First-Timer Needs Help With Reconstitution Steps

[ftv10hb]

I tried searching for this but nothing came up that matched what I need, so any guidance would be great!

I'm about to do my own reconstitution for the very first time, and I want to be certain I have the right steps straight before I do something that can't be undone lol.

1. Should the dry peptides and the bacteriostatic water both sit at room temperature when reconstituting? If the peptides were in the freezer or the water was in the fridge, how long do they need to sit out to get back to room temp?

2. The vials I'm using are small, 3ml ones. The person who did this for me in the past simply used the same small 30ml insulin needles I inject with to reconstitute the vials. Is that the right approach, or is a different needle type or size needed for reconstitution?

3. Is drawing and injecting the water into the peptide basically the same process as drawing the solution and injecting it into the body? What I mean is: I pull air into the needle, insert it into the water and draw that amount of water into the needle, then inject it into the peptide vial and swirl it to mix. Or do I have that wrong?

Thanks ahead of time for any tips, advice, or corrections

 

[redbullwings]

Hey, you're headed in the right direction

1.) Temperature: Allow both to reach near room temp. Bacteriostatic water: 5–10 mins out of the fridge. Peptide: 20–30 mins if it was frozen. Doing this stops clumping and encourages even dissolving.

2.) Needle choice: Insulin syringes work well for small vials. Push the liquid in gradually so you don't create foam or splashing. When a peptide is very thick, a few ppl grab a bigger needle only for the mixing step, then go back to the insulin syringe when it's time to inject. Either way, you should be fine.

3.) Adding water: That's right. Pull up the precise volume of Bac water required. Push it in slowly along the inner wall of the peptide vial, rather than straight onto the powder.

4.) General tips:

• Before piercing anything, wipe the tops of every vial with alcohol wipes so contamination doesn't happen.
  
• Hold the vial upright when you're drawing the solution for injection.
  
• Once reconstituted, write the date on the vials and put them in the fridge if you're not using them right away.

Good luck. The first time can be daunting but hopefully you should be okay

 

[aquis]

I've never put my bac water in the fridge. It stays in a drawer, so it's always at room temperature.

 

[ftv10hb]

redbullwings said:

Hey, you're headed in the right direction

1.) Temperature: Allow both to reach near room temp. Bacteriostatic water: 5–10 mins out of the fridge. Peptide: 20–30 mins if it was frozen. Doing this stops clumping and encourages even dissolving.

2.) Needle choice: Insulin syringes work well for small vials. Push the liquid in gradually so you don't create foam or splashing. When a peptide is very thick, a few ppl grab a bigger needle only for the mixing step, then go back to the insulin syringe when it's time to inject. Either way, you should be fine.

3.) Adding water: That's right. Pull up the precise volume of Bac water required. Push it in slowly along the inner wall of the peptide vial, rather than straight onto the powder.

4.) General tips:

• Before piercing anything, wipe the tops of every vial with alcohol wipes so contamination doesn't happen.
  
• Hold the vial upright when you're drawing the solution for injection.
  
• Once reconstituted, write the date on the vials and put them in the fridge if you're not using them right away.

Good luck. The first time can be daunting but hopefully you should be okay

Thanks! This might sound silly, but I need to ask anyway lol: when you mention keeping the vials upright while drawing, does that mean laying them flat on a surface with the needle positioned above and pulling upward? Or does it mean holding the vials vertically above the needle and drawing downward? So far I've been doing it the second way lol

 

[miss-sanne]

ftv10hb said:

redbullwings said:

Hey, you're headed in the right direction

1.) Temperature: Allow both to reach near room temp. Bacteriostatic water: 5–10 mins out of the fridge. Peptide: 20–30 mins if it was frozen. Doing this stops clumping and encourages even dissolving.

2.) Needle choice: Insulin syringes work well for small vials. Push the liquid in gradually so you don't create foam or splashing. When a peptide is very thick, a few ppl grab a bigger needle only for the mixing step, then go back to the insulin syringe when it's time to inject. Either way, you should be fine.

3.) Adding water: That's right. Pull up the precise volume of Bac water required. Push it in slowly along the inner wall of the peptide vial, rather than straight onto the powder.

4.) General tips:

• Before piercing anything, wipe the tops of every vial with alcohol wipes so contamination doesn't happen.
  
• Hold the vial upright when you're drawing the solution for injection.
  
• Once reconstituted, write the date on the vials and put them in the fridge if you're not using them right away.

Good luck. The first time can be daunting but hopefully you should be okay

Thanks! This might sound silly, but I need to ask anyway lol: when you mention keeping the vials upright while drawing, does that mean laying them flat on a surface with the needle positioned above and pulling upward? Or does it mean holding the vials vertically above the needle and drawing downward? So far I've been doing it the second way lol

I hold the vial in my hand with it standing upright, then position the needle above it and pull upward. Does that make sense ;-) - either direction works, up or down, but the first is what I like better.

 

[ftv10hb]

aquis said:

I've never put my bac water in the fridge. It stays in a drawer, so it's always at room temperature.

Yeah, that's what I plan to do from now on. But here's the thing — when I got my very first peptide vials, a friend mixed one up for me, and the extra bac water came along too, all sitting together in the same plastic holder. Since I had no clue what I was doing, I tossed the whole lot into the fridge lol. So at this moment I've got a single vial of bac water and a single vial of dry peptide chilling side by side in there.

 

[redbullwings]

ftv10hb said:

aquis said:

I've never put my bac water in the fridge. It stays in a drawer, so it's always at room temperature.

Yeah, that's what I plan to do from now on. But here's the thing — when I got my very first peptide vials, a friend mixed one up for me, and the extra bac water came along too, all sitting together in the same plastic holder. Since I had no clue what I was doing, I tossed the whole lot into the fridge lol. So at this moment I've got a single vial of bac water and a single vial of dry peptide chilling side by side in there.

There's no set rule — plenty of folks keep their bac water in a drawer, while others such as myself put it in the fridge. I suppose it just comes down to what you prefer.

 

[ftv10hb]

miss-sanne said:

ftv10hb said:

redbullwings said:

Hey, you're headed in the right direction

1.) Temperature: Allow both to reach near room temp. Bacteriostatic water: 5–10 mins out of the fridge. Peptide: 20–30 mins if it was frozen. Doing this stops clumping and encourages even dissolving.

2.) Needle choice: Insulin syringes work well for small vials. Push the liquid in gradually so you don't create foam or splashing. When a peptide is very thick, a few ppl grab a bigger needle only for the mixing step, then go back to the insulin syringe when it's time to inject. Either way, you should be fine.

3.) Adding water: That's right. Pull up the precise volume of Bac water required. Push it in slowly along the inner wall of the peptide vial, rather than straight onto the powder.

4.) General tips:

• Before piercing anything, wipe the tops of every vial with alcohol wipes so contamination doesn't happen.
  
• Hold the vial upright when you're drawing the solution for injection.
  
• Once reconstituted, write the date on the vials and put them in the fridge if you're not using them right away.

Good luck. The first time can be daunting but hopefully you should be okay

Thanks! This might sound silly, but I need to ask anyway lol: when you mention keeping the vials upright while drawing, does that mean laying them flat on a surface with the needle positioned above and pulling upward? Or does it mean holding the vials vertically above the needle and drawing downward? So far I've been doing it the second way lol

I hold the vial in my hand with it standing upright, then position the needle above it and pull upward. Does that make sense ;-) - either direction works, up or down, but the first is what I like better.

That's logical, and it sounds simpler than the approach I've been using lol — all the more so if holding the vials upright matters during the draw.

 

[Chili777]

aquis said:

I've never put my bac water in the fridge. It stays in a drawer, so it's always at room temperature.

Specifically when it comes to Hospira BAC: Pfizer's guidance is that it should always be kept at room temperature. For brands other than Hospira, though, there isn't a clear answer once the vial has been punctured — some people keep it in the fridge and some at room temp.

 

[skeptick]

miss-sanne said:


I draw upwards, the vial stands up, I hold it in my hand ,and put the needle above the vial. does it make sense ;-) - I mean you can do both up and down, I just prefer the first.

Click to expand...

Which needle do you employ so that you can get down inside your vial, given that eventually you have to touch the bottom? And what's the method for drawing out the final tiny remnants from a vial?

 

[miss-sanne]

skeptick said:


What needle are you using to reach down into your vial where at some point you need to reach to bottom? How to suck out last little dregs from vial?

Click to expand...

Flip the vial upside down and inspect it, then position the needle's point slightly above the membrane.

Alternatively, you can get a needle that is long enough to touch the bottom.

 

[miss-sanne]

ftv10hb said:

miss-sanne said:

ftv10hb said:

redbullwings said:

Hey, you're headed in the right direction

1.) Temperature: Allow both to reach near room temp. Bacteriostatic water: 5–10 mins out of the fridge. Peptide: 20–30 mins if it was frozen. Doing this stops clumping and encourages even dissolving.

2.) Needle choice: Insulin syringes work well for small vials. Push the liquid in gradually so you don't create foam or splashing. When a peptide is very thick, a few ppl grab a bigger needle only for the mixing step, then go back to the insulin syringe when it's time to inject. Either way, you should be fine.

3.) Adding water: That's right. Pull up the precise volume of Bac water required. Push it in slowly along the inner wall of the peptide vial, rather than straight onto the powder.

4.) General tips:

• Before piercing anything, wipe the tops of every vial with alcohol wipes so contamination doesn't happen.
  
• Hold the vial upright when you're drawing the solution for injection.
  
• Once reconstituted, write the date on the vials and put them in the fridge if you're not using them right away.

Good luck. The first time can be daunting but hopefully you should be okay

Thanks! This might sound silly, but I need to ask anyway lol: when you mention keeping the vials upright while drawing, does that mean laying them flat on a surface with the needle positioned above and pulling upward? Or does it mean holding the vials vertically above the needle and drawing downward? So far I've been doing it the second way lol

I hold the vial in my hand with it standing upright, then position the needle above it and pull upward. Does that make sense ;-) - either direction works, up or down, but the first is what I like better.

That's logical, and it sounds simpler than the approach I've been using lol — all the more so if holding the vials upright matters during the draw.

Honestly it makes no difference — the choice is yours, go with whatever feels simpler. If tilting it slightly works better for you, that's fine.

 

[latviantower]

For me, flipping the vial upside down and just nicking the septum (the rubber membrane) makes pulling the liquid out faster. When there's only a little left and you want to get every last drop, I push in a full syringe of air first, which keeps me from pulling against a partial vacuum.

A lot of the resources I've come across here, peptideresearchinstitute.org among them, suggest putting both the peptide and the BAC in the fridge an hour ahead of reconstituting.

My Hospira stays at room temperature, and I move it to the fridge an hour before. After it's been punctured, I do store it in the fridge. It's simply easier having everything in one spot. I honestly doubt it matters either way.

 

[PopTart]

A quick note about 10ml vials…the stoppers in those vials are usually shaped in a way that liquid gets trapped in voids between the stopper and the vial. When that happens, once reconstitution is done I take a bottle opener and remove the crimp/stopper, then draw the liquid with a 27ga x 1.5” luer lock needle on a 3ml syringe, take the needle off and put on a syringe filter, and inject the filtered liquid into a sterile vial or pen cartridge.

 

[donzilla]

aquis said:

I've never put my bac water in the fridge. It stays in a drawer, so it's always at room temperature.

Does that pose any risk? I was under the impression that refrigeration was necessary.

 

[skeptick]

donzilla said:

aquis said:

I've never put my bac water in the fridge. It stays in a drawer, so it's always at room temperature.

Does that pose any risk? I was under the impression that refrigeration was necessary.

The HOSPIRA site says: "Do not refrigerate" — keep it at room temperature somewhere dark, since alcohol becomes less effective when it gets cold.....

 

[aquis]

donzilla said:

aquis said:

I've never put my bac water in the fridge. It stays in a drawer, so it's always at room temperature.

Does that pose any risk? I was under the impression that refrigeration was necessary.

I simply do what Hospira says. It has always worked fine for me.