
March 17, 2002
Blood Tests and Insulin Injections
Question from Coral Springs, Florida, USA:
Lately I’ve had a lot of problems with large air bubbles in the syringe at the top of the syringe near the needle when mixing Humalog with NPH. I make sure there are no air bubbles in the Humalog first, but when mixing always there is a large bubble. What should I do?
Answer:
Are you putting air into the syringe equal to the amounts of insulin being removed? If you use too much or too little, there can be major bubbles. Are both of the insulins at room temperature? You are not shaking the bottles, but just gently rolling the NPH, I assume. Maybe the best bet is to bring your bottles and syringe into your diabetes team and have them watch you fill the syringe.
LSF