DCIN is going to start working with a woman to give Lantus insulin to her cat using the Solostar pen with disposable needles. The reason? The woman is legally blind and would not be able to draw insulin into a suringes.
If anyone has experience working with the disposable pen needles (either for themselves as a human diabetic or with a diabetic pet) I would certainly like to hear if there are any "tricks" or "traps" to know about.
I have opened one of the needles, and I am not completely certain how it attaches to the Lantus pen (and I am disinclined to prematurely start the clock on the pen). My observation is to leave the needle in the plastic cone doohickey it is packaged in and "punch" the interior end into the pen's rubber stopper, getting it centered using the doohickey (which may? does? screw onto the threads that are on the outside of the business end of the pen). Then remove the doohickey and take the plastic cover off the business end of the needle. See revisions below.
The vet tells me that the pen with needle has to be "primed." I asked a human diabetic friend what that means and she said --
That makes sense to me, and we can do that. I will suggest that she dry off the needle after the priming to make sure the dose is as accurate as possible.
The bean will be shooting into the belly/side. The needles I have are 3/16" (5mm) long. Thankfully, the cat is short haired. If longer disposable needles are advisable, I can buy some of those. What length would be advisable? ADW has 12 mm, 8mm, 6mm, and 5mm lengths.
What is the safest way to remove the needle from the end of the pen? I have been told the bean has severe arthritis in her hands so I suspect her fingers are not very nimble. See revisions below.
Because someone will ask, the bean won't be getting blood glucose tests before shots. But there are volunteers in the area who will drop in on occasion to take spot BG readings. We will be starting with 1U once/day, to be conservative and to ease the bean (who also is elderly, nearly 90) into the process. Dosage changes in whole units is all that will be possible because of using the pen's delivery mechanism.
Thanks in advance for any tricks and traps for using the disposable needle.
Revised to add. I did find these instructions on the Internet. http://www.bd.com/resource.aspx?IDX=23379 Turns out the doohickey is called a shield. The instructions say the shield is used to remove the needle from the pen, but it doesn't describe how to do that.
Second revision. I found a video too, so I understand how to attach and remove the disposable needle. http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-use-a-disposable-insulin-pen
If anyone has experience working with the disposable pen needles (either for themselves as a human diabetic or with a diabetic pet) I would certainly like to hear if there are any "tricks" or "traps" to know about.
The vet tells me that the pen with needle has to be "primed." I asked a human diabetic friend what that means and she said --
That makes sense to me, and we can do that. I will suggest that she dry off the needle after the priming to make sure the dose is as accurate as possible.
The bean will be shooting into the belly/side. The needles I have are 3/16" (5mm) long. Thankfully, the cat is short haired. If longer disposable needles are advisable, I can buy some of those. What length would be advisable? ADW has 12 mm, 8mm, 6mm, and 5mm lengths.
Because someone will ask, the bean won't be getting blood glucose tests before shots. But there are volunteers in the area who will drop in on occasion to take spot BG readings. We will be starting with 1U once/day, to be conservative and to ease the bean (who also is elderly, nearly 90) into the process. Dosage changes in whole units is all that will be possible because of using the pen's delivery mechanism.
Thanks in advance for any tricks and traps for using the disposable needle.
Revised to add. I did find these instructions on the Internet. http://www.bd.com/resource.aspx?IDX=23379 Turns out the doohickey is called a shield. The instructions say the shield is used to remove the needle from the pen, but it doesn't describe how to do that.
Second revision. I found a video too, so I understand how to attach and remove the disposable needle. http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-use-a-disposable-insulin-pen
