Re-Sharpening Needles

[caregiver222]

If you are a diabetic, and injecting yourself with insulin several times daily, a disaster can be very difficult. You may run out of insulin, or injectable needles. I would be cautious about throwing them away, if the disaster seems to be one of pro-longed duration.

You can have your physician prescribe a pack of needles and a non-disposeable glass syringe, if you like. These have fallen out of style lately, but are still available. A pack of new needles can also be used on a plastic-barrel syringe.

Normally needles are used "one time", but there is no reason why they cannot be re-used.

Of course they have to be sterilized. If you are going to re-use a tuberculin syringes I would wipe it with alcohol before replacing the cap for storage.

I cannot provide details to tell you how to keep the barrels sterile. If you are only injecting 10cc's and the unit is kept in a secure sealed container there is little chance the interior will be contaminated with bacteria. If in doubt you can always flush with 80 proof vodka.

Normally it takes 15 minutes of boiling to destroy bacteria, but the plastic barrels do not lend themselves well to autoclaving.

The syringe is initially sterile. You draw insulin from the bottle, which is also sterile. You inject. It is important NOT to pull back on the plunger (drawing contaminated air into the needle) but to store it with the plunger fully depressed.

A sealed sterile container to store the needles/springes will prevent contamination with household bacteria.

The most significant problem will be dulling, and small hypodermic needles can be re-sharpened with a small very fine arkansas stone.  Before we turned into a disposeable society, this used to be part of a nurses daily duties. After sharpening pull the needle back through sterile gauze to eliminate burrs. And wipe with alcohol.

Theoretically you should sterilize the interior of the barrel, but if you are injecting yourself, and store the needle.springe immediately this hardly seems necessary. If in doubt draw in 14-20cc of vodka (if you are injecting 10cc) vodka, leave it for ten minutes inside the syringe, and squirt it out.

So if you are diabetic, a sharpening stone should be among your emergency disaster supplies. A diabetic needle can be used a dozen times before it dulls to the point where it requires re-sharpening.