Injecting air into vial

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Dale

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Asking a lot of questions because I'm helping 2 ladies in town who are new kitty Lantus users. Advised them to visit here but they are asking me some questions I don't know the answer to, one of which is why does the package insert tell you to insert air into the bottle. I've always heard never put air into it. Here is package insert saying otherwise for the vial not Solostar Pen:

"Draw air into the syringe equal to your insulin dose. Put the needle through the rubber top of the vial and push the plunger to inject the air into the vial.

Leave the syringe in the vial and turn both upside down. Hold the syringe and vial firmly in one hand.
Make sure the tip of the needle is in the insulin. With your free hand, pull the plunger to withdraw the correct dose into the syringe."

So what do I tell them and why?
 
Hi Dale,

I am no expert, but do use this cartridge/pen. I have never injected air into the vial. ???, and am uncertain as to why they would have that in the instructions.... For me, i make sure there in no air in the syringe, insert it into the cartilage, draw the insulin (more than I need), and then adjust to the dose i need. This does waste some of the insulin, however i then know I have no remaining air in the syringe.

Hope this helps, at least it will bump your question up in the cue so that someone with knowledge can help you.
 
I used the bottle. We did not have to insert air into the bottle, although we figured at some point, as it got closer to empty, we might need to. Basil cooperated and went OTJ first. He's a very polite and thoughtful boy.

I think the air injection is, again, aimed toward human use where you are removing larger amounts more quickly and may reach the point relatively soon of having difficulty drawing the insulin out and so need to add a little air. Again, when you are trying to make the vial last as long as possible, not shooting air in unless you need to is, I think, the way to go.
 
Dont use 2 condo spots, just continue your posts in the first one you started today-OK?
We have a lot of peeps on here, thanks a lot!
 
It is standard procedure to inject air into a glass vial, it's about equilibrbrium, and yes as the volume gets lower it may be hard to get the insulin out if you don't. In a pen you should not inject air because the liquid is always compressed as it is removed by a rubber plunger which moves down the cylinder. You can see it in the pen once you have removed 30U or so (in Levemir it's orange color) because they are designed to "shoot" insulin with a push of the button (autoinjector) the stopper is working like the plunger in any syringe to push the insulin out. When we suck insulin out with a regular syringe the stopper gets pulled down as well keeping the liquid "squeezed" towords the membrane at the front of the pen. Injecting air into this pressurized system could cause an overpressure and pop the little membrane out leaking insulin all over the fridge :sad: In a vial it is not a problem however the volume of air injected should not be more than the volume of insulin removed.
 
I am still using the smaller cartridges so I don't inject any air because of the plunger that moves inwards.
 
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