So I was doing my shots the other day and guess what? I ran out of those fat drawing needles. Had a ton of vials to get through though. I stared at my stash of regular insulin needles – the skinny ones – and thought “How bad could it be?”
First I grabbed an empty vial just to practice. Jammed that thin needle through the rubber stopper alright, but pulling back the plunger felt like sucking a milkshake through a coffee stirrer. My fingers started cramping after like two minutes of tugging, and I’d barely gotten half a unit in the syringe!
Next day I tried with my actual medicine vial. Pushed the needle in real slow cause I was scared of bending it. Started pulling… nothing happened. Realized the vacuum was too strong for this flimsy plunger. Had to yank so hard I nearly stabbed myself when the plunger suddenly gave way. Medicine went everywhere except into the syringe.
Third attempt I got smarter:
- Made sure the vial was upside down
- Barely stuck the tip through the rubber
- Injected some air first to create pressure
Still took forever to draw up a single dose. My hand was shaking by the end, and I ended up with all these tiny bubbles in the syringe I couldn’t get rid of.
After wasting three vials worth of meds, I finally swallowed my pride and drove to the pharmacy. The lady there took one look at my messed-up supplies and handed me proper drawing needles without even asking. Slid one into a new vial and WHOOSH – filled the syringe in three seconds flat. Felt like an idiot wasting all that time and medication.
Lesson learned the hard way: those thick drawing needles exist for damn good reasons. Yeah the regular ones fit through the rubber, but trying to use em feels like trying to empty a swimming pool with a turkey baster. Unless you enjoy cramps and wasting expensive meds, just buy the proper tools.
