BD syringes used to be top-shelf. But I’ve noticed a decline in the past few years.
Not coincidentally, it seems to have happened after they spun-off their production of diabetes products to a different company.
This is a new and unused syringe. Look at the plunger! What in the world could you do with this?
In the sharps container
I have a TON of these old and new. If anyone needs any i can send them out. I haven’t used but one or two in the going on 9 years Liam has had T1D so the supply has become large. 
I wouldn’t know how to tell the old from the new though so you’d have to tell me.
They are good forever (obviously not literally, but still)! I’m going through old boxes of syringes and pen needles while on a long pump break and have had no issues.
That is so funny to hear!
I have estimated that I have used about 70,000-80,000. 
@Eric I’ve noticed that as well with my syringes. When I used to grab one if leaving for the day, I now grab a few. Good thing someone gifted me a million! 
Let me know if you need a million more!
I am T1D but don’t use this type of syringe. What do you use them for? Just curious… Thanks.
I use them on occasions when it is better than using my pump.
Like when I am running. Or if I need faster absorption than I get with the pump. Or when I don’t want my pump to know that I have taken insulin (tricking Loop).
This is the one thing that frustrates me most about the Mobi pump - the response time after I bolus. It takes hours to get my levels back down, especially in the evening. Right now I have been high for 3 hours with my numbers dipping and then going back up again (BG is at 247 right now). The app says I have enough IOB and I have manually corrected 3 times in the last 3 hours despite having bolused enough for dinner. Grrrrrr…
If my BG is routinely too high after meals that tells me I didn’t get enough meal bolus, so I change the insulin:carb ratio in the pump to give a bigger bolus. But with the Omnipod, if it’s near the end of day 2 or it’s day 3 of that pod, more likely I’ve got a problem with tunneling or malabsorption so the pump may have given enough insulin but my bloodstream didn’t receive it all, so I make up for the shortage with a correction bolus by syringe.
In any case, if my BG goes over 180 I take a large correction bolus by syringe and guard for the next few hours against a possible hypo if the correction was too large. With loop I can revise history to say I actually ate more carbs than I had entered before the meal, so loop will think I actually need more insulin than it gave, and not fight me by suspending insulin delivery when I’m way high. With a tandem pump it’s possible to enter “fake carbs” so the pump will deliver additional insulin.
Not who you asked, but I use them every day for my food and correction doses!
Thanks for the comment. So you use them while using a pump? For some reason I thought it was inadvisable to bolus/correct with alternate means as the pump isn’t “aware” of insulin not provided by the pump. I am really curious about this as I hate how long it takes for my numbers to come down after I have eaten carbs and would love to have another method.
No, not with a pump. Only when I’m on a pump break (MDI), which I am right now. My current pump break is going on 4 months now because I have the same control with MDI than I did with ControlIQ/Tandem, and I’m loving not being hooked up to my pump all the time.
I think one benefit of MDI is having insulin injected in various parts of my body helps it absorb better, rather than having the pump literally pump it into one spot for 3 days straight.
If you want to take shots in addition to using your pump, you absolutely could - you’d just need to consider how it affects the algorithm of the pump if you are using a closed-loop system. It might help with those stubborn highs!
@funk If you’re routinely having significant spikes after eating, it usually indicates your ICR needs adjustment OR you need to pre-bolus longer before eating; it can be a combination of both. Getting your carb ratio (ICR) set can be difficult and takes time; it can vary by time of day, activities levels, going thru puberty, by hormone time of month (for women), and the insulin type(s) you use. In addition, your ICR can change over time. You may want to test your ICR and adjust if needed (e.g. 1:10 to 1:9.8, a lower number is a stronger insulin amount). Alternately, you may want to pre-bolus longer (from 10-15 minutes ahead of eating to 15-20 minutes or longer) so the insulin can start taking an effect, but not so long ahead that you go low. High fat/protein meals can further delay carb processing, so if your highs have been post that type meal, you may want to look at that.
Thanks for the tips. I have been trying to bolus 15-20 mins ahead of time before eating but maybe I need longer. I think the type of carbs makes a difference too. I did eat some rice last night which is very challenging for me, one reason I don’t eat it too often.
Since going on the Mobi pump a few months ago, I have adjusted my ICR once but probably need to tweak it again.
The pre-bolus time depends. 15-20 minutes is just a general ballpark idea, but it probably should not always be the same time.
For example, if your BG is 200 your pre-bolus time should be longer than if your BG is 70.
If you are eating a cupcake, your pre-bolus time should be longer than if you are eating a potato.
It just depends!
@funk If you’re trying rice or pasta, you may want to try this: cook as normal, then put in the fridge or freezer, once cool/cold heat it back up and eat as normal. Many (myself included) have found a carb impact about half the norm, although you may have to plan for delayed/longer impact.
It’s called resistant starch. I did try it once with pasta, but didn’t notice any discernible difference.
I’ve tried various “supplemental” insulin to correct high BG while using Omnipod 5. In general, I’ve found that adding a significant correction bolus by syringe (2 or more units) to bring down a post meal lingering spike high BG is a good way to confuse the Omnipod 5 algorithm sometimes (but not always!) causing unexpected dropping BG after I get back in range. So I’ve run the pods in Manual mode until back in range for a few hours to compensate for the screwed up algorithm.
I’ve had much better results using Affrezza for corrections to bring down a high that the Om 5 can’t handle. Because the Affrezza BG drop and tail is so fast it does not seem to cause lingering confusion for the algorithm, and the Om 5 works fine in Auto mode. However, subsequent pods will then “learn” a reduced TDD so I try to limit those supplemental bolusses to once every pod if possible.
Not sure if the Tandem will respond similarly but I hope that this info helps!
