Portable storage for used needles

[Harrisphil]

Hi All,
I am a T1D of 6 years now (started at age 33). Within 2 weeks of diagnosis I went from barely being able to distinguish between T1/T2 to wearing a Dexcom. I wasn’t happy drawing blood 10+ times a day to check-in!

One thing I haven’t come up with a solution for is what to do with new/used pen needles, while out and about.

I keep each pen in different coloured Frio cooling pouches, so carry my black one with my Novo Rapid either in my work rucksack, jacket pocket - or my wife’s handbag!
I keep a stash of new needles between the outer cover and cooling pouch, and the used needles inside the cooling pouch with the pen - until such time that I can offload them into a sharps bin. (I have one in the bathroom, bedroom, home office drawer, work office drawer etc.

Does anybody else have a better solution for keeping pen + needles (new / used) together?
I don’t really like what I currently do, but can’t seem to find a better way…

A few years ago I was keeping used needles in a plastic bottle(s) - until my wife found 8 full under the bed, and I stopped!

Cheers,
Phil

 

[Lucyr]

One thing I haven’t come up with a solution for is what to do with new/used pen needles, while out and about.

Just put them back into wherever you carried them before using them. Eg I keep my diabetes kit in a pencil case.

I keep each pen in different coloured Frio cooling pouches

Unless you live somewhere extremely hot there’s no point doing this. A frio cools insulin down to 18-26c. Nowhere in the uk in winter is above 26c.

Does anybody else have a better solution for keeping pen + needles (new / used) together?
I don’t really like what I currently do, but can’t seem to find a better way…

Use a pencil case or the case that came with the pen

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Harrisphil 🙂 I just shove mine back in the pen case. When it gets too full, I decant them into my sharps bin at home. If I’m only out for a day, I’d just use the same needle anyway.

 

[Harrisphil]

Just put them back into wherever you carried them before using them. Eg I keep my diabetes kit in a pencil case.


Unless you live somewhere extremely hot there’s no point doing this. A frio cools insulin down to 18-26c. Nowhere in the uk in winter is above 26c.


Use a pencil case or the case that came with the pen

Good point about the temperatures in UK Winter... I spent the first 4 years of my T1D life in China, so got used to keeping the pouch for the 40degC summers. Often when I go out for the evening in the UK, I just take the pen in my pocket and a few needles.
I initially got a Man-bag to carry all the paraphernalia , thinking I was some fashionable Italian bloke from Milan... it lasted about 2 days.

 

[Harrisphil]

Welcome @Harrisphil 🙂 I just shove mine back in the pen case. When it gets too full, I decant them into my sharps bin at home. If I’m only out for a day, I’d just use the same needle anyway.

Same as Lucy then - I should look at getting a fancy pen case.

 

[helli]

Like others, I would keep the needle on the pen if I was out for a few hours. If I was out overnight, I would use a small bottle (the kind of travel cosmetics bottles you can get from pharmacies to decant your favourite large bottle of shower gel into when you go away). I would empty this when I got home.
I also only use Frio when I am staying somewhere hot. I don't even use the cases the pens come in because they are too bulky. However, I rarely went out without my basal even though I only use it at night - I didn't want to run the risk of having to go home when I was having fun for the sake of an insulin pen.

 

[SimonP]

Back in the case the pen came with, though if out (and without someone with a handbag) I just put the bare pen and a handful of needles into a jacket pocket. If it's hot (i.e. no jacket) I put pen and needles into jeans/shorts pocket. I quite happily roamed South Korea for 5 weeks as a teenager with a pen in my front pocket (it did wear a hole in my jeans mind you.)

Over slightly longer term plastic bottles, old coke cans, plastic bags or simply thrown in the bottom of hand luggage (which means I have to warn any would-be bag searchers) have all worked for me in the last, though the latter means I also have to be careful unpacking, so best avoided if there's anything else to put them in. I have a cinbin at home which all the old ones go into. I always replace both caps on used needles and only use them once (having used syringes multiple times when I was first diagnosed as a child, sharper is better imo).

The only mishap I've had was both lids coming off an old needle which had been thrown into a record bag and left there for goodness only knows how long (when I was at uni), I felt a strange stabbing pain in my bottom while walking between lectures, thought it might be a trapped hair or similar, but eventually ran my hand over the bag and found the offending needle sticking though the bag by stabbing myself in the hand too.

 

[rebrascora]

If you have been throwing bottles with used needles under the bed, then I don't think a change of container is going to help, probably more a change of mental approach to deal with the contents of the bottle you use when it gets full (ie decant them into your sharps box) rather than just grab a new one. I personally leave the needle on the pen, but then I am naughtly and reuse needles multiple times. I just always replace the little cap and then the pen lid and always carry one spare needle just in case I drop or damage the "in use" one and just change the needle when I get home.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

If you have been throwing bottles with used needles under the bed, then I don't think a change of container is going to help, probably more a change of mental approach to deal with the contents of the bottle you use when it gets full (ie decant them into your sharps box) rather than just grab a new one. I personally leave the needle on the pen, but then I am naughtly and reuse needles multiple times. I just always replace the little cap and then the pen lid and always carry one spare needle just in case I drop or damage the "in use" one and just change the needle when I get home.

Spare needle in a pocket. Pen in another with a preloaded sharp. Pre loaded needle on the basal if I’m out all hours. Single pen which can hold 2 Frio wallet if it’s hot. I’m in the more than one use needle club myself. I use the new needle case to accommodate the old one if I need to change & bang it in the sharps bin when I get home.