Hi Melody,

I watched the video. I do not see anything wrong with transferring the insulin from the pen into a syringe and then injecting. It appears to me that this method will actually SAVE you from the 2 units of insulin that get wasted priming the pen needle each time you inject.

As to the alcohol swabbing of the pen stopper ??? Why?? Isn't your syringe needle sterile? Do you plan on using the "SAME" syringe and needle more than once? Seems to me if you are using a sterile syringe and needle each time you "transfer" the insulin from the pen to the syringe, you should not need to swab the pen stopper.

The more pertinent question is the compatibility of the dosages that you spoke of in your later post. Since you have been prescribed the pen and the dosage to use with the pen, then the video shows you just dial in your dosage and transfer it to the syringe for injecting. You are not trying to reconcile or equate the dosage of vial insulin to pen insulin.

It is my belief from your post that you are just adding a second step to change the delivery system from pen to syringe for injecting for the purposes of using the insulin needle rather than purchasing pen needles.

I use pen insulin and buy the pen needles. I do not find them expensive. I get 300 pen needles for about $25 without insurance. It is the $500 I pay for the pens that deplete my funds. Also, wasting 2 units of insulin for every injection, adds up in insulin waste and cost. The pen needle needs to be primed each time. With 3-4 injections per day, I am wasting 6-8 units of insulin which I have already stated is a BIG cost.

Maybe I should adopt the method in the video to save me all the wasted insulin for priming the pen needle. The syringe needle is primed when transferring the insulin from the pen to the syringe.

To be accurate about dosing, if you are using pens, use the amount prescribed by your physician for the pen. If you are using vials, use the amount prescribed by your physician for the vial. The delivery system should not matter but the CONTENTS do. Do NOT use the vial AMOUNT from a pen and vice versa. Do NOT use the pen dosage AMOUNT if using vial insulin.

The contents may be different. Not just the storage.

If you are prescribed say 30 units of the flexpen as the proper dosage, if using the contents from the pen, set the dial to 30 as indicated in the video and put in the syringe and inject.

If you are prescribed say 10 units of vial insulin as the proper dosage, if using the contents from the vial, use only the 10 units prescribed.

Transferring contents from the pen to a syringe should not have anything to do with the dosage. Do NOT use the markings on the syringe, use the pen dial to select the proper dosage from the pen.

Hope I made some sense to you.