Insulin syringes of various types, photos and videos. What is the best insulin? Insulin level in the blood - the norm and variants of deviation from it

Insulin dose calculation: find out everything you need to know. Learn to manage with minimal doses and keep sugar 3.9-5.5 mmol/l stable 24 hours a day. It is possible to stop spikes in blood glucose levels even in severe type 1 diabetes in adults and children. And even more so, keep your sugar at normal levels, like healthy people, with type 2 diabetes. Understand how to select the optimal dose of insulin, taking into account the individual course of diabetes.

Read the answers to the questions:

You need to observe the behavior of blood sugar in a diabetic at different times for several days, and then select an insulin therapy regimen.

Please note that large doses of insulin are unstable and unpredictable. The strength of their action on different days may differ by ±56%. To have good diabetes control, you need to manage this problem. The main remedy is switching to, which reduces the dosage by 2-8 times.

Diabetics who limit their carbohydrate intake should not inject more than 8 units of insulin at a time. If you need a higher dose, divide it into 2-3 approximately equal injections. Do them one after another in different places with the same syringe.

Treatment of diabetes with insulin - where to start:

Many diabetics who are treated with insulin believe that episodes of low blood sugar cannot be avoided. They think that terrible hypoglycemia attacks are an inevitable side effect. In fact, You can keep your blood sugar at a stable level even with severe autoimmune disease. And even more so with relatively mild type 2 diabetes. There is no need to artificially increase your blood glucose levels to protect yourself from dangerous hypoglycemia. Watch a video that discusses this issue. Learn how to balance your diet and insulin doses.

Below are answers to questions that patients often have.

What foods contain insulin?

No foods contain insulin. Also, there are no tablets containing this hormone yet. Because when administered orally, it is destroyed in the gastrointestinal tract, does not enter the bloodstream and does not affect glucose metabolism. Today, insulin to lower blood sugar can only be introduced into the body through injections. Inhalation aerosols are available, but they should not be used because they do not provide an accurate and stable dosage. The good news is that the needles on insulin syringes and pens are so thin that you can learn how to use them.

At what blood sugar levels are insulin injections prescribed?

Except for the most severe cases, diabetics need to first switch to it and sit on it for 3-7 days, monitoring their blood sugar. It may turn out that you don't need insulin injections at all.

Read about tablets containing metformin:

After switching to a healthy diet and starting to take metformin, you need to collect information about the behavior of sugar during each day for 3-7 days. Having accumulated this information, it is used to select optimal doses of insulin.

Diet, metformin and physical activity should together bring glucose levels back to normal, as in healthy people - 3.9-5.5 mmol/l consistently 24 hours a day. If such indicators cannot be achieved, add more insulin injections.

Don’t agree to live with a sugar level of 6-7 mmol/l, much less higher! These numbers are officially considered normal, but in reality they are elevated. With them, complications of diabetes develop, albeit slowly. Hundreds of thousands of diabetics who suffer from problems with their legs, kidneys and vision bitterly regret that at one time they were too lazy or afraid to inject themselves with insulin. Don't repeat their mistake. Use low, carefully measured doses to achieve levels consistently below 6.0 mmol/L.

It is often necessary to inject extended-release insulin at night in order to have normal blood sugar the next morning on an empty stomach. Read. First of all, figure out whether you need injections of extended-release medications. If they are necessary, start doing them.

Read about long-acting insulin preparations:

Tresiba is such an outstanding drug that the site administration has prepared a video about it.

Once you start injecting insulin, don’t even think about giving up your diet. If you are overweight, continue taking the pills. Try to find time and energy to exercise.

Measure your sugar before each meal and 3 hours after it. It is necessary to determine within a few days after which meals the glucose level regularly increases by 0.6 mmol/l or more. Before these meals you need to inject short or ultra-short insulin. This supports the pancreas in situations where it does not cope well on its own. Read more about choosing the optimal dosage before meals.

Important! All insulin preparations are very fragile and easily spoil. Study them and follow them diligently.

Sugar levels of 9.0 mmol/l and higher may be detected, even despite strict adherence to the diet. In this case, you need to immediately start giving injections, and only then add other medications. Also, people with type 1 diabetes and thin people who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes start using insulin immediately after a low-carb meal, bypassing the pill.

If blood glucose levels are high, insulin therapy should be started immediately; it is harmful to procrastinate.

What is the maximum dose of insulin per day?

There are no restrictions on the maximum daily dose of insulin. It can be increased until the glucose level in a diabetic patient returns to normal. Professional journals describe cases where patients with type 2 diabetes received 100-150 units per day. Another issue is that high doses of the hormone stimulate fat deposits in the body and worsen the course of diabetes.

The site teaches you how to keep your blood sugar consistently normal 24 hours a day and still manage with minimal doses. Read more and. First of all, you should go to . Diabetics who are already being treated with insulin, after switching to a new diet, should immediately reduce the dosage by 2-8 times.

How much insulin is needed for 1 bread unit (XE) of carbohydrates?

It is believed that for one unit of bread (XE) eaten for lunch or dinner, you need to inject 1.0-1.3 units of insulin. For breakfast - more, up to 2.0-2.5 units. In fact, this information is not accurate. It is better not to use it for actual calculation of insulin doses. Because different diabetics have different sensitivity to this hormone. It depends on the patient's age and weight, as well as other factors listed in the table below.

A pre-meal dose of insulin that would be appropriate for an adult or teenager may kill a small diabetic child. On the other hand, a tiny dose that would be sufficient for a child would have virtually no effect on an overweight adult with type 2 diabetes.

You need to carefully figure out through trial and error how many grams of carbohydrates eaten are covered by 1 unit of insulin. Approximate data is given in. They need to be clarified individually for each diabetic, accumulating statistics on the effect of injections on his body. - this is a real and serious danger. To avoid it, treatment begins with obviously low, insufficient doses. They are slowly and carefully increased at intervals of 1-3 days.

Diet options depending on diagnosis:

The website explains how to use it to treat diabetes. By switching to this diet, you can stop spikes in glucose levels and keep your blood sugar at a stable 3.9-5.5 mmol/l, like in healthy people.

Diabetics who follow a healthy diet count their carbohydrate intake in grams rather than grain units. Because grain units only cause confusion without bringing any benefit. On a low-carbohydrate diet, the maximum carbohydrate intake does not exceed 2.5 XE per day. Therefore, it makes no sense to calculate insulin doses by bread units.

How much does 1 unit of insulin reduce blood sugar?

Materials from the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Endocrinological Research Center” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation say that 1 unit of insulin reduces blood sugar by an average of 2.0 mmol/l. This figure is clearly underestimated. Using this information is useless and even dangerous. Because insulin works differently for all diabetics. It has a much stronger effect on thin adults, people with type 1 diabetes, and children. Except in cases where storage rules were violated and the insulin deteriorated.

Different preparations of this hormone differ significantly in strength. For example, ultra-short types of insulin Humalog, NovoRapid and Apidra are approximately 1.5 times stronger than short-acting Actrapid. The types of extra-long-acting, extended-acting, intermediate-acting, short-acting and ultra-short-acting insulin each work differently. They affect blood sugar differently. The purposes of their administration and the methods for calculating dosages are not at all similar. It is impossible to use any average performance indicator for all of them.

Read about short-acting and ultra-short-acting insulin preparations:

Example. Let's say you have determined through trial and error that 1 unit of NovoRapid reduces your glucose level by 4.5 mmol/l. After that, you learned about the miraculous and switched to it. says that short-acting insulin is better suited for a low-carbohydrate diet than ultra-fast insulin. Therefore, you are going to change NovoRapid to Actrapid, which is approximately 1.5 times weaker. To calculate your starting dose, you assume that 1 unit will lower your blood sugar by 4.5 mmol/L / 1.5 = 3.0 mmol/L. Then, within a few days, you will clarify this figure based on the results of the first injections.

Each diabetic needs to use trial and error to find out exactly how much 1 unit of insulin he injects reduces his glucose level. It is not advisable to use an average figure taken from the Internet to calculate your individual doses. However, you have to start somewhere. You can use the following information provided by Dr. Bernstein to calculate your starting dose.

approximately by 3 mmol/l. The more the patient weighs and the higher the fat content in his body, the weaker the insulin works. The relationship between body weight and the strength of insulin is inversely proportional and linear. For example, in an obese patient with type 2 diabetes weighing 126 kg, 1 unit of Humalog, Apidra or NovoRapid will reduce sugar approximately by 1.5 mmol/l.

To calculate the appropriate dose, you need to make a proportion taking into account the body weight of the diabetic. If you don't know how to make a proportion and can't count without making mistakes, it's better not to even try. Seek help from someone advanced in arithmetic. Because an error in the dosage of potent rapid insulin can have serious consequences, even kill the patient.

Training example. Let's say a diabetic weighs 71 kg. His rapid insulin is, for example, NovoRapid. By calculating the proportion, you can find out that 1 unit of this drug will reduce sugar by 2.66 mmol/l. Did your answer match this figure? If yes, then it's ok. Let us repeat that this method is only suitable for calculating the first, starting dose. The figure you get by calculating the portion needs to be clarified based on the results of the injections.

How much sugar 1 unit reduces depends on body weight, age, level of physical activity of the person, the drug used and many other factors.

Factors affecting insulin sensitivity

The higher the sensitivity, the more each administered unit (IU) of insulin lowers sugar. Approximate figures are given in, as well as in. This data can only be used to calculate the starting dosage. Then they need to be clarified individually for each diabetic based on the results of previous injections. Don’t be lazy, carefully select the optimal dosage to keep your glucose level 4.0-5.5 mmol/l stable 24 hours a day.

How many units of insulin are needed to reduce sugar by 1 mmol/l?

The answer to this question depends on the following factors:

• age of the diabetic;
• body mass;
• level of physical activity.

Several other important factors are listed in the table above. Having accumulated information over 1-2 weeks of injections, you can calculate how much 1 unit of insulin lowers sugar. The results will be different for long-acting, short-acting and ultra-short-acting drugs. Knowing these numbers, it is easy to calculate the dose of insulin that will reduce blood sugar by 1 mmol/l.

Keeping a diary and doing calculations is a hassle and takes up some time. However, this is the only way to select optimal dosages, maintain stable normal glucose levels and protect against diabetes complications.

When will the results of the injection appear?

This question requires a detailed answer because different types of insulin take effect at different rates.

Insulin preparations are divided into:

• extended - Lantus, Tujeo, Levemir, Tresiba;
• medium - Protafan, Biosulin N, Insuman Bazal GT, Rinsulin NPH, Humulin NPH;
• fast acting - Actrapid, Apidra, Humalog, NovoRapid, domestic.

There are also two-phase mixtures - for example, Humalog Mix, NovoMix, Rosinsulin M. However, it is not recommended to use them. They are not discussed on this site. To achieve good control of diabetes, you need to switch from these drugs to the simultaneous use of two types of insulin - long-acting and fast (short or ultra-short).

It is further assumed that the diabetic follows and receives low doses of insulin that correspond to it. These doses are 2-7 times lower than those to which doctors are accustomed. Treatment of diabetes with insulin according to Dr. Bernstein's methods allows you to achieve stable blood sugar levels of 3.9-5.5 mmol/l. This is possible even with severe disorders of glucose metabolism. However, low-dose insulin starts working later and stops working sooner than standard high-dose insulin.

Fast (short and ultra-short) insulin begins to act 10-40 minutes after the injection, depending on the drug administered and dose. However, this does not mean that after 10-40 minutes the glucometer will show a decrease in sugar. For the effect to appear, you need to measure your glucose level no earlier than after 1 hour. It is better to do this later - after 2-3 hours.

Study the details. You should not inject large doses of these drugs to get a quick effect. You will almost certainly inject yourself with more of the hormone than you should, and this will lead to hypoglycemia. There will be hand trembling, nervousness and other unpleasant symptoms. Even loss of consciousness and death are possible. Handle rapid-acting insulin with care! Before using, thoroughly understand how it works and how to determine the appropriate dosage.

Medium- and long-acting insulin preparations begin to work 1-3 hours after the injection. They give a smooth effect that is difficult to track with a glucometer. A single sugar measurement may not reveal anything. You need to self-monitor your blood glucose levels several times every day.

Diabetics who give themselves long-acting insulin injections in the morning see their results in the evening, based on the results of the whole day. It is useful to build visual graphs of sugar levels. On the days when extended-release insulin was given, they will differ significantly for the better. Of course, if the dose of the drug is correctly selected.

An injection of extended-release insulin given at night gives results the next morning. Fasting sugar levels improve. In addition to measuring in the morning, you can also monitor your glucose levels in the middle of the night. It is advisable to check your sugar at night in the first days of treatment, when there is a risk of overdoing the starting dose. Set an alarm to wake up at the right time. Measure your sugar, record the result and continue sleeping.

Research before starting diabetes treatment with this remedy.

How much insulin should be injected if a diabetic’s blood sugar is very high?

The required dose depends not only on blood sugar, but also on body weight, as well as on the individual sensitivity of the patient. There are many factors that affect insulin sensitivity. They are listed above on this page.

It will be useful to you. Short-acting and ultra-short-acting drugs are administered to diabetics when they need to quickly reduce high sugar levels. Long-acting and intermediate-acting insulin should not be used in such situations.

In addition to insulin injections, diabetics will benefit from drinking plenty of water or herbal tea. Of course, without honey, sugar and other sweets. Drinking liquid dilutes the blood, reduces the concentration of glucose in it, and also helps the kidneys remove some of the excess glucose from the body.

A diabetic needs to determine exactly how much 1 unit of insulin reduces his glucose level. This can be learned over a period of days or weeks through trial and error. Each time the dose is calculated, the resulting figure must be adjusted for weather, infectious diseases and other factors.

There are situations when sugar has already jumped, you need to bring it down urgently, but you have not yet had time to accumulate accurate data by trial and error. How to calculate the insulin dose in this case? You will have to use indicative information.

You can use the dose calculation method below at your own peril and risk. An overdose of insulin can cause unpleasant symptoms, impaired consciousness and even death.

In an adult with a body weight of 63 kg, 1 unit of ultra-short insulin Humalog, Apidra or NovoRapid lowers blood sugar approximately by 3 mmol/l. The greater the body weight and the higher the body fat content, the weaker the insulin acts. For example, in an obese patient with type 2 diabetes weighing 126 kg, 1 unit of Humalog, Apidra or NovoRapid will reduce sugar approximately by 1.5 mmol/l. It is necessary to make a proportion taking into account the body weight of the diabetic.

If you don’t know how to make a proportion, and you’re not sure that you can calculate it accurately, then it’s better not to even try. Seek help from someone competent. An error in the dosage of short-term or ultra-fast insulin can have serious consequences, even kill the patient.

Let's say a diabetic weighs 71 kg. His rapid insulin is for example Apidra. Having drawn up the proportion, you calculated that 1 unit will reduce sugar by 2.66 mmol/l. Let's say the patient's blood glucose level is 14 mmol/l. It needs to be reduced to 6 mmol/l. Difference with target: 14 mmol/l - 6 mmol/l = 8 mmol/l. Required insulin dose: 8 mmol/l / 2.66 mmol/l = 3.0 units.

Let us repeat once again that this is an approximate dose. It is guaranteed not to be a perfect fit. You can inject 25-30% less to reduce the risk of hypoglycemia. This calculation method should only be used if the patient has not yet accumulated accurate information through trial and error.

The drug Actrapid is approximately 1.5 times weaker than Humalog, Apidra or NovoRapid. It also takes effect later. However, Dr. Bernstein recommends using it. Because short-term insulin is better compatible with a low-carbohydrate diet than ultra-short insulin.

The insulin dose calculation method given above is not suitable for diabetic children. Because their sensitivity to insulin is several times higher than that of adults. An injection of rapid insulin in a dose calculated according to the indicated method will most likely cause severe hypoglycemia in the child.

What are the features of calculating the dose of insulin for diabetic children?

In diabetic children before adolescence, insulin sensitivity is several times higher than in adults. Therefore, children require negligible doses compared to adult patients. As a rule, parents who control diabetes in their children have to dilute insulin with saline solution purchased at the pharmacy. This helps to accurately inject doses of 0.25 units.

Above, we discussed how to calculate the insulin dose for an adult with a body weight of 63 kg. Let's say a diabetic child weighs 21 kg. It can be assumed that he will need a dose of insulin 3 times less than an adult, with the same blood glucose levels. But this assumption will be incorrect. A suitable dose will most likely be not 3, but 7-9 times less.

Diabetic children are at significant risk of episodes of low blood sugar caused by insulin overdose. To avoid an overdose, start insulin injections with deliberately low doses. Then they are slowly increased until the blood glucose level becomes stably normal. It is undesirable to use potent drugs Humalog, Apidra and NovoRapid. Try Actrapid instead.

Children under 8-10 years old can start injecting insulin with a dose of 0.25 units. Many parents doubt that such a “homeopathic” dose will have any effect. However, most likely, you will notice the effect from the first injection based on the glucometer readings. If necessary, increase the dose by 0.25-0.5 units every 2-3 days.

The information on calculating insulin doses given above is suitable for diabetic children who strictly adhere to the dose. Fruits and others should be excluded completely. The child needs to be explained the consequences of eating junk food. There is no need to use an insulin pump. However, it is advisable to wear a continuous glucose monitoring system if you can afford it.

Today, the cheapest and most common option for administering insulin into the body is the use of disposable syringes.

Due to the fact that less concentrated solutions of the hormone were previously produced, 1 ml contained 40 units of insulin, so in the pharmacy you could find syringes designed for a concentration of 40 units/ml.

Today, 1 ml of solution contains 100 units of insulin; appropriate insulin syringes of 100 units/ml are used for its administration.

Since both types of syringes are currently available for sale, it is important for diabetics to carefully understand the dosage and be able to correctly calculate the administered rate.

Otherwise, if they are used incorrectly, severe hypoglycemia may occur.

Markup features

So that diabetics can easily navigate, a graduation is applied to the insulin syringe, which corresponds to the concentration of the hormone in the bottle. Moreover, each marking division on the cylinder indicates the number of units, not milliliters of solution.

So, if a syringe is intended for a concentration of U40, on the marking where 0.5 ml is usually indicated, the indicator is 20 units; at the level of 1 ml, 40 units are indicated.

In this case, one insulin unit is 0.025 ml of the hormone. Thus, the U100 syringe has a reading of 100 units instead of 1 ml, and 50 units at the level of 0.5 ml.

For diabetes mellitus, it is important to use an insulin syringe only at the required concentration. To use insulin 40 units/ml you should buy a U40 syringe, and for 100 units/ml you need to use the corresponding U100 syringe.

What happens if you use the wrong insulin syringe? For example, if a solution with a concentration of 40 units/ml is drawn into a U100 syringe, instead of the expected 20 units, only 8 will be obtained, which is more than half the required dosage. Similarly, when using a U40 syringe and a solution of 100 units/ml, instead of the required dose of 20 units, 50 units will be drawn.

So that diabetics can accurately determine the required amount of insulin, the developers came up with an identification mark that can be used to distinguish one type of insulin syringe from another.

In particular, the U40 syringe, sold today in pharmacies, has a red protective cap, and the U 100 has an orange protective cap.

Insulin syringe pens, which are designed for a concentration of 100 units/ml, are similarly graduated. Therefore, in the event of a device failure, it is important to take this feature into account and purchase only U 100 syringes from the pharmacy.

Otherwise, if the wrong choice is made, a severe overdose is possible, which can lead to coma and even death of the patient.

Therefore, it is better to purchase a set of necessary tools in advance, which will always be kept at hand, and protect yourself from danger.

Needle length features

To avoid mistakes in dosage, it is also important to choose needles of the right length. As you know, they come in removable and non-removable types.

Today they are produced in lengths of 8 and 12.7 mm. They are not made shorter, since some insulin bottles still have thick stoppers.

Also, needles have a certain thickness, which is indicated by the symbol G with a number. The diameter of the needle determines how painful the insulin will be injected. When using thinner needles, the injection on the skin is practically not felt.

Determining the division price

Today you can buy an insulin syringe at the pharmacy, the volume of which is 0.3, 0.5 and 1 ml. The exact capacity can be found by looking at the back of the package.

Most often, diabetics use 1 ml syringes for insulin therapy, which can have three types of scales:

• Consisting of 40 units;
• Consisting of 100 units;
• Graduated in milliliters.

In some cases, syringes may be sold that are marked with two scales at once.

How is the division price determined?

The first step is to find out how much the total volume of the syringe is; these figures are usually indicated on the packaging.

In this case, only the intervals are counted. For example, for a U40 syringe the calculation is ¼=0.25 ml, and for U100 - 1/10=0.1 ml. If the syringe has millimeter graduations, no calculations are required, since the number placed indicates the volume.

After this, the volume of the small division is determined. For this purpose, you need to count the number of all small divisions between one large one. Next, the previously calculated volume of the large division is divided by the number of small ones.

After the calculations have been made, you can dial the required amount of insulin.

How to calculate dosage

The insulin hormone is available in standard packages and is dosed in biological units of action, which are designated as units. Typically, one 5 ml bottle contains 200 units of the hormone. If you make calculations, it turns out that 1 ml of solution contains 40 units of medicine.

Insulin administration is best done using a special insulin syringe, which indicates divisions in units. When using standard syringes, it is necessary to carefully calculate how many units of the hormone are included in each division.

To do this, you need to remember that 1 ml contains 40 units, based on this, you need to divide this figure by the number of divisions.

So, with one division reading 2 units, the syringe is filled eight divisions to inject 16 units of insulin into the patient. Similarly, with an indicator of 4 units, four divisions are filled with the hormone.

One vial of insulin is intended for multiple use. The unused solution is stored in the refrigerator on a shelf, but it is important that the medicine does not freeze. When using long-acting insulin, before drawing it into the syringe, shake the bottle until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.

After removing from the refrigerator, the solution must be warmed to room temperature by keeping it indoors for half an hour.

How to take the medicine correctly

After the syringe, needle and tweezers are sterilized, the water is carefully drained. While the instruments are cooling, the aluminum cap is removed from the bottle and the stopper is wiped with an alcohol solution.

After this, the syringe is removed and assembled using tweezers, but you must not touch the piston and tip with your hands. After assembly, a thick needle is installed and the remaining water is removed by pressing the piston.

The piston needs to be installed just above the desired mark. The needle pierces the rubber stopper, descends 1-1.5 cm deep and the remaining air in the syringe is squeezed into the bottle. After this, the needle rises up along with the bottle and insulin is drawn 1-2 divisions more than the required dosage.

The needle is pulled out of the plug and removed, and a new thin needle is installed in its place using tweezers. To remove air, you need to press the piston a little, after which two drops of solution should drain from the needle. When all the manipulations are done, you can safely inject insulin.

Treatment of diabetes mellitus involves a number of measures aimed at maintaining glycemic levels within normal limits.

To achieve this goal, some patients have to not only follow a diet, but also take special medications or subcutaneously inject the amount of insulin required by the body. Thanks to special syringes, hormone injections can be performed quickly and painlessly.

What is an insulin syringe?

Insulin therapy requires the mandatory use of special medical devices and supplies.

Most often, insulin syringes are used to administer medication. In appearance, they are similar to conventional medical devices, as they contain a body, a special piston, and a needle.

What products are there:

• glass;
• plastic.

The disadvantage of a glass product is the need to regularly count the number of units of the drug, so it is now used less often. The plastic version ensures that injections are performed in the required proportion. The drug is completely consumed, leaving no residue inside the body. Any of the listed syringes can be used several times, provided they are constantly treated with an antiseptic and used by one patient.

Plastic products are available in several versions. You can buy them at almost every pharmacy.

Needle volume and length

Insulin syringes can have different volumes, which determine the amount of insulin they hold, and the length of the needle. Each model has a scale and special divisions that help you determine how many milliliters of medicine you can put into the body.

According to established standards, 1 ml of medicine is equal to 40 units/ml. Such a medical device is marked u40. Some countries use insulins containing 100 units in each ml of solution. To perform injections with such hormones, you will need to purchase special syringes engraved u100. Before using the instruments, it is necessary to additionally determine the concentration of the administered drug.

The presence of pain at the time of injection of the drug depends on the selected insulin needle. The medicine is delivered by subcutaneous injection into the fatty tissue. Its accidental entry into the muscles contributes to the development of hypoglycemia, so you need to choose the right needle. Its thickness is selected taking into account the area on the body where the medicine will be injected.

Types of needles depending on length:

• short (4-5 mm);
• medium (6-8 mm);
• long (over 8 mm).

The optimal length is considered to be 5-6 mm. Using needles with such parameters prevents the drug from entering the muscles, eliminating the risk of complications.

Types of syringes

The patient may not have medical skills, but he can easily inject the drug. To do this, it is enough to choose the most convenient version of the insulin product. The use of syringes that are suitable for the patient in all respects allows the injection to be given completely painlessly, and also provides the necessary control over the dosage of the hormone.

There are several types of instruments:

• with a removable needle or integrated;
• syringe pens.

With replaceable needles

Such devices differ from other similar devices in the ability to remove the nozzles together with the needle at the time of drawing the medicine. The piston in the product moves smoothly and gently along the body, reducing the risk of errors.

This feature is an important advantage, since even a minor error in dosage can lead to negative consequences. Products that allow for changing needles minimize the risk of complications during insulin therapy.

The most common disposable instruments have a volume of 1 ml and are designed to collect 40-80 units of the drug.

Syringes with an integrated or replaceable needle are practically no different from each other. The only difference between them is that the needle is soldered into the product, which does not have the ability to change the piercing nozzle.

Advantages of syringes with built-in components:

• safer, since they do not lose drops of the drug and ensure that the patient receives the selected dosage in full;
• have no dead zone.

The remaining characteristics, including divisions and scale on the case, are identical to those of other medical products.

Syringe pen

A medical instrument that includes an automatic piston is called a syringe pen. The product can be either plastic or glass. The first option is the most common among patients.

Composition of the syringe pen:

• frame;
• a cartridge filled with medicine;
• dispenser;
• needle cap and protection;
• rubber compressor;
• indicator (digital);
• button for administering medication;
• pen cap.

The advantages of such devices:

• painless puncture;
• ease of operation;
• no need to change the concentration of the drug, since special cartridges are used;
• a cartridge with medicine lasts for a long period;
• have a detailed scale for selecting dosage;
• It is possible to adjust the puncture depth.

Flaws:

• the injector cannot be repaired if a malfunction occurs;
• it is difficult to choose a suitable cartridge with medicine;
• high price.

Divisions

The graduation on the product corresponds to the concentration of the drug. The markings on the body indicate a certain number of units of medicine. For example, in injections intended for u40 concentration, 0.5 milliliters corresponds to 20 units.

Using improperly labeled products may result in an incorrectly administered dose of the drug. To correctly select the volume of the hormone, a special distinctive sign is provided. u40 products have a red cap, while u100 instruments have an orange cap.

Insulin pens also have their own graduations. Injectors are used with hormones whose concentration is 100 units. The accuracy of dosages depends on the length of the step between divisions: the smaller it is, the more accurately the amount of insulin will be determined.

How to use?

Before performing the procedure, you should prepare all the instruments and a bottle of medicine.

If it is necessary to simultaneously administer hormones with long-acting and short-acting effects, you need to:

1. Introduce air into the container with the drug (extended).
2. Perform a similar procedure using short-acting insulin.
3. Use a syringe to draw up a short-acting medicine, and then only a long-acting one.

Rules for administering the drug:

1. Wipe the medicine bottle with an alcohol wipe. If you need to administer a large amount, the insulin must first be shaken until a homogeneous suspension is obtained.
2. Place the needle in the bottle, then pull the piston to the desired division.
3. There should be a little more solution in the syringe than needed.
4. If bubbles appear, the solution should be shaken and the air should be squeezed out with a piston.
5. Wipe the injection area with an antiseptic.
6. Make a fold in the skin, then inject.
7. After each injection, the needles must be changed if they are replaceable.
8. If the length of the piercer exceeds 8 mm, then the injection must be performed at an angle to avoid getting into the muscle.

The photo shows how to properly administer the medicine:

How to calculate insulin?

To administer the drug correctly, you must be able to calculate its dosage. The amount of insulin a patient needs depends on the glycemic level. The dosage cannot be the same all the time, as it depends on the XE (bread units). It is important for the patient to learn to calculate the need for insulin, since it is impossible to understand differently how many ml of medication will be needed to compensate for the carbohydrates eaten.

Each division on the injector is a graduation of the drug corresponding to a specific volume of solution. If the patient received 40 units, then using a solution of 100 units, he will need to administer 2.5 units/ml on u100 products (100:40 = 2.5).

Calculation rule table:

Video material on calculating the required doses of insulin:

How to use the pen?

The use of a syringe pen is as follows:

1. Install a new disposable needle on the product.
2. Determine the dose of the drug.
3. Scroll the scale until the desired number appears on the scale.
4. Perform the injection by pressing the button located on top of the handle (after the puncture).

Video instructions for using a syringe pen:

Cost and selection rules

People who regularly carry out insulin therapy know how much the materials necessary for this cost.

Approximate cost per piece:

• from 130 rubles for product u100;
• from 150 rubles for product u40;
• about 2000 rubles for a syringe pen.

The indicated prices apply only to imported devices. The cost of domestic (one-time use) is approximately 4-12 rubles.

There are standards that should be considered when selecting insulin therapy products.

These include:

1. The length of the needle depends on the age of the patient. It is recommended to use needles with a length of 5 mm for small children, and up to 12 for adults.
2. Obese people should use products that puncture to a depth of 8 mm or more.
3. Cheap products have lower quality and reliability.
4. Not all syringe pens can easily find replacement cartridges, so when purchasing them, you should find out in advance information about the availability of consumables necessary for injections.

It is important to understand that the effectiveness of insulin therapy depends on the injection tool chosen by the patient.

Very often, diabetics prefer to use an insulin syringe; this is the cheapest and most common option for introducing the hormone insulin into the body. Previously, only solutions with lower concentrations were offered for sale; 1 ml contained 40 units of insulin. In this regard, diabetics purchased insulin syringes U 40 with 40 units of insulin per 1 ml.

Today, 1 ml in an insulin syringe contains a dose of 100 units of insulin, so to accurately determine the dosage, a diabetic uses U 100 syringes with different needles. If more medication is administered, the person is at increased risk of severe hypoglycemia.

At the moment, both versions of devices for administering insulin can be purchased in pharmacies, so it is important to know exactly how they differ and how to take the medicine correctly. If a diabetic uses a 1 ml insulin syringe, how do you know how many units of insulin are being drawn and how to calculate the dose in the syringe?

Graduation on an insulin syringe

Every diabetic needs to understand how to draw insulin into a syringe. To correctly calculate the dose of insulin, insulin syringes have special divisions, the price of which corresponds to the concentration of the drug in one bottle.

Moreover, each division indicates what unit of insulin is, and not how many ml of solution was collected. In particular, if you draw up a medicine at a concentration of U40, the value of a unit of 0.15 ml will be 6 units, 05 ml will be 20 units, and a unit of 1 ml will be equal to 40 units. Accordingly, 1 unit of medication will be 0.025 ml of insulin.

The difference between U 40 and U 100 is that in the second case, 1 ml insulin syringes are 100 units, 0.25 ml - 25 units, 0.1 ml - 10 units. Since the volume and concentration of such syringes may differ, you should figure out which device is suitable for the patient.

1. When choosing the concentration of the drug and the type of insulin syringe, you should consult your doctor. If you are introducing a concentration of 40 units of insulin per milliliter, you must use U40 syringes; when using a different concentration, choose a U100 type device.
2. What happens if you use the wrong insulin syringes? For example, using a U100 syringe for a solution with a concentration of 40 units/ml, a diabetic can inject only 8 units of the drug instead of the required 20 units. This dosage is two times lower than the required amount of medicine.
3. If, on the contrary, you take a U40 syringe and draw up a solution of 100 units/ml, the diabetic will receive 50 units of the hormone instead of 20. It is important to understand how dangerous this is for human life.

To easily determine the required type of device, the developers came up with a distinctive feature. In particular, U100 syringes have an orange protective cap, and U40 syringes have a red one.

Modern syringe pens also have integrated calibration, which is designed for 100 units/ml of insulin. Therefore, if the device breaks down and you urgently need to give an injection, you need to buy only U100 insulin syringes at the pharmacy.

Otherwise, as a result of using the wrong device, excessively collected milliliters can cause a diabetic coma and even the death of a diabetic.

Choosing an insulin needle

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To make the injection painless, it is necessary to select the correct diameter and length of the needle. The smaller the diameter, the less noticeable the pain will be during the injection; this fact was tested on seven patients. The thinnest needles are usually used by younger diabetics for the first injections.

Insulin syringes come with an integrated needle and a removable one. Doctors recommend choosing hormone injection devices with a non-removable needle, this ensures that you receive the full dosage of the drug, which was measured in advance.

The fact is that a certain amount of insulin is retained in the removable needle; as a result of this error, a person may not receive 7-6 units of the drug.

Insulin needles can have the following lengths:

• Short – 4-5 mm;
• Medium – 6-8 mm;
• Long – more than 8 mm.

Too long a length of 12.7 mm is practically not used today, since its use increases the risk of intramuscular ingestion of the drug.

The optimal option for children and adults is a needle 8 mm long.

How to determine the division price

At the moment, in pharmacies you can find three-component insulin syringes with a volume of 0.3, 0.5 and 1 ml. Information about the exact capacity can be found on the back of the package.

Typically, diabetics prefer to use a one-ml syringe, the scale on which can consist of 40 or 100 units, and sometimes the graduation is in milliliters. There are also devices with a double scale.

Before using an insulin syringe, it is necessary to determine the total volume. After this, the price of a large division is determined by dividing the total volume of the syringe by the number of divisions. It is important to count only the gaps. If there are millimeter divisions, such a calculation is not required.

Next you need to calculate the volume of small divisions. To do this, find out their number in one large division. If you divide the volume of a large division by the number of small divisions, you get the desired division price, which a diabetic is guided by. An insulin injection can be given only after the patient can confidently say: “I understand how to calculate the dosage of the drug.”

Insulin dosage calculation

This drug is produced in standard packaging and dosed in biological units of action. As a rule, a regular 5 ml bottle contains 200 units. hormone. So that 1 ml contains 40 units. insulin, you need to divide the total dosage by the capacity of the bottle.

The drug must be administered strictly with special syringes intended for insulin therapy. In a one-gram insulin syringe, one milliliter is divided into 20 divisions.

Thus, to obtain 16 units. hormone dial eight divisions. You can get 32 ​​units of insulin by filling 16 divisions with the medicine. Another dosage of four units is measured in a similar way. drug. A diabetic must fill two bars to get 4 units of insulin. The same principle is used to calculate 12 and 26 units.

If a standard injection device is used, it is important to carefully calculate the unit division. Considering that there are 40 units in 1 ml, this figure is divided by the total number of divisions. For injection, it is allowed to use disposable syringes of 2 ml and 3 ml.

1. If used, the bottle should be shaken before injection to obtain a homogeneous mixture.
2. Each bottle can be used multiple times and a second dosage can be taken at any desired time.
3. The medicine must be stored in the refrigerator, avoiding freezing.
4. Before giving the injection, the drug taken out of the refrigerator must be kept indoors for 30 minutes so that it warms up to room temperature.

How to dial up insulin correctly

Before injection, all injection instruments are sterilized, after which the water is drained. While the syringe, needles and tweezers are cooling, the aluminum protective layer is removed from the bottle, and the stopper is wiped with an alcohol solution.

Using tweezers, remove and assemble the syringe without touching the piston and tip with your hands. Next, install a thick needle, press the piston and remove the remaining liquid from the syringe.

The piston is installed slightly above the required mark. The rubber stopper is pierced, the needle is lowered 1.5 cm deep into the bottle, and then the remaining amount of air is squeezed out with a piston. Afterwards, the needle is raised up without removing it from the bottle, and the drug is taken in a slightly larger dosage.

The needle is pulled out of the cork and removed, and a new thin needle is installed in its place with tweezers. The air is removed by pressing on the piston, and two drops of medicine are removed from the needle. Only after this is an insulin injection given to the selected location on the body.

Information about insulin syringes is provided in the video in this article.

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Example: A patient was admitted to the department with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes mellitus. In the prescription sheet, the doctor prescribed this patient the administration of simple insulin 5 times a day, 4 units - subcutaneously. In the treatment room there are bottles with simple insulin in the dosage: 1 ml contains 100 units of insulin and insulin syringes with a volume of 1 ml or 100 units of insulin.

The injection site for subcutaneous injection is selected and inspected. And the nurse administers to the patient only the required 4 units of insulin (in accordance with the prescription sheet).

ATTENTION. There should be no insulin left in the syringe, because... an additional 1-2 units of insulin are released with air when preparing the syringe for use.

Features of insulin administration

Insulin is administered subcutaneously. Injection sites: middle third of the outer surface of the thigh, subscapular region, anterior abdominal wall at the level of the navel, middle third of the posterior surface of the shoulder.

When inserted into the shoulder and thigh area, the needle is inserted into the fold from top to bottom; in the area of ​​the scapula – from bottom to top; in the area of ​​the anterior abdominal wall - from the side.

After insulin administration, the injection site is not massaged.

After insulin administration, the patient must be reminded to eat.

Preparing the insulin bottle and syringe for use

1. Insulin is available in 5 ml bottles containing 100 units of insulin per 1 ml (less often 40 units).

2. Insulin is stored in the compartment in the refrigerator at a temperature of + 1 * C to + 10 * C, freezing is not allowed.

3. The insulin bottle is opened and processed in accordance with the rules for opening bottles. Before each insulin set, the cap is treated with 70* alcohol. Be sure to allow the alcohol to dry.

4. Before administration, the insulin in the vial is warmed up to room temperature, for which the insulin is taken out of the refrigerator 1 hour before administration (or you can hold the vial with insulin in your hand for 3-5 minutes).

5. To administer insulin, insulin syringes are used, which have scales (in ml and in units). There are several types of syringes:

syringes with 2 scales

Syringe for 1 ml and 100 units (with a “price” division of 1 unit);

Syringe for 1 ml and 100 units (with a “price” division of 2 units);

Syringe for 1 ml and 40 units (with a division price of 1 unit);

universal syringes with 3 scales

Syringe for 1 ml and 100 units and 40 units (with a division price on the unit scale of 1 unit).

6. ATTENTION. Sometimes at the department the insulin release form does not match the syringes available at the department (for example: there are bottles of insulin containing 40 units of insulin in 1 ml, and syringes - 1 ml and 100 units).

Then it is necessary to recalculate the price of dividing the syringe in order to correctly administer the required dose of insulin.