Just curious, how many times do you reuse a pen needle before you change it? I'm looking for reality, not what's "recommended". Thanks.
Well , I am pumping, so have not used pen needles for almost a year, except for occasional correction shot that I have needed. Before I reused them , usually 1 each day for 5-7 shots. I just got put on Symilin, which used the pen needles and I use 1 for my two shots a day. I opened a new box of pen needles that I had in the cabnit and they are from 2000, no problems so I guess they dont expire
We change pen needles for each and every injection. That is the instructions given to us at dx so that is what we have always done.
We don't use the pen often so we don't change it often. Maybe once a week no matter how many shots we give. Probably not more than 5 or 6? Or unless something happens to it of course. We use the short needles so there is not much bend to them.
If the needle isn't immediately removed after use, couldn't it carry contamination right into the cartridge? There's all kinds of surface bacteria on the skin and also everywhere in the environment. I never knew people reused them. Do you just leave them in the pen and leave the pen cap off?
I used to reuse needles (without my mom knowing). I didn't leave the needle on, I would unscrew it and screw it back on when I needed it. I used the needles 3 or more times. THEN, I got a really nasty infection in my stomach. I had to have surgery to drain it, then they left the incision open so it would heal from the inside out (the incision was down to my intestines). It had to be dressed an packed every day, which was pretty painful and I was in the hospital for right at 2 weeks. The cause= Reusing pen needles, according to the doctor. Now I make sure I use a new needle every time whether it be pen or syringe. I highly recommend everyone else do the same thing so they don't risk getting an infection.
That is just awful, Cassie. I'm so sorry you went through that. Just to try to prevent my son from ever doing this, is there a reason you reused them instead of just getting a new one? How old were you? I'm glad you survived that. It sounds like you could have died from an infection that serious. Thanks for sharing your story. I think that people underestimate how dangerous germs in the environment can be.
I was a junior in high school, so that means I was 17. There wasn't really a reason pursay. I always forgot to put new pen needles in my purse, even when my mom would tell me to, somehow, I'd forget or get side tracked, so I just used the ones I had in there already. After the infection, my mom started checking my purse to make sure I had fresh syringes/pen caps,which really wasn't her responsibility, plus I was scared to use an old one.
I usually use a new needle every time. If I'm out and I forgot, or I didn't realize how many corrections I was going to do, I'll reuse a pen needle. I think the most times I've used one is 3 or 4 times, but it's almost always just once. Sometimes I really think it's a waste, what with insurance paying 23 cents per needle, but for now, one shot, one needle.
When I was on shots, I changed my pen needle once a day at the most. In reality it was probably every few days.
I have a pump now, but when I used needles/pens I did re-use them - I probably changed the needle used for Lantus once a week (so 7 shots) and changed the pen needle for Novolog every other day. My CDE was funny.....she asked me how often I was changing so she could re-fill my script. I stammered for a minute thinking "oh geez.....should I tell her I re-use?" Fortunatley, her daughter is also diabetic so she laughed at me and admitted that they re-use as well. In the 6 years of Lantus/Novolog and the 16 years prior to that of Regular/NPH, I 've never had an infection from re-using (although, I did not do it as much in the beginning).
i change it every time. I take my shot, take it off and put it into a sharps container. I also never reused a syringe either
I do re-use needles, even though that picture is gross I'm still going to do it,. i change needles once a day. I do get the best injection from the first use, but generally don't get pain unless it's really blunt from a few days use.
i havent used a pen in a while but my strategy was, use them until they hurt, and sometimes one or two more shots after that because i forgot. yeah, i know, gross. but economical!
When using a pen, I use the same one until it bend over while inserting and with a syringe I use it until you can no longer read the units on the syringe. For me, it seems they work fine for about 2 weeks. Gene
