
September 23, 2003
Blood Tests and Insulin Injections
Question from Staten Island. New York, USA:
My almost five year old daughter takes 1-3 units of insulin at a time, and when we switched to using a pen, her blood sugars ran much higher. So, I asked about longer pen needles and got them, but still the readings are much higher than with the syringe. I did a little test and shot 1 unit for both a pen and a syringe on a glass table and found them to be very different in size. How can I test this in a lab? Is this a ongoing problem? Why wasn’t I informed about this when the switch was made?
Answer:
I, too, have sensed that the pens seem unable to deliver the very small doses. I have a couple of families who would agree with you and therefore use syringes. I have a couple of others who just adjusted. I don’t know whom you can ask to test
LD