces all over the place? Thats my hope, slow but steady...maybe see some blues again soon?

 

[Tomlin]

hi all. I am still struggling with air bubbles in my syringe now that I am drawing from a pen and not a vial. I have tried everything. Holding pen upright, sideways, moving plunger on syringe a few times before inserting etc... I never had an issue with these syringes (sol M) when using a vial and I love them because they are marked so so well. I’ve been overdrawing several units each time and expelling excess into sink but tonight I still had an air bubble at the top. Obviously my concern is dosing.. I cannot be sure my 2.25 is accurate each time with air at top of syringe sometimes. I’ve been googling my brains out and came across an old post from FMDB that says turn dial to 2 units and keep clicking button to pressurize cartridge until it won’t click any more. Is that accurate? I don’t have any pen needles so if I were to do that no insulin would be expelled. Also saw another post where a guy kinda turned the pen up and down to supposedly to remove air but I cannot visibly see any air in the cartridge- only in the syringe when I draw it up. That said I am going up to 2.5 in the AM numbers permitting but how can I be sure her dose is consistent if I constantly have air.?!! Sorry to be long winded. I am just really frustrated and not happy with Littles numbers. Starting to wish I ordered a vail and not 5 pens...

I said the same thing! Should've ordered the vial! I'm drawing more slowly, especially initially, & that seems to help remove that bubble, but like you, question if I'm actually getting the 1 unit vs a little less. Frustrating !! I have a really great local family owned pharmacy with the most helpful pharmacists & thanks to these posts this morning, I realized I need to call them & get there advice. I'll let post later & let you know if they have any advice that hasn't already been mentioned here. I generally load my syringe & then let it sit out for 15 mins or more so it warms up & is less painful for T. I guess I could take the pen out instead, but will see what the pharmacist suggests as well. That stuff seems THICK is so clear at least compared to the Vetsulin which seemed thin & was also cloudy so you could see dosing more easily.

 

[Lisa and little]

I said the same thing! Should've ordered the vial! I'm drawing more slowly, especially initially, & that seems to help remove that bubble, but like you, question if I'm actually getting the 1 unit vs a little less. Frustrating !! I have a really great local family owned pharmacy with the most helpful pharmacists & thanks to these posts this morning, I realized I need to call them & get there advice. I'll let post later & let you know if they have any advice that hasn't already been mentioned here. I generally load my syringe & then let it sit out for 15 mins or more so it warms up & is less painful for T. I guess I could take the pen out instead, but will see what the pharmacist suggests as well. That stuff seems THICK is so clear at least compared to the Vetsulin which seemed thin & was also cloudy so you could see dosing more easily.

I’d be interested to know what pharmacist says as the “trick” above did not work for me.. more air after filming made my bubbles way worse ...

 

[Tomlin]

I’d be interested to know what pharmacist says as the “trick” above did not work for me.. more air after filming made my bubbles way worse ...

Well that stinks ! I will definitely let you know. They open in 10 mins so I'll be calling!!

 

[Tomlin]

Ok, so I've called the local pharmacy & the U. pharmacist where I know they use/prescribe pens vs vials. I'm being told to draw a little more up then needed & then push the air bubble with the small amount you don't need out of the syringe (throw it away). One (U. pharm) said I could push it back into the pen but I mentioned that I recalled reading somewhere on the Lantus info NOT to do that. With that being said, I think that pertains more to what one would be doing with larger, human doses vs. .25-.50 units. I'm going to draw up more thats needed & then push some out like they suggest.