follistim pen question

Mrs.Beans

I have heard it is possible to use the remaining amount left in the pen cartridge by drawing it out with an insulin syringe - does anyone know the conversion to get from insulin units to follistim units?  TIA

ecleptic

You certainly can draw up the remainder but it's typically not enough for a dose. My clinic accepts donated empty cartridges and combines the remains of a bunch of empties into a single dose syringe to help out patients who might miss a dose because of dosage or shipping changes.

Your nurse may know the proper conversion and have a better idea of how many empties it typically takes to make a dose.

cutebride73

You don't need to do that.  For yourself (or if you donate it to someone else)  you can just dial your total dose and then inject it, the pen will stop when it is out of meds in that vial.  Then write down where it stopped, take it out, set it to 0 (zero), put in the new vial and then reset it to the dose you still need (the number you wrote down) and inject again.  Easy, peasy.  I have done that a bunch of times to make good use of all my meds.   

Mrkyrain

cutebride73:

You don't need to do that.  For yourself (or if you donate it to someone else)  you can just dial your total dose and then inject it, the pen will stop when it is out of meds in that vial.  Then write down where it stopped, take it out, set it to 0 (zero), put in the new vial and then reset it to the dose you still need (the number you wrote down) and inject again.  Easy, peasy.  I have done that a bunch of times to make good use of all my meds.   

Not all pens work like this.  Mine you are not changing the vial but only the needle so there is no way to get the meds out.  I have read that sucking it out with a syringe works but I don't know how to do that multiple times to get enough for a dose. I wasted a ridiculous amount of meds this last cycle.  

ecleptic

Mrkyrain:

cutebride73:

You don't need to do that.  For yourself (or if you donate it to someone else)  you can just dial your total dose and then inject it, the pen will stop when it is out of meds in that vial.  Then write down where it stopped, take it out, set it to 0 (zero), put in the new vial and then reset it to the dose you still need (the number you wrote down) and inject again.  Easy, peasy.  I have done that a bunch of times to make good use of all my meds.   

Not all pens work like this.  Mine you are not changing the vial but only the needle so there is no way to get the meds out.  I have read that sucking it out with a syringe works but I don't know how to do that multiple times to get enough for a dose. I wasted a ridiculous amount of meds this last cycle.  

The follistem pen works like this though. It'll draw as much out of the pen as it can- but it will stop if it cannot finish the very last tick. One tick is something like 12.5 or 25 units though- and a typical dose is 75. The loss is very minimal and it's rare to go through enough vials to make a full dose out of the dregs- which is why my clinic collects them in bulk to harvest a couple of doses out of a ton of patients donating the last 10 or so units.

The biggest loss of meds is if you only draw up the amount of med marked on the vial- they all have overages built in that should be used since you can get to them with the pen/needle and don't need a syringe

Mrs.McIrish

cutebride73:

You don't need to do that.  For yourself (or if you donate it to someone else)  you can just dial your total dose and then inject it, the pen will stop when it is out of meds in that vial.  Then write down where it stopped, take it out, set it to 0 (zero), put in the new vial and then reset it to the dose you still need (the number you wrote down) and inject again.  Easy, peasy.  I have done that a bunch of times to make good use of all my meds.   

This is how I have done it. Yes, you are putting in a 2nd needle and injecting twice but it was easy to do.

Mrkyrain

ecleptic:

Mrkyrain:

cutebride73:

You don't need to do that.  For yourself (or if you donate it to someone else)  you can just dial your total dose and then inject it, the pen will stop when it is out of meds in that vial.  Then write down where it stopped, take it out, set it to 0 (zero), put in the new vial and then reset it to the dose you still need (the number you wrote down) and inject again.  Easy, peasy.  I have done that a bunch of times to make good use of all my meds.   

Not all pens work like this.  Mine you are not changing the vial but only the needle so there is no way to get the meds out.  I have read that sucking it out with a syringe works but I don't know how to do that multiple times to get enough for a dose. I wasted a ridiculous amount of meds this last cycle.  

The follistem pen works like this though. It'll draw as much out of the pen as it can- but it will stop if it cannot finish the very last tick. One tick is something like 12.5 or 25 units though- and a typical dose is 75. The loss is very minimal and it's rare to go through enough vials to make a full dose out of the dregs- which is why my clinic collects them in bulk to harvest a couple of doses out of a ton of patients donating the last 10 or so units.

The biggest loss of meds is if you only draw up the amount of med marked on the vial- they all have overages built in that should be used since you can get to them with the pen/needle and don't need a syringe

My pen works like this too.  I guess my problem was that I could get two doses out of pen and then there would be a significant amount left in the pen but not enough for a full dose.  I would have to go to four different pens and inject what was left to get my full dose.  I could never bring myself to do four extra injections.  I think I was talking about something different than you all were.  Not just a little left in the pen.  Sorry. 

ecleptic

Mrkyrain:

ecleptic:

Mrkyrain:

cutebride73:

You don't need to do that.  For yourself (or if you donate it to someone else)  you can just dial your total dose and then inject it, the pen will stop when it is out of meds in that vial.  Then write down where it stopped, take it out, set it to 0 (zero), put in the new vial and then reset it to the dose you still need (the number you wrote down) and inject again.  Easy, peasy.  I have done that a bunch of times to make good use of all my meds.   

Not all pens work like this.  Mine you are not changing the vial but only the needle so there is no way to get the meds out.  I have read that sucking it out with a syringe works but I don't know how to do that multiple times to get enough for a dose. I wasted a ridiculous amount of meds this last cycle.  

The follistem pen works like this though. It'll draw as much out of the pen as it can- but it will stop if it cannot finish the very last tick. One tick is something like 12.5 or 25 units though- and a typical dose is 75. The loss is very minimal and it's rare to go through enough vials to make a full dose out of the dregs- which is why my clinic collects them in bulk to harvest a couple of doses out of a ton of patients donating the last 10 or so units.

The biggest loss of meds is if you only draw up the amount of med marked on the vial- they all have overages built in that should be used since you can get to them with the pen/needle and don't need a syringe

My pen works like this too.  I guess my problem was that I could get two doses out of pen and then there would be a significant amount left in the pen but not enough for a full dose.  I would have to go to four different pens and inject what was left to get my full dose.  I could never bring myself to do four extra injections.  I think I was talking about something different than you all were.  Not just a little left in the pen.  Sorry. 

Oh I do know what you meant there. Ask your doc if you can mix meds- follistem and menopur go very well together and instead of needing to do multiple shots into yourself- you just do multiple shots into the vial of menopur, draw it up into the menopur syringe and do one big shot. So much easier.

You can also swing it so it's only two shots if they won't let you mix meds- when you're near the end dial up your normal dose, do the shot. Make a note at the number where it stops and do the second dose of the left over number out of the fresh vial- you'll only need a double shot every 2-3 days.

Also sounds like you're using a small vial which is nice if you can get all of the med out because they do a similar amount of overage in every vial- so having 3 300unit vials gives you triple the amount of overage that one 900unit vial does- but if you're not using the overage it means you're paying for a lot of med that you're not using. If they won't let you mix your shots- I'd ask for the 900 vial instead.

Follistem is practically liquid gold, I try to get every last drop out

missjul61

OP I was able to get 3 extra doses with the overfill from 6 cartridges. I brought the cartridges in and my nurse pulled the meds into a unit based syringe for me. You should call your RE's office and see if they can help you. GL! I saved a lot of $ taking advantage of the overfill. ETA: and I didn't have to inject myself multiple times which was a huge plus.

Edwina.McDunnough

ecleptic:

You certainly can draw up the remainder but it's typically not enough for a dose. My clinic accepts donated empty cartridges and combines the remains of a bunch of empties into a single dose syringe to help out patients who might miss a dose because of dosage or shipping changes.

I would personally, never, ever use medications that have been contaminated with another person's bodily fluids. I'm shocked that a clinic would practice this behavior. It's dangerous and I would think they'd be liable if someone contracted a serious and/or uncurable disease.

ETA Info on how to use the end of a cartridge is on the the instructional video from Follistim and described by PP. You should use up an entire vial before moving on to the next, that way you want have to do multiple shots with multiple vials.

KaliChick

I don't understand why more clinics don't explain how to use all the meds in a vial. You just dial up the dose you need, regardless of what's in the pen, inject. When it stops write down the number. So the math of how much you still need and then get the next pen out, dial up the dose you need and inject. They are overfilled by 75-100 units per vial. That's a lot to waste especially when you are OOP.