Safety insulin needles

Well if they do, I'd try the senior Pharmacist and see what they could do to help make this change happen. They certainly can arrange needle changes and insulin needles are generic to all pens.
 
Anxious 63 said:
Seen the diabetic nurse she has put put me on nova rapid so bye bye trurapi
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Ah that's great news @Anxious 63

Hope you get on well with old Novo(notvery)Rapid.

I've tweaked your account for you, to change your diabetes type to Type 3c in accordance with your reclassification. 🙂
 
Hi @Anxious 63 and welcome to the forum. I have been through pancreatitis and after a few years was then diagnosed with diabetes. I am lucky enough to have an amazing diabetic team in Ipswich who were on the ball and got me sorted with getting on insulin within a couple of days of my diagnosis. My GP initially prescribed the safety needles for me, but I asked to change to 'normal' 5mm needles because I felt it was a waste on me.
For those who don't know, the safety needles are a mechanism which keeps the needle covered at all times until you press the syringe/needle up against your skin. The outer plastic sleeve retracts and allows the needle to go in with minimal fuss and hence ensures the needle goes in the right depth etc. I.e. you can't really press too hard because it controls the needle depth with the protective sleeve. For those afraid of needles or unsteady in hand, I would highly recommend asking if you can try them. The down side is they take up 2 or 3 times the volume in the sharps bin, so you will need a bigger sharps bin - and I can't remember if you can use them more than once... could be a whole lot of extra plastic/space in the sharps bin.
Since I spent most of 2019 in hospital fighting the pancreatitis and complications I got very used to needles and hence asked to change to normal needles. I'm on Semglee and Trurapi MDIs and managing very well despite my pancreas deciding to make a bit of insulin now and again, which throws a spanner in the works. I find the more I exercise, the more my pancreas stabilises to make some insulin.
The diabetic team did say I would be treated the same as a T1 diabetic, but experience has taught me us T3c people are quite different.
The hospital team (back in 2019) could see my liver and kidney had issues due to blood flow restrictions cause by what they assumed was gall stones - even though they could never find them on the scans! That was, I believe, the source of most of my pain and it was not until they removed my gall bladder that things settled down. Before then I did pass out a couple of times from the pain which was not nice...
Like you, I find Trurapi is actually very fast acting and when I started taking it 20mins before my meal I would end up with low alarms going off while I was eating. I quickly worked out I had to take the insulin just before eating... we are all different in how fast insulin reacts for us - and as a T3c I think we also have to factor in our pancreas could make some insulin anyways! Over time I have learned to try and be as accurate as possible with carb counting so I can get my Trurapi level correct 🙂
Here's hoping you get along better with the Nova Rapid (ish)
-DJ
 
Hi @djdave,
Just to advise you it's never a good idea to reuse needles. We all have done this or still do it, but the saving to the NHS is minimal and the risk to you of creating hardened injection sites, which either block the absorption of the insulin be your body or significantly delay the absorption is quite high. That withholding os delaying of the insulin can play havoc with your BG management.

The manufacturers of needles have made huge progress in the designs and details for needles nowadays: ultra thin, many of us only use 4mm length and (I think pretty extraordinary) each needle is coated with a lubricant specifically to reduce skin tissue damage. The 1st use removes that lubricant, reuse causes the now unnecessary damage.

Yes, I also am clear that T3c might be as if T1, but we can (and after my total pancreatectomy I definitely am) different to T1. At least I know I'm definitely missing various hormones that my panc'y used to provide; you have the uncertainty of not only random insulin production but you may or may not get the digestive enzymes, glucagon and somostatin hormones. During my DAFNE course we got conversation time with a Consultant (open house for questions). I asked what caused the Dawn Phenomenon for me, knowing that the brain can't talk direct to the liver's glucose store through my panc'y and Glucagon is a primary (usual) way for the brain to tell the liver to put some extra glucose into our system when the brain thinks it's needed. She was slightly evasive but basically said our bodies are sufficiently clever that the brain finds and learns how to use some alternative mechanism if it has to; so the new "trigger" for the brain to liver conversation could be using cortisol or adrenaline. Sorry, that's a digression really - but reinforces slightly how we can be different.
 
Hi @Proud to be erratic,
Oops, shouldn't say that out loud about needles 🙂 I do change them regularly and never reuse basal because I understood basal insulin is very different in how it works.

Totally agree with being different from T1, though it may take GPs a while to catch on to it (unfortunately).

Dawn Phenomenon is totally real! My insulin required in the morning is twice what I need in the evening - learned through close monitoring of carbs, fat, CGM readings and insulin taken. Once you get your head round those different requirement life does settle down a bit 🙂 Interesting to learn new stuff about how our bodies cope... always learning.
 
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