Pumbaa
Very Active Member
It took me long enough to realize this! DUH!
From the beginning, I was having problems with major air bubbles in the syringes using the Lantus SoloStar pen. I blamed the Relion syringes first. Then I started having the same problem with the Walgreens syringes.
I threw out so many syringes (and insulin), and started drawing over 5 units as that seemed to help. What a waste of $$$$! (My first pen is nearly empty after only 3+ weeks.)
But...what I discovered a few days ago is that these pens are pressurized and don't immediately fill the syringe with the amount of insulin you need. You need to pull the syringe plunger out to a bit more than the amount you need, and hold that plunger in position and wait patiently for the pen to fill the syringe...it takes a couple of seconds, and you can actually see this happening.
If you don't wait for the pen to fill the syringe, you will get major air bubbles and probably not enough insulin for your dose, causing you to throw the syringe out, and start over.
Realizing the above, tonight I was able to draw much less than 5 units into the syringe for a 1 unit dose, and not have hardly any air bubbles.
I did research these BBs for information about air bubbles in syringes, but never did see an explanation like this for the Lantus pen. I sure hope this helps some other people, as it has helped me!
Suze
ps: If others figured this out well before I did, and this is old news, or someone had already posted about this, than all I can say is that I'm a moron. *LOL*
From the beginning, I was having problems with major air bubbles in the syringes using the Lantus SoloStar pen. I blamed the Relion syringes first. Then I started having the same problem with the Walgreens syringes.
I threw out so many syringes (and insulin), and started drawing over 5 units as that seemed to help. What a waste of $$$$! (My first pen is nearly empty after only 3+ weeks.)
But...what I discovered a few days ago is that these pens are pressurized and don't immediately fill the syringe with the amount of insulin you need. You need to pull the syringe plunger out to a bit more than the amount you need, and hold that plunger in position and wait patiently for the pen to fill the syringe...it takes a couple of seconds, and you can actually see this happening.
If you don't wait for the pen to fill the syringe, you will get major air bubbles and probably not enough insulin for your dose, causing you to throw the syringe out, and start over.
Realizing the above, tonight I was able to draw much less than 5 units into the syringe for a 1 unit dose, and not have hardly any air bubbles.
I did research these BBs for information about air bubbles in syringes, but never did see an explanation like this for the Lantus pen. I sure hope this helps some other people, as it has helped me!
Suze
ps: If others figured this out well before I did, and this is old news, or someone had already posted about this, than all I can say is that I'm a moron. *LOL*
