Calculation of the insulin dose depending on the type and volume of the insulin syringe in milliliters. How many milliliters are in an insulin syringe?

Very often diabetics prefer to use 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 U 40 insulin syringes with 40 units of insulin per 1 ml.

Today 1 ml in insulin syringe contains a dose of insulin per 100 units, so for precise definition dosage, the diabetic uses U 100 syringes with various needles. If the medicine is administered into more, a person's risk of severe hypoglycemia increases.

On at the moment In pharmacies you can buy both types of devices for administering insulin, 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 in 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.

When choosing a concentration medicine and the type of insulin syringe, you should consult your doctor. If you are introducing a concentration of 40 units of insulin in one milliliter, you must use U40 syringes; when using a different concentration, choose a U100 type device.
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.
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.

For simple definition The developers came up with a distinctive feature for the required type of device. 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 may cause 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 devices for injecting hormones 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 much longer length 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, you can find three-component insulin syringes in pharmacies 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 is sometimes marked 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 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 total quantity divisions. For injection it is allowed to use disposable syringes of 2 ml and 3 ml.

If used, the bottle should be shaken before injection to obtain a homogeneous mixture.
Each bottle can be used multiple times, a second dosage can be obtained at any time. right time.
The medicine must be stored in the refrigerator, avoiding freezing.
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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Latest discussions.

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 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, if the device breaks down, 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 in advance necessary tools, which will always be kept at hand, and warn yourself against 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 reverse side packaging.

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 this indicator divide 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 slightly press the piston, after which two drops of solution should drain from the needle. When all the manipulations are done, you can safely inject insulin.

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. You can stop blood glucose levels from spiking even when severe diabetes Type 1 in adults and children. And even more so, keep normal sugar 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:

It is necessary to observe the behavior of blood sugar in a diabetic for several days. different watches, and then select an insulin therapy regimen.

Insulin in the treatment of type 2 and type 1 diabetes

Please note that large doses of insulin are unstable and unpredictable. Their strength is 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 by one 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 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. Good news: the needles on insulin syringes and syringe 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.

Target blood sugar levels are 3.9-5.5 mmol/L consistently 24 hours a day. Patients who have overweight, add the medication Galvus Met, Glucophage or Siofor to the diet, gradually increasing its dosage.

Read about tablets containing metformin:

By going to healthy eating and after 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 stably 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 drug injections extended validity. 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 though strict adherence diets. 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.

At high rates glucose in the blood, you need to start insulin therapy immediately, it is harmful to delay time.

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 of a diabetic patient returns to normal. Professional journals describe cases where patients with type 2 diabetes received 100-150 units per day. Another question is what high doses hormones stimulate fat deposits in the body and worsen 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 by 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 healthy diet, they count their carbohydrate consumption not in bread units, but in grams. 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. Types of insulin: extra-long, extended, medium, short and ultra short acting Each one works 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-term insulin is better suited for a low-carbohydrate diet than ultra-short 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 severe 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

Blood Sugar Level	Blood sugar above 10-11 mmol/l significantly reduces insulin sensitivity. For example, a diabetic needs to inject 1 unit to reduce sugar from 8 to 5 mmol/l. However, to reduce sugar from 13 to 10 mmol/l, he may need a dose of 25-50% more.
Body weight, fat reserves in the body	The more fat you have in your body, the lower your insulin sensitivity. Unfortunately, high doses of this hormone stimulate fat deposits. And obesity, in turn... A vicious circle arises. You can break it with the help of exercise and medication.
Age of the diabetic patient	In children, insulin sensitivity is very high. For example, there are two patients with type 1 diabetes - an adult weighing 60 kg and a child weighing 20 kg. It can be assumed that the dose for a child is 3 times lower than for an adult. In fact, the child requires a dose of insulin that is 7-10 times lower. When trying to inject 1/3 adult dose there will be severe hypoglycemia.
Taking diabetes pills	Metformin is a tablet that is used to increase insulin sensitivity in overweight diabetics. There are also medications that stimulate the pancreas to produce more of this hormone. But they should not be accepted. See more details.
Other medicines	Diuretics, beta blockers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hormonal contraceptives, L-thyroxine may slightly increase blood sugar and insulin dosages required. MAO inhibitors and antidepressants may have opposite effects. Discuss with your doctor!
Times of Day	From approximately 4 to 9 a.m., the need for insulin increases due to the dawn phenomenon. Because of this, it is difficult to normalize sugar in the morning on an empty stomach. The dose of rapid insulin before breakfast should be approximately 20% higher than the same amount of carbohydrates eaten at lunch and dinner. Read more.
Gastroparesis and other digestive problems	Gastroparesis is a disorder in the movement of food from the stomach to the intestines. It is caused by diabetic damage to the autonomic nervous system, which controls digestion. This problem can complicate the selection of an appropriate injection schedule and medications. Read the article “Diabetic Gastroparesis” for more details.
Inflammatory infectious diseases	Spicy and chronic inflammation significantly reduces insulin sensitivity. During colds and other infectious diseases, dosages should be increased by 1.5-2 times to keep blood glucose normal. Common reasons unexplained high sugar - hidden viral or bacterial infection, dental caries.
Weather, air temperature	In warm weather, sensitivity to long- and fast-acting insulin is higher. Accordingly, dosages should be lower. In cold weather the opposite is true. Probably cloudy weather and lack of sun have the same effect as cold.
Physical activity	Exercising has a complex effect on blood sugar levels. As a rule, they greatly reduce the required insulin dosages, but sometimes they can increase them. It is advisable to choose types of physical activity that do not stimulate the release of stress hormones into the blood.
Stress, sleep duration and quality	Acute stress causes blood sugar to skyrocket in diabetics. recommends taking the medicine propranolol for prophylaxis before exams and other acute situations. Lack of sleep reduces insulin sensitivity. Chronic stress should not be an excuse to break your treatment regimen.
Caffeine in large doses	Excessive caffeine consumption increases blood sugar and insulin levels. Limit yourself to two to three cups of coffee per day. Free yourself from caffeine addiction.
Place and depth of injection	It is necessary to regularly change injection sites so that the absorption of the hormone does not deteriorate. The most experienced and advanced diabetics sometimes inject insulin intramuscularly when they need to quickly reduce high sugar. Don't try to do this yourself. Let the doctor teach you if you want. Read also,.
Hormonal levels in women	Before the onset of menstruation, women often experience fluid retention in the body and weight gain of up to 2 kg. Insulin sensitivity decreases. Its dosage needs to be increased slightly. In the first half of pregnancy, insulin sensitivity increases greatly, leading to diabetes remission. But in the second half and until childbirth, it decreases significantly.
Alcohol consumption	Moderate consumption alcoholic drinks, which do not contain carbohydrates, does not have a significant effect on blood sugar. But if you drink heavily, the risk increases many times. Diabetics who are treated with insulin should absolutely not get drunk. Read the article “” for more details.

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 to choose carefully optimal dosages to keep glucose levels stable at 4.0-5.5 mmol/l 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 weight;
level of physical activity.

A few more 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 the only way to select the optimal dosage, keep it stable normal level glucose 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 action- 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 reach good control 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 real even with severe violations 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 administered drug 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 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 injections long-acting insulin in the morning, they 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 long-term insulin was given, they will differ significantly in better side. 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 injecting insulin, it will be useful for a diabetic to drink a lot 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 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 your body weight and the higher your body fat content, the weaker your insulin is. 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 up to 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 saline solution, purchased at a 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 the 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 using 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.

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, 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.

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.

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

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.

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

How to calculate dosage

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.

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

diabeteshelp.org

Home page > Insulin > Marking of insulin syringes, calculation of insulin U-40 and U-100 Marking of insulin syringes, calculation of insulin U-40 and U-100

To calculate insulin and its dosage, it is worth considering that in the bottles that are presented on pharmaceutical markets Russia and the CIS countries contain 40 units of insulin per 1 milliliter.
The bottle is labeled U-40 (40 units/ml). Regular insulin syringes used by diabetics are designed specifically for this insulin. Before use, it is necessary to make an appropriate calculation of insulin according to the principle: 0.5 ml of insulin - 20 units, 0.25 ml - 10 units, 1 unit in a syringe with 40 divisions - 0.025 ml. Each mark on an insulin syringe marks a certain volume, the graduation into insulin units is a graduation by volume of solution, and is designed for U-40 insulin (Concentration 40 units/ml): 4 units of insulin - 0.1 ml of solution, 6 units of insulin - 0. 15 ml of solution, 40 units of insulin - 1 ml of solution.

In many countries around the world, insulin is used, which contains 100 units per 1 ml of solution (U-100). In this case, it is necessary to use special syringes.

They are currently no different from U-40 syringes, however, the applied graduation is intended only for calculating insulin with a U-100 concentration. This insulin is 2.5 times higher than the standard concentration (100 units/ml: 40 units/ml = 2.5).
When calculating insulin, the patient must know Determined by a doctor the dosage remains the same and is determined by the body’s need for a specific volume of the hormone. But if a diabetic used U-40 insulin, receiving 40 units per day, then when treated with U-100 insulin, he will still need 40 units. These 40 units just need to be injected with a U-100 syringe. If you inject U-100 insulin with a U-40 syringe, the amount of insulin injected should be 2.5 times less. For the sick diabetes mellitus When calculating insulin, you need to remember the formula: 40 units. U-40 is contained in 1 ml of solution and is equal to 40 units. insulin U-100 contained in 0.4 ml of solution. The dosage of insulin remains unchanged, only the volume of administered insulin decreases. This difference is taken into account in syringes designed for U-100.

chindolina.ru

I hope this information is useful and makes diabetic arithmetic easier for someone. Let's talk in this article about calculating the dose of insulin for diabetes.

Insulin dose calculation

Insulin is dosed in biological units of action (AU) and released in special vials. So, one 5 ml bottle contains 200 IU of insulin (there is a corresponding marking on the bottle), respectively, 1 ml contains 40 IU of the drug (200:5 = 40). It is better to inject a dose of insulin with a special syringe on which the units are indicated. When using regular insulin, before administering the drug, you need to find out how many units of insulin are in each division of the syringe. The calculation is made as follows: if 1 ml contains 40 units of insulin dose, this amount is divided by the number of divisions in 1 ml of the syringe and the amount of insulin dose in one division is obtained. For example, there are 20 divisions in 1 ml of a syringe, therefore there are 2 units in one division (40: 20 = 2). In the case when the patient needs to administer 16 units, eight divisions of the syringe are filled with the medicine. If there are 10 divisions in 1 ml of a syringe, then each division of the syringe corresponds to 4 units of insulin (40: 10 = 4). If it is necessary to administer 16 units of insulin, fill four divisions with the medicine.

Determination of the number of bread units

Main "marker" diet for patients with diabetes - carbohydrates. To determine their quantity in products it is used conventional unit calculation - bread unit (XE). Conventionally, it contains 12 g of net carbohydrates and increases blood sugar by 1.7-2.7 mmol/l. To calculate the amount of carbohydrates in XE in the finished product, you need to divide the amount of carbohydrates in 100 g of product indicated on the original packaging by 12 and you will get the number of bread units for the same 100 g. For example, the packaging indicates that in 100 g of this product contains 60 g of carbohydrates. When dividing the indicated number by 12, it turns out that 100 g of this product contains 5 XE.

Glycemic load (GL) is an indicator that reflects the quantity and quality of carbohydrates contained in foods. To calculate it, the formula is used: GL = GI (%): 100 and multiplied by the amount of carbohydrates in grams. Where GI is the glycemic index, which reflects the rate of absorption of carbohydrates in the body. It allows you to roughly estimate how blood sugar will increase after consuming a particular product compared to the standard (glucose or white bread). This indicator is expressed as a percentage. For example, GI = 70 means that after consuming 50 g of this product, the blood sugar level will be 70% of what appears after consuming 50 g of pure glucose.

For example, the GI of boiled potatoes in their jackets is 65%, and 100 g of such potatoes contains 11.5 g of carbohydrates. After consumption given quantity potatoes, the glycemic load will be: GL = 65: 100 x 11.5 = 7.5. For comparison, we define the same indicator for fried potatoes, the GI of which is 95%, and 100 g contains 23.4 g of carbohydrates - GL = 95:100 x 23.4 = 22.2.

This formula shows: the more carbohydrates in a product and the higher its GI, the higher the GN index, and, consequently, the load on the pancreas sharply increases. Depending on this, the degrees of GN are distinguished - low (0-10), medium (11-19), high 20 or more (for one serving). Glycemic index food products indicated in special tables that every diabetic has.

Signs of diabetes

According to experts, a significant number of people are predisposed to this disease. You can find out if you have it by answering the questions of a simple test.

— Do you feel a constant, unquenchable thirst?

— Do you experience discomfort due to the frequent urge to urinate, especially when you have to leave home for a long time?

— Do dried drops of urine leave dense white stains on laundry, reminiscent of starch marks?

— Do you periodically experience weakness and drowsiness?

— Do you notice a deterioration in your vision: the contours of objects blur, as if you are looking through fog?

— Are you bothered by periodic sensations of numbness and tingling in your palms and soles?

—You can’t get rid of acne?

— Do you have very dry skin, and cuts and scratches do not heal well?

- Does it bother you? itchy skin, especially in the perineal area?

— In recent months, have you lost 3-5 kg without putting any effort into it?

— Do you constantly feel very hungry, eat and can’t get enough?

The more affirmative answers you gave, the higher the likelihood of diabetes. In this case, you should immediately consult a doctor and take a blood and urine test for sugar.

www.vashaibolit.ru

E. S. ZHDANOVA, doctor

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease in which, as a result of a lack of the pancreatic hormone insulin in the body, disturbances in carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism occur. To treat diabetes mellitus, diet, glucose-lowering pills and insulin injections are used. It is very important for diabetic patients to be able to inject themselves with insulin.

WHAT YOU NEED TO HAVE AT HOME FOR INSULIN INJECTIONS

A special syringe with a capacity of 1 or 2 milliliters (grams) or with graduation in units, several needles (2-3 large ones for taking the medicine, and 3-4 thin ones for administering it), tweezers, cotton wool, alcohol. You should stock up on a sterilizer or set aside a small saucepan with a lid.

Before each injection, rinse the disassembled syringe, needles with mandrels (thin wires inserted inside and protecting the needles from contamination) and tweezers, and fill with cold water. boiled water and boil in a covered sterilizer or saucepan for 15 minutes. If the syringes and needles are new, then boil them for the first time for 40-45 minutes.

HOW MUCH TO TAKE MEDICATIONS

This must be calculated in advance. Each syringe has a certain number of divisions. You need to know how many units of insulin are contained in each division. The calculation is made as follows: one milliliter contains 40 units of insulin. 40 units are divided by the number of divisions to obtain the amount of insulin per division. For example, there are 20 divisions in one milliliter of a syringe, therefore, one division contains 2 units of insulin (40:20). If the patient needs to inject 16 units of insulin, then 8 divisions of the syringe (16:2) should be filled with the medicine. One-gram syringes with 10 divisions are now available. Each division corresponds to 4 units of insulin (40:10). If it is necessary to inject 16 units of insulin with such a syringe, it is filled into 4 divisions.

Insulin is available in standard packaging. The bottle contains 5 milliliters of the drug, or 20 units. Thus, one bottle is intended for several injections. The remaining medicine, as well as unused vials, should be stored in a cool, dark place, preferably in the refrigerator, on the shelves of the door, preventing the medicine from freezing.

If you are using long-acting insulin, then before drawing it into the syringe, shake the bottle until a homogeneous mixture is formed.

Before administration, the drug removed from the refrigerator must be warmed to room temperature by keeping it in the room for about 30 minutes.

HOW TO PUT MEDICATION INTO A SYRINGE

After sterilizing the syringe, needles and tweezers, the water is carefully drained. While they are cooling, use a knife to remove the circle from the aluminum cap that covers the insulin bottle, wipe the rubber stopper with alcohol, wash your hands with soap and, without covering the tap with them or wiping them with a towel, wipe your fingertips with a cotton swab moistened with alcohol. Take tweezers from the sterilizer and use them to remove and assemble the syringe without touching the plunger, syringe tip or needle with your hands. When the syringe is assembled, put a thick needle on it and remove drops of water with a few strokes of the piston.

The syringe plunger is placed slightly above the mark corresponding to the administered dose of insulin. Pierce the rubber cap with a needle and, inserting the needle 1-1.5 centimeters deep, squeeze the air in the syringe into the bottle. Then turn it with the needle up (the bottle is above the needle) and dial in insulin 1-2 divisions more than the required dose. Pull the needle out of the rubber cap and then remove it from the syringe; Use tweezers to place a thin needle on the syringe, removing the mandrel from it. Lightly press the plunger to remove air from the syringe, and let one or two drops of medicine drain from the tip of the needle (these are those extra 1-2 divisions). Now you can give the injection.

HOW TO ADMINISTER INSULIN

Insulin is injected subcutaneously into the outer surface of the shoulder, thighs, buttocks, central abdominal area and under the shoulder blades. It is more convenient to inject insulin into the thigh yourself.

Wipe the injection site with alcohol. Big and index fingers With your left hand, gather the skin into a thick fold and pierce it with a sweep, almost parallel to the surface. The needle should enter the skin 1-1.5 centimeters. After this, release the fold and slowly press the plunger with your index finger or thumb.

Make sure that insulin does not leak out of the syringe. The dose of medication administered must be very precise.

When the piston has entered the syringe all the way and there is no medicine left in it, apply a piece of cotton wool moistened with alcohol to the injection site and slowly remove the needle. There is no need to massage the resulting swelling so as not to accelerate the flow of insulin into the blood. You should also not inject in the same place.

When going on vacation or a business trip, you can use a case with alcohol to keep the syringe and needle in a sterile condition. Before injection, it is necessary to carefully remove any remaining alcohol from the syringe and needle, since alcohol, if it gets into the insulin, will weaken its effect.

lechebnik.info

Syringe markings

To prevent patients from getting confused, the manufacturer puts a special graduation on the syringe for them, which indicates the concentration of insulin in the bottle of medicine. It is worth noting that each mark on the cylinder does not at all indicate milliliters of solution, it indicates the number of units.

Features of marking division:

When a syringe is needed for U40 concentrate, on the marking line, where, as a rule, 0.5 ml is written, an indicator of 20 units is observed, and at the level of 1 ml, 40 units are written.
With all this, 1 insulin unit equals 0.025 ml of insulin.
The U100 syringe has a parameter of 100 units, not 1 ml, and 50 units - 0.5 ml.

Diabetes mellitus requires the use of an insulin syringe of the required concentration. If the patient uses the hormone 40 units/ml, then mandatory U40 is acquired, and when at 100 units/ml, then U100.

Many patients wonder what will happen if they make a mistake and use the wrong syringe? For example, when U100 is filled with liquid with a concentration of 40 units/ml, instead of the required 20 units, only 8 will be obtained. That is, the dosage will be half as much as what is needed in this situation.

Another analogue can be given, when U40 and a solution of 100 units/ml are used, but in reality only 50 units will be obtained, but 20 are needed.

So that a diabetic can easily choose the required insulin syringe, manufacturers have come up with a specific identification mark to help select the required syringe:

The 40 units syringe has a red protective cap.
The 100 unit syringe has an orange cap.

In a similar way, you can distinguish insulin pens, which are designed for 100 units. In this regard, if for some reason the pen breaks down or is lost, it is important to know how much volume is in the syringe or insulin pen, and how to distinguish them.

In situations where the patient purchased the wrong product, an insulin overdose cannot be ruled out, which can lead to serious consequences, and even death.

How to choose a needle and determine the division price?

Patients are faced with the task of not only choosing the correct volume of the syringe, but also selecting a needle of the required length. The pharmacy sells two types of needles:

Removable view.
Non-removable view.

Medical experts advise choosing the second option, because removable needles have the ability to retain a certain amount medicinal substance, the volume of which can be up to 7 units.

Today, needles are produced whose length is 8 and 12.7 millimeters. They are not produced shorter than this length, because bottles of medicine with thick rubber stoppers are still sold.

In addition, the thickness of the needle is also important. The fact is that when insulin is injected with a thick needle, the patient will feel pain. And using the thinnest possible needle, the injection is absolutely not felt by the diabetic. At the pharmacy you can buy syringes with different volumes:

0.3 ml.
0.5 ml.
1 ml.

In the vast majority of cases, patients prefer to opt for 1 ml, which is marked with three types of markings:

U 40.
U 100.
Scale in milliliters.

In some situations, you can purchase an insulin syringe that has a double designation. Before injecting yourself with medicine, you need to determine the entire volume of the syringe. To do this, you need to do the following:

First, the volume of the 1st division is calculated.
Next, the entire volume (indicated on the packaging) is divided by the number of divisions in the product.
Important: you need to count only intervals.
Then you need to determine the volume of one division: all small divisions are counted among all large ones.
Then, the volume of the large division is divided by the number of small divisions.

How is the insulin dose calculated?

It was found out how much the volume of the syringe is, and when to choose a syringe for U40 or U100, you need to find out how to calculate the dose of the hormone.

The hormonal solution is sold in packaging made according to medical standards, the dosage is indicated by BAU (biological units of action), which are designated “unit”.

Typically, a 5 ml vial contains 200 units of insulin. When you recalculate in a different way, it turns out that 1 ml of liquid contains 40 units of the drug.

Features of dosage administration:

It is advisable to make the injection with a special syringe that has single divisions.
If a standard syringe is used, then before administering the dose, you need to calculate the number of units included in each division.

The medicine bottle can be used many times. The medicine must be stored in a cold place, but not in the cold.

When using a hormone that has a prolonged effect, the bottle must be shaken before taking the medicine to obtain a homogeneous mixture. Before administration, the medicine must be warmed to room temperature.

To summarize, it is necessary to summarize that every diabetic should know what the syringe markings mean, which needle to choose correctly, and how to calculate the correct dosage. Only this knowledge will help you avoid negative consequences, and maintain the patient's health.

diabetik.com

Syringe - syringe is different

Doctors around the world began using a special syringe for insulin injection several decades ago. Several variants of syringe models for diabetics have been developed, which are easy to use independently, for example, a pen or a pump. But outdated models have not lost their relevance.

The main advantages of the insulin model include simplicity of design and accessibility.

The insulin syringe should be such that the patient can painlessly inject himself at any time, with minimal complications. To do this, you need to choose the right model.

What does pharmacology offer?

Pharmacy chains offer syringes of various modifications. By design they come in two types:

Disposable, sterile, with replaceable needles.
Syringes with a built-in (integrated) needle. The model does not have a “dead zone”, so there is no loss of medication.

It is difficult to answer which types are better. Modern pen syringes or pumps can be carried with you to work or school. The drug is filled in them in advance and remains sterile until use. They are comfortable and small in size.

Expensive models are equipped with electronic mechanisms that will remind you when it is necessary to give an injection, show how much medicine has been administered and the time of the last injection. Similar ones are shown in the photo.

Choosing the right syringe

The correct insulin syringe has transparent walls so that the patient can see how much medication has been drawn up and injected. The piston is rubberized and the drug is introduced smoothly and slowly.

When choosing a model for injection, it is important to understand the scale divisions. Number of divisions per various models may vary. One division contains the minimum volume of the drug that can be drawn into the syringe

Why is a graduation scale needed?

An insulin syringe must have marked divisions and a scale; if they are not there, we do not recommend purchasing such models. The divisions and scale show the patient how much concentrated insulin is inside. Typically, 1 ml of the drug is equal to 100 units, but there are expensive devices for 40 ml/100 units.

For any model of insulin syringe, the divisions have a small error, which is exactly ½ division of the total volume.

For example, if you enter medicine with a syringe with divisions of 2 Units, the total dosage will be +- 0.5 units of the medicine. For the information of readers, 0.5 units of insulin can reduce blood sugar levels by 4.2 mmol/l. In a small child this figure is even higher.

Anyone with diabetes needs to understand this information. A small error, even 0.25 units, can lead to glycemia. The smaller the model’s error, the easier and safer it is to use the syringe. This is important to understand so that the patient can accurately administer the insulin dose on their own.

To administer the drug as accurately as possible, follow the rules:

the smaller the division step, the more accurate the dosage of the administered drug will be;
It is better to dilute the hormone before administration.

A standard insulin syringe has a capacity of no more than 10 units for administering the drug. The division step is marked with the following numbers:

0.25 Units
1 Unit
2 Units

Insulin labeling

On the market in our country and the CIS, the hormone is produced in bottles with a solution of 40 units of the drug per 1 ml. It is marked U-40. Standard disposable syringes are designed for this volume. Calculate how many ml in units. division is not difficult, since 1 Unit. 40 divisions equal 0.025 ml of the drug. Our readers can use the table:

Now let’s figure out how to calculate a solution with a concentration of 40 units/ml. Knowing how many ml are on one scale, you can calculate how many units of the hormone are obtained in 1 ml. For the convenience of readers, we present the result for marking U-40 in the form of a table:

Insulin labeled U-100 is found abroad. The solution contains 100 units. hormone per 1 ml. Our standard syringes are not suitable for this medicine. Need special ones. Their design is the same as U-40, but the graduation scale is designed for U-100. The concentration of imported insulin is 2.5 times higher than our U-40. You need to calculate based on this figure.

How to use an insulin syringe correctly

We recommend using it for hormonal injection syringes whose needles are not removable. They do not have a dead zone and the medication will be injected more exact dosage. The only drawback is that after 4-5 times the needles will become dull. Syringes with removable needles are more hygienic, but their needles are thicker.

It is more practical to alternate: use a disposable simple syringe at home, and at work or elsewhere a reusable one with a non-removable needle.

Before drawing the hormone into the syringe, the bottle must be wiped with alcohol. For short-term administration of a small dose, there is no need to shake the medication. A large dosage is available in the form of a suspension, so shake the bottle before taking it.

The piston on the syringe is pulled back to the required division and the needle is inserted into the bottle. Air is forced inside the bubble, with a piston and the medicine under pressure inside is drawn into the device. The amount of medication in the syringe should slightly exceed the administered dose. If air bubbles get inside, you should lightly tap it with your finger.

It is correct to use different needles for drawing up the drug and administering it. To take the medication, you can use needles from a simple syringe. An injection can only be given using an insulin needle.

There are a number of rules that will tell the patient how to mix the drug correctly:

First, short-acting insulin should be drawn into the syringe, then long-acting;
Short-acting insulin or NPH should be used immediately after mixing or stored for no more than 3 hours.
You can't mix insulin average duration action (NPH) with a long-acting suspension. The zinc filler converts the long hormone into a short one. And this is life-threatening!
Detemir and long-acting insulin Glargine cannot be mixed with each other or with other types of hormones.

The place where the injection will be given is wiped with a solution of antiseptic liquid or simple detergent composition. We do not recommend using alcohol solution, the fact is that diabetics have dry skin. Alcohol will dry it out even more, causing painful cracks to appear.

Insulin should be injected under the skin, not into muscle tissue. The needle puncture is done strictly at an angle of 45-75 degrees, shallow. You should not pull out the needle after administering the drug; wait 10–15 seconds for the hormone to distribute under the skin. Otherwise, the hormone will partially come out into the hole from under the needle.

privivkainfo.ru

General calculation rules

An important rule in the algorithm for calculating the dose of insulin is that the patient needs no more than 1 unit of the hormone per kilogram of weight. If you ignore this rule, then an overdose of insulin will occur, which can lead to a critical condition - hypoglycemic coma. But to accurately select the dose of insulin, it is necessary to take into account the degree of compensation of the disease:

In the first stages of type 1 disease, the required dose of insulin is selected at the rate of no more than 0.5 units of the hormone per kilogram of weight.
If type 1 diabetes is well compensated for a year, then the maximum dose of insulin will be 0.6 units of the hormone per kilogram of body weight.
In severe cases of type 1 diabetes and constant fluctuations in blood glucose levels, up to 0.7 units of the hormone per kilogram of weight is required.
In the case of decompensated diabetes, the insulin dose will be 0.8 U/kg;
For gestational diabetes mellitus – 1.0 U/kg.

So, the insulin dose is calculated according to the following algorithm: Daily insulin dose (ED) * Total body weight/2.

Example: If daily dose insulin is 0.5 units, then it must be multiplied by body weight, for example 70 kg. 0.5*70 = 35. The resulting number 35 must be divided by 2. The resulting number is 17.5, which must be rounded down, that is, 17. It turns out that the morning dose of insulin will be 10 units, and the evening dose – 7.

What dose of insulin is needed for 1 unit of bread?

A bread unit is a concept that was introduced to make it easier to calculate the administered dose of insulin immediately before a meal. Here, not all products that contain carbohydrates are taken into account in the calculation of bread units, but only those that are “counted”:

potatoes, beets, carrots;
grain products;
sweet fruits;
sweets.

In Russia, one unit of bread corresponds to 10 grams of carbohydrates. A loaf is equal to one unit of bread white bread, one medium-sized apple, two teaspoons of sugar. If one bread unit enters the body, which is unable to independently produce insulin, then the glycemic level increases in the range from 1.6 to 2.2 mmol/l. That is, these are exactly the indicators by which glycemia decreases if one unit of insulin is administered.

It follows from this that for each unit of bread taken, about 1 unit of insulin must be administered in advance. That is why it is recommended that all diabetics acquire a table of bread units in order to make the most accurate calculations. In addition, before each injection it is necessary to control glycemia, that is, find out the level of sugar in the blood using a glucometer.

If the patient has hyperglycemia, that is, high sugar, you need to add the required number of units of the hormone to the corresponding number of bread units. In case of hypoglycemia, the dose of the hormone will be less.

Example: If a diabetic has a sugar level of 7 mmol/l half an hour before meals, and he plans to eat 5 XE, he needs to administer one unit of short-acting insulin. Then the initial blood sugar will decrease from 7 mmol/l to 5 mmol/l. Also, to compensate for 5 bread units, you need to introduce 5 units of the hormone, for a total insulin dose of 6 units.

How to choose the dose of insulin in a syringe?

To fill a regular 1.0-2.0 ml syringe the right amount medicines, you need to calculate the cost of dividing the syringe. To do this, you need to determine the number of divisions in 1 ml of the instrument. The domestically produced hormone is sold in 5.0 ml bottles. 1 ml is 40 units of the hormone. 40 units of the hormone must be divided by the number that is obtained by counting the divisions in 1 ml of the instrument.

Example: There are 10 divisions in 1 ml syringe. 40:10 = 4 units. That is, 4 units of insulin are placed in one division of the syringe. The dose of insulin that needs to be injected should be divided by the price of one division, thus you will get the number of divisions on the syringe that must be filled with insulin.

There are also pen syringes that contain a special flask filled with hormone. By pressing or turning the syringe button, insulin is injected subcutaneously. Before the injection, the required dose must be set in pen syringes, which will enter the patient’s body.

How to administer insulin: general rules

Insulin is administered according to the following algorithm (when the required volume of medication has already been calculated):

Hands should be disinfected and medical gloves should be worn.
Roll out the bottle of medicine in your hands so that it is evenly mixed, and disinfect the lid and stopper.
Fill the syringe with air in the amount in which the hormone will be injected.
Place the bottle of medicine vertically on the table, remove the cap from the needle and insert it into the bottle through the stopper.
Press the syringe so that the air from it enters the bottle.
Turn the bottle upside down and fill the syringe with 2-4 units more than the dose that should enter the body.
Remove the needle from the bottle, release the air from the syringe, adjusting the dose to the required level.
Disinfect the place where the injection will be given twice with a piece of cotton wool and an antiseptic.
Inject insulin subcutaneously (with a large dose of the hormone, the injection is done intramuscularly).
Treat the injection site and the instruments used.

For rapid absorption of the hormone (if the injection is subcutaneous), it is recommended to give an injection in the stomach. If the injection is given in the thigh, absorption will be slow and incomplete. An injection into the buttocks, the shoulder has an average absorption speed.

You can get more information about the insulin injection technique here: http://diabet.biz/lechenie/tradicionnaya/insulin/tehnika-vvedenija-insulina.html.

Extended insulin and its dose (video)

Long-acting insulin is prescribed to patients to maintain normal fasting blood glucose levels so that the liver has the opportunity to produce glucose constantly (and this is necessary for brain function), because with diabetes the body cannot do this on its own.

Extended insulin is administered once every 12 or 24 hours depending on the type of insulin (today two are used effective type insulin - Levemir and Lantus). A diabetes control specialist explains in this video how to correctly calculate the required dose of extended-release insulin:

The ability to correctly calculate insulin doses is a skill that every insulin-dependent diabetic should master. If you choose the wrong dose of insulin, an overdose may occur, which, if assistance is not provided in a timely manner, can result in fatal. Correct doses of insulin are the key wellness diabetic.

Today, pharmacies sell both types of devices (syringes), so every person with diabetes should know their differences and how to put medicine into them.

Graduation on an insulin syringe

Every person with diabetes must know how to properly draw insulin into a syringe. To accurately calculate the dose of the drug, insulin syringes are “equipped” with special divisions showing the concentration of the substance in one vial.

At the same time, the graduation on the syringes does not indicate how much solution has been drawn, but shows the unit of insulin. For example, if you take the drug at a concentration of U40, the actual value of the UI (unit of measurement) is 0.15 ml. will be 6 units, 05 ml. - 20 units. And the unit itself is 1 ml. will be equal to 40 units. Thus, one unit of solution will be 0.025 ml of insulin.

It should also be taken into account that the difference between U100 and U40 is that in the first case the insulin syringes are 1 ml. are one hundred units, 0.25 ml - 25 units, 0.1 ml - 10 units. With such significant differences (concentration and volume) of syringes, let's figure out how to choose the right option of this device for a diabetic.

Naturally, the first step to choosing an insulin syringe should be a consultation with your doctor. Also, if you need to administer a concentration of 40 units of hormone in 1 ml, you should use U40 syringes. In other cases, you should buy devices like U100.

On initial stages diseases, diabetics often ask the question “what happens if you use the wrong syringe to inject insulin?” For example, by drawing the drug into a U100 syringe for a solution with a concentration of 40 units/ml, a person suffering from diabetes will inject eight units of insulin into the body instead of the required twenty units, which is half the required dose of the medicine!

And if a U40 syringe is taken and a solution of concentration of 100 units/ml is drawn into it, then instead of twenty units of the hormone the patient will receive twice as much (50 units)! This is very dangerous for the life of a diabetic!