to measure a dose consistently

I want to know how other members are managing. :roll:

Shiela, you told me a drop will be about the size of the end of a straight pin. What is a straight pin..? Sorry I thought I knew it but I did not really..

I practiced your method but realized if I draw insulin to 0.5u and expel a drop by drop, it makes more than 5 drops. For example, if I push 2 drops, the syringe looks like 0.3u and if I push 4 drops out, it looks like 0.1u but there are still some insulin left in the syringe after I push 5 drops and see that the stopper comes to the zero line. Perhaps 1 or 2 tiny drops more if I push it further. I wonder if it is specific to Monoject (it has a space above zero line under the needle). Doesn't it happen?

 

Good morning,
There was some talk about this recently...
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=33636
and there were some very creative ideas on how to make sure you get a consistent dose each time.
Thought you would find this helpful.

 

Good morning, Marcy. Thank you for the link! I read it with great interest but there are parts that I do not understand well about those creative ideas because of my language ability. How do you do with a slip of paper or a fish hook??? If anyone has time, could you explain it to me as you do to a small kid, or upload a photo if possible, please? confused_cat

 

Hi Mami,

I think it is best to come up with your own measurement for your particular syringe.

That is to say, if you pull to .5 and let off 1 drop- you call that whatever you want. If you call it .4, fine. If it seems more like .3 to you- that is fine too.

What is important is the consistency.

ALWAYS pull to .5 and let off the exact amount of drops YOU need to in order to call it .3 or .4 or .2

Does that make sense?

As for the items like paper or fish hook...what we mean is to draw the dose that is working for your cat and then find an object with the same thickness that you can repeatedly hold up to syringe and match the thickness of object with amount of insulin drawn so their measurement s match each other rather than relying on lines that could be marked differently.

So no matter where the lines are on syringe, you wedge the object against some place on the syringe that never changes- like the top lip just above the first marked line for example, then draw the insulin to the thickness of the object you chose.

For me, to cut a slip of paper would be easier.

For the other person, a fish hook had the right thickness to measure the amount of insulin they needed to compare with.

Does that make sense?

Please ask for more help if you need it!

 

If you are getting more drops than 5 from a half unit, your drops need to be just a hair bigger. If there is insulin left in the top of the syringe after the zero line - is the zero line miss-printed? My syringes are not printed consistently, so I always look for space above the zero line (above when the needle is pointed to the ceiling) and take that into account.

I'll try to get some photos of how I measure micro doses today and link them here hopefully by the time you get up Sunday morning - I think it's about 2am for you now

Love the photo! What a cute face!

 

Hi Melissa,

Thank you so much for the explanation. Now I understand you and Pam's ideas very well. Wow. I think people in this group are all so good and dexterous, too! (a new vocab for me) I will try to think of a good way for myself.

Thank you, Shiela. I used to have troubles with inconsistent syringes and was so stressed and frustrated with them, too. But I changed it to Monoject (I import them from US) and they are fairly consistent in regard with the zero lines. I am looking forward to your photos. I can practice till the pm shot. :smile: (It is 7:10 am)

PS Thank you for your compliment to Akane's photo!

 

photos!

OK - this took longer than I thought... but here are photos.

Pin................................ drop (.1u) ...................... half drop (.05u)


Some microdoses (.25u looks off from angle of photo, I think)


My .6u dose to .65u dose (I AM WAY OFF HERE! SEE PHOTO)


I found that my lines and stopper flange are actually about .2u, so I have to adjust my thinking. However, I will still draw to the same point and switch to calling it .7u or .75u - and update J's SS. Sigh....

ETA: microdose drop method
Here are my microdose instructions again:
The drop method I use is to practice with a used syringe and water or expired insulin and draw up 1u, then twist the barrel (clockwise if the needle is pointed away from you) slightly until a drop forms on the end of the needle. It will be about the size of the end of a straight pin. Flick it off and twist to form another one. Practice until you get 10 drops that size from one unit and 5 drops that size from a half unit. Those would be .1u drops, so you can dose fairly easily in any increment of .1u. If you want to perfect that, try for a drop HALF that size. Those would be .05u drops. Loads of fun to draw! I have to take off my glasses to see to do that.

 

nice pictures, Sheila.

Hope someone on highspeed bookmarks this post to copy as needed...

:thumbup

 

Incredible!!!

Thank you!!

 

Wow! That's great. Thank you for doing that. Very good pictures.

 

OMG!!! Gonna have to get some stronger reading glasses to do this! WOW!!! Now that's MICRO! and only a smidge more than the sniffing! ohmygod_smile

Thanks for sharing!

 

Oh, yeah, STRONG reading glasses are a must for us visually challenged. I have actually tried putting reading glasses over my regular, progressive (trifocal) glasses. It actually still works better for me to take off my glasses entirely.

Practicing with a used syringe and expired insulin, water, or grape juice (if you need to be able to see the liquid in the syringe) is very helpful. Good luck!

 

Ok embarrassed to admit that I use contacts, reading glasses and a magnifying glass to do Moonie shots...
At one time she was on 0.1U, my eyes were a lot better then!
Please someone put this post with the pix where we can all refer to it!
Very Helpful--Thank you!

 

I'm printing this, THANK YOU, its great!

 

For future reference, you can bookmark individual posts. Just click on the subject line for the picture post and put that address in your bookmarks.

The explanation of the drop method is helpful too, that is here: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=15637#p156967

 

Vicky, isn't this post linked in the lev 101 sticky too?

 

So they are, yes. I had forgotten we added them. Thanks for reminding me. And thanks again for the wonderful pictures and instructions.

 

Alright, I might need this skill soon but I have one question....are you sticking the needle in with the drop already formed, or are you forming the drop blindly once the needle is in the cat? I'm shooting skinny 0.1units of u40 out of u100 syringes right now, and it's either learn this or shoot a fat zero.

 

Forming the drop is for practice, until you are confident that you are getting 5 drops from a half unit - so you KNOW that last drop that will be injected into the kitty will be .1u.

It is an act of faith to some degree - and being consistent. As long as the new dose is lower than the last one and there is still insulin in the syringe, you are making a dose reduction.

Make sense?

 

Yes it does, I guess I'll just stick to using the syringes as I am already eyeballing 0.1u...I can just go a little skinny or a little fat.

 

Why not just add Sheila's pictures and words about them into one of the stickys.... there should be some good spot to put this info.

 

They are in Sticky 101 above.