Filter needles

[Lurcher-lady]

I’m hearing people say that a special filter needle is needed to draw up the fluid, to prevent minute glass particles getting into the body. Is this correct?

[fbirder]

Never used them. Never seen the need for them. The nurses don't use them.

[Lurcher-lady in reply to fbirder]

That’s what I was thinking, never saw the nurse use them, but on a forum people are talking of blood clots forming on broken glass and killing you! I’ll ignore them. Do you use a separate drawing up needle?

[Foggyme Administrator in reply to Lurcher-lady]

Lurched-lady. Just a quick query... please can I ask, when you say ‘on a forum'...what forum does this refer to...can I safely assume that it’s not this one? 🤞

[Lurcher-lady in reply to Foggyme]

Lol, no it’s not this one, it’s the one=linked to Dr ****** book. I’ll get back with which one.

[Foggyme Administrator in reply to Lurcher-lady]

No worries Lurcher-lady...just so long as it wasn’t this forum.

Sounds very much like it’s on of the Facebook groups (some not renowned for their accuracy).

Many thanks for replying 👍

p.s. just going to edit your reply to redact Dr’s name 👍

[fbirder in reply to Lurcher-lady]

Say no more.

[Lurcher-lady in reply to fbirder]

I’m guessing that books frowned on then

[wedgewood]

I agree with fbirder .I have self-injected for more than 3 years and never used a filter needle . I never saw a nurse use one . But if it bothers you , they are obtainable from medisave.co.uk . They are blunt- ended and 1 1/2 inches long , They cost about £21.00 for 100 .

[Lurcher-lady in reply to wedgewood]

Thank both. I guess if nobodies suffered blood clots from not using them, I’ll leave them at that price 🙂

[wedgewood in reply to Lurcher-lady]

BTW , I do use a withdrawing needle , because I put the needle right to the bottom of the ampoule , to get every drop of the precious juice , so it touches the bottom , which makes it blunt . ( ouch!)

[Lurcher-lady in reply to wedgewood]

Thank you, think I’m sorted now Just need a body sitter in case I keel over haha.

[Laundretta in reply to Lurcher-lady]

I did my first injection sitting on the loo. Fainted. Fell off! Other than a few bruises I was fine but I now sit somewhere safer!! Good luck!

[Foggyme Administrator]

Lurched-lady. Never used them in previous nursing career, never use them myself, current surgery nurses never use them, not aware of them being used when given drugs during hospital visits 👍

And GP never used one yesterday 😉

[Showgem]

The nurses at my surgery have just started using them to filter out any minute particles of glass.

[5576]

Just to put the other side across. I was trained to use safety eclipse needles and a blunt fill needle with filter as this is considered best practice and although not widely used I was told the nhs will be moving this way. That said, you self inject so your decision entirely!

[waveylines]

The nurse at my surgery insisted they are used.....so my gp provides them as I self inject.

[Dogs6188]

Yes and to prevent cross contamination i use green for drawing and blue to inject

[Lurcher-lady]

Can I ask why blue to inject and are the green ones filters?

[Wispymisty in reply to Lurcher-lady]

The different colours just reflect how fine the needle is.

[Wispymisty]

When I was a practice nurse we drew up with one needle then changed it for a second to inject with. We were told that particles may stay within the first needle and then be flushed back out during injection. Also it was to ensure the injecting needle was as sharp as possible.

[Martin_12]

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/154...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/217...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/271...

After reading these articles and realising that I will be needing regular injections for the rest of my life, I now use filter needles every time. In Australia they are AU$0.50 each.

[Nanc72]

I am in the US and when we did them we changed out the needle, but it was only because of blunting like someone else mentioned. It was a larger gauge to draw and finer gauge to administer. We don’t use the ampules here either, it’s a 30ml vial. Never heard of a filtered needle being used.

[Lurcher-lady in reply to Nanc72]

I suppose if not using ampoules you’d not need to filter as no broken glass, well that’s what I’m guessing.

[Ghound]

Hi, as a former nurse I echo the replies of the others; ordinary needles, just change from green to blue after drawing up . Ps: Sighthounds are the best ! 😃 🐾

[Lurcher-lady]

Thank you again everyone. Yes Ghound, there’s always a long dog here. Used to be two always, but in older age, ones enough