those of you that buy

[staceyc]

your own meter and testing strips how do you dispose of the needles , causif the dr wont prescribe the stips etc would they prescribe the yellow needle box

 

[Copepod]

First of all, best to get lancets that you can resheath to cover the point. Then, keep in plastic tubs eg drug bottles with child proof cap, and empty pot each time you see a yellow sharps bin, in GP surgery, practice nurse room, chemist shop, street (for drug users) etc.
Or, seal pots / lids with gaffer tape and dispose of as regular / landfill waste .

 

[trophywench]

I lobbed em - and syringes and pen needles - in the bin anyway until about 3 years ago, as I couldn't get a Sharps bin prescribed at all. My friend is a nurse and neither could she - but at least she could sneak em in to work and stick em in their one - strictly verboten by her employer, by the way.

Utterly wrong IMHO.

However - what I suggest is this - ring your local council refuse dept and ask what arrangements they have for Sharps disposal fromprivate houses - our council, once you have registered, you ring em up when its full then leave the box outside your front door and they collect them. Once you've established they have this service, buy a Sharps bin off the internet, if you can't buy one off the chemist. Will take you a year or more to fill a 1 litre container with just lancets, I bet!

I'd just started a new one (one litre) when I started pumping in May - so I have needles from the cannulas and the filler things off the reservoirs, and it's still only about half full.

 

[Andy HB]

The lancets that I use come with little plastic caps on the needle. After use, I replace the plastic cap and wrap the lancet in the tissue paper that I remove the excess blood with. I then put it in the normal bin.

The quantity of lancets I dispose of in such a fashion is very very small because I also currently re-use them (haven't really established whether this is a no no or not though, but it doesn't seem to be causing me any sort of problem).

Andy 🙂

 

[trophywench]

Always have re-used em. The joke always is that we change em annually on St Swithin's Day! so you've missed this years change now .......

 

[Robster65]

I used to do same as copepod. Pop bottle, or better still bleach bottle with a childproof cap (bigger than drug bottle) and then household rubbish.

If you know of any T1s or T2s nearby with sharps bins, you can maybe pass them on to them for proper disposal ?

Rob

 

[Jennywren]

I have an agreement with my gp , i get the yellow bins on prescription and then take them back to gp when full .

 

[Ellie Jones]

Do the old fashioned way, just ensure that they are in a closed container, wrap a bit of cellotape around the container and in the main bin..

Or you could give roche a phone to see if they will send you one of their multi-clix finger pricker (they might also throw in a free meter) then you'll have no problems with disposing as the cartridge of lancet that fits in them, are all contained and once used leave no sharp points.. so this get chucked in the bin..

 

[Blythespirit]

I don't change my lancet very often either, but when I was just on oral meds I used to use one of those little plastic cocktail stick containers. When it was full I would tape it up and chuck it in the bin. I get a sharps container for my needles now and put my lancets in there. Everything else goes in the normal household bin. I get my sharps bins from my GP and just order a new one on my repeat prescription and take the full one back when I collect the new one. XXXXX

 

[staceyc]

thanks everyone can a diabtic nurse prescribe the strips she did when i was pregnant 🙂

 

[Copepod]

Worth asking your diabetes nurse, but NICE guidelines for self testing of blood glucose are different for type 2 diabetes not on insulin, compared to gestational diabetes on insulin.

 

[Tina63]

You can buy sharps bins of all sizes on Amazon. Just then got to find a way of getting rid of them........

 

[trophywench]

You can buy sharps bins of all sizes on Amazon. Just then got to find a way of getting rid of them........

That's why I said check that out first before buying one!