Smiter
Explorer
capitalism wins...the vial belongs to us
Where oh where has my mg gone?
- Thread starter WLBLD
- Start date
That gave me a chuckle!
To the OP: look into ways to cut down on, or get back, what's lost in the filter. Pushing air through can return a bit. Rinsing it out recovers more. If you wet the filter first, you keep the largest amount.
The catch is that every one of those steps needs a fresh needle (the air push is the exception). Still, you can work around it. One option: a cheap diabetic syringe works for pre-wetting the filter. Order LuerLok needles in bulk and the price drops to $.06/ea. That kind of thing.
One more thing to consider; test whether your pen is accurate. Mine came from Amazon and was way off. Usually it gave too little, though now and then too much.
A useful video about testing pens:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJdzUaAEC4o
Grogu said:
dancs said:
I run my vials through a filter on 2 separate occasions: the 1st pass is to address insufficient sterility, while the 2nd pass targets endotoxin levels. With a 10mg MOTS-c I used not long ago, roughly 7mg remained once filtering was done.Still, being "safER" beats the alternative.
Sadly, endotoxins aren't eliminated by filtering, which means that extra filtration step mostly just burns through your supplies while creating another chance for contamination. Endos are simply too small for filters to catch. I've heard mentions of a specific charged filter variety that could potentially clear endotoxins—is that the kind you have? If it isn't, then running that second filter is introducing additional risk rather than lowering it.
https://www.vwr.com/us/en/product/7605181/acrodisc-units-with-mustang-e-membrane-cytiva-formerly-pall-lab?r=1
Whether this genuinely does anything, I can't say for certain — particularly if I opt for the less expensive version off amazon (50 for $250) — yet it lets me rest easier thinking it "might" provide some level of benefit!
cheesecake
Explorer
The product description mentions that endotoxins get filtered out. I'd want to see actual test data backing that up. Should it hold true, that would really change things…
FallingAlice
Explorer
I don't use a pen, yet during my first reconstitution I somehow came up short by 30u. After looking into it yesterday evening, the most useful explanation I found was that "dead space" with every draw might be the cause. Beyond that, I have no idea how 30u could just vanish.
BNLFL
Explorer
Could be the filter, or maybe you measured wrong or lost a little. 3mg is a fair amount.
Yeah, it's really odd. The only thing I can figure is that some was left behind in the filter, and then perhaps a little extra got purged out. I'm not sure, ha ha. Every time, I've been verifying—and at least 2 of us confirm—that I'm using the correct number, and we recalculate for the bigger milligram cartridge each time (the 10 is so simple, ha ha). After reading some of those stories, I really don't want to slip up.Grogu said:
WLBLD said:
Honestly, I have no better idea than you do, ha ha. My best theory is that the filter ate it.
Still, I'm fine with paying the filter tax/pen tax
Losing 45 units from those 10mg/1mL vials goes far past what a filter would normally retain. A few other explanations come to mind:
- The pen could be delivering an incorrect # of units
- The user might have administered the wrong # of units (with the 10mg this is less likely, since the math is straightforward)
- The syringe used to draw the bac water may be out of calibration (unlikely)
Among those, the pen delivering wrong seems most likely. Which pen model do you have, and have you run any test on it?
I ran the pen through several tests. It's a Mrs Goodlife; we own a few of them. When pressed slowly, it measured accurately. I doubt I'm receiving extra (if that were true, I'd probably be seeing better outcomes, ha ha).
BNLFL
Explorer
You’ll receive it on the next occasion.
Appreciate it — purging is something I only recently came across (and by then I'd already mixed up everything I currently have). Next round I'm absolutely doing it. Typically I'll prep 2-3 carts in one go (last time it was more, because Tirz can be frozen)
My purchases were in bulk — over 100 — so I've got plenty of extras
I ran the numbers multiple times at different doses. If larger doses were hitting me sooner, I'd probably be further along, ha ha
Thanks!!
FallingAlice
Explorer
At first I also suspected the filter, but now I'm leaning toward it being connected to the insulin syringes or the sterile vials in some way. A kit is being split between my husband, my best friend, and me, so the recon was done by us together. I asked her to verify the measurements again. Since we're fairly rural and she didn't want to transport predrawn syringes, I prepared her units for the month's dose, and she checked them once more before I put them into a new sterile vial. She is short 10u, and I was short 20. Next time around I'll use different syringes to see whether anything changes.
FallingAlice
Explorer
That was my assumption as well, since I'm certain my measurements were correct — this just left me somewhat puzzled.WLBLD said:
It's wild that this occurs even when using vials and syringes
This is wild. Could it be evaporation? That's the only remaining explanation I can come up withFallingAlice said:
That was my assumption as well, since I'm certain my measurements were correct — this just left me somewhat puzzled.WLBLD said:
It's wild that this occurs even when using vials and syringes
BNLFL
Explorer
My guess is that during reconstitution, your eyes were on the bottom of the plunger rather than the tip.
Dilbert4Life
Explorer
When you say prewetting the filter, are you talking about running bac through the filter first, before you filter the mixed liquid?
Right, that's the idea. A dry filter would soak up the peptide you just reconstituted, but if it's already wet, it takes in water instead, so (theoretically) a greater amount of the reconstituted peptide makes it through.
I skip that step entirely these days, and I don't even flush the filter anymore. Once I'm finished, I simply air purge it. Diminishing returns, you know.
I've yet to come across a video comparing how much you can get back using air purge versus flushing, pre-wetting, and so on; still, I'd be interested to see what the numbers show.
FallingAlice
Explorer
I dont know either. I
That isnt what I think it is; 20 years as a nurse means I know my way around all of this. (Filters were the only new piece for me). On top of that, my bff checked every measurement after me. Reconstitution day is this week though, so a couple of things are getting adjusted to see how it goes this time!