Rookie syringe question...

[tahiles]

Looking at the syringes I can find, it seems like it would be difficult to accurately judge small doseages like .50 or .75.

Am I missing something?

 

[Skidude]

Some people reconstitute in a way that does not require fractions, but in the case they need them, some go with a .5ml or smaller syringe

 

[indolent]

I hate 1mL syringes because of their tick=2 units problem. I now use 0.5mL syringes (tick=1 unit) but will next try the 0.5 unit ticks that some 0.3mL syringes have.

What you might be missing, though, is reconstituting with convenient draws in mind. Next time you reconstitute, determine what works for you now (e.g., 20 units) and at your likely next increase, and plug those into the reverse calculator linked in my signature.

 

[zpped]

If you're worried about 0.005ml, you're thinking to hard about it. If you don't understand the difference between mg and ml you aren't thinking hard enough.

 

[chmuse]

.5 or .75 refer to .5 ml or .75 ml.

.5 ml is 50 units.

Please make sure you understand completely before taking anything! Read some guides!

 

[indolent]

Looking at the syringes I can find, it seems like it would be difficult to accurately judge small doseages like .50 or .75.

Am I missing something?

[Oops ... the always-amazing @chmuse beat me to this answer! But I'll leave it as I wrote it, for the sake of redundancy.]
Also, and this is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT, it's not clear if you understand the difference between the "units" marked on your syringe and the dosage (usually in mg) that you're aiming for. In short, they have nothing directly to do with one another ... and, in fact, one is a volume measure and the other mass/weight. You create a linkage between the two, at no universal concentration, when you reconstitute.

See the first link in my signature if you're new to this.

 

[tahiles]

Thanks for the replies. And yes, I’m new to all this mg vs volume stuff. Using an Ozempic pen that does .25 or .50 doses and cost me almost $400 WITH insurance!

Is there a good primer located in this forum that I can study to try and get up to speed?

Thanks again….

 

[AndyPanda]

Thanks for the replies. And yes, I’m new to all this mg vs volume stuff. Using an Ozempic pen that does .25 or .50 doses and cost me almost $400 WITH insurance!

Is there a good primer located in this forum that I can study to try and get up to speed?

Thanks again….

Thread 'Someone told you to "go grey" and now you're here.'

Dec 25, 2024

This is your quick run down. It's not perfect but it also shouldn't get you killed. Hopefully. I take no responsibility for your injecting things unintended for human use. Do this at your own risk. I just wanted to make something I can link people to now that compounding is leaving and there's going to be a ton of people with basic questions. I'm stupid, you probably shouldn't listen to me at all, but hey, here you are, you're clearly a risk taker. We like to argue here, so I'm fully expecting someone to reply with every little thing I've gotten wrong within ten minutes of hitting post...

• chmuse
• Replies: 139
• Forum: Public Square

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[zpped]

Thanks for the replies. And yes, I’m new to all this mg vs volume stuff. Using an Ozempic pen that does .25 or .50 doses and cost me almost $400 WITH insurance!

Is there a good primer located in this forum that I can study to try and get up to speed?

Thanks again….

The Ozempic pen is marked in milligrams. (mg) This is a mass measurement and how you should record your dosage. When using a syringe you can only measure volume which we usually reference as either milliliters or insulin units. 1.00ml = 100 units or 0.01ml = 1unit.

In order to draw your desired dosage, you need to know the concentration. This is measured in mg per ml, or how many milligrams of the drug are dissolved into 1 milliliter of water. i.e. 20mg with 2ml is 10mg/ml and 0.50mg at that concentration would be 0.05ml (or 5 units).

If you don't absolutely understand everything I just said, you have some studying to do. And definitely don't inject anything without having someone double check you work.

 

[tahiles]

The Ozempic pen is marked in milligrams. (mg) This is a mass measurement and how you should record your dosage. When using a syringe you can only measure volume which we usually reference as either milliliters or insulin units. 1.00ml = 100 units or 0.01ml = 1unit.

In order to draw your desired dosage, you need to know the concentration. This is measured in mg per ml, or how many milligrams of the drug are dissolved into 1 milliliter of water. i.e. 20mg with 2ml is 10mg/ml and 0.50mg at that concentration would be 0.05ml (or 5 units).

If you don't absolutely understand everything I just said, you have some studying to do. And definitely don't inject anything without having someone double check you work.

Thanks for all the help!

This may be an over-siplification so please correct me if I'm wrong.

If I'm getting 5mg vials and want a dose of .5mg than I should inject 1/10 of the amount of BAC water I add to the vial. The dose should be just a hair short based on volume of liquid displaced by volume of dissolved solids.

If I then go the .75 dose, 1.5/10 units injected, then 1.00 mg would be 2/10.

I think this is correct, if not please correct me?

 

[Airborne Daddy]

Thanks for all the help!

This may be an over-siplification so please correct me if I'm wrong.

If I'm getting 5mg vials, and fill them with 10 units of BAC water, and want a .5mg dose I just draw one unit for injection? Should be just a hair short based on volume of liquid displaced by volume of dissolved solids.

If I then go the .75 dose, 1.5 units injected, then 1.00 mg would be two units.

I think this is correct, if not please correct me?

Correct but I wouldn't do 1 and 1.5 units...use more bac like 50 units to 5mg would make every 10 units = 1mg... so 5 units .5, assuming it's semaglutide and u end up doing 2mg, that's 20 units.... much easier than counting lines, everything would be increments of 5 instead of 1.... personally I would go 100 units (1cc) bac to 5mg making every 20 units= 1mg.... if ur gonna be doing low doses. .5mg is 10 units and .75 is 15 units.

 

[tahiles]

Correct but I wouldn't do 1 and 1.5 units...use more bac like 50 units to 5mg would make every 10 units = 1mg... so 5 units .5, assuming it's semaglutide and u end up doing 2mg, that's 20 units.... much easier than counting lines, everything would be increments of 5 instead of 1.... personally I would go 100 units (1cc) bac to 5mg making every 20 units= 1mg.... if ur gonna be doing low doses. .5mg is 10 units and .75 is 15 units.

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense!

 

[Airborne Daddy]

Glad cuz I confuse myself and have to check my math 3 times. Then when I go from sema and reta back to tirz I'm like shit how much did I add to the 30mg tirz....

 

[indolent]

Another issue is that your particular batch of lyophilized peptides might have a significant overfill. E.g., although marked 10mg,it might actually lab-test at 12.1 mg

That's just one reason I like to pre-plan my current (and next-step) draw amount in nice round units, and then use the reverse calculator (in my signature) to figure out the non-round, inconvenient amount of bac water to add to the vial.

Don't think primarily in terms of fraction of the vial, or in terms of a fixed concentration ratio ... it's a trap

 

[tahiles]

Well I got my 5mg vials. The bottom 1/3
(or so) of the vial looks almost “frosted”. I’m assuming this is the drug itself?

There’s also a white piece of what appears to be plastic that will travel up and down the vial, slowly if coaxed so it seems to be a somewhat snug fit. What’s the purpose of this piece?

 

[Skidude]

Well I got my 5mg vials. The bottom 1/3
(or so) of the vial looks almost “frosted”. I’m assuming this is the drug itself?

There’s also a white piece of what appears to be plastic that will travel up and down the vial, slowly if coaxed so it seems to be a somewhat snug fit. What’s the purpose of this piece?

When Lyophilized, freeze dried basically, the active ingredient, combined with excipients and other fillers, becomes a puck. The puck can move a bit or even break in transport. That looks fine, it is the ingredients, not plastic.
Depending on the contents, when you reconstitute just let it settle or slightly swirl, do not shake as some peptides can be sensitive.
Your BAC water, if that's what this calls for, will turn this all clear. Aim at the side so the vacuum hits slowly.

 

[chmuse]

Well I got my 5mg vials. The bottom 1/3
(or so) of the vial looks almost “frosted”. I’m assuming this is the drug itself?

There’s also a white piece of what appears to be plastic that will travel up and down the vial, slowly if coaxed so it seems to be a somewhat snug fit. What’s the purpose of this piece?

View attachment 6368

Everything @Skidude said.

Do you have your bac? Do you know how to use a calculator?

@AndyPanda and @indolent both gave you some basic resources you should check out before proceeding. I'm concerned you don't understand what you're doing well enough yet to do this safely.

 

[tahiles]

I’m not injecting for a couple of weeks. Did you miss my post above where I asked about injecting 10 units of water into an 5mg vial, and one unit out equaling .5 dosage? Pretty simple method without needing a calculator.

 

[Skidude]

I’m not injecting for a couple of weeks. Did you miss my post above where I asked about injecting 10 units of water into an 5mg vial, and one unit out equaling .5 dosage? Pretty simple method without needing a calculator.

I believe you would be better off with more BAC, 2 units is not enough. No one here is going to tell you what to do, so you are on your own in this. I will say we are all human and do not want to see someone get hurt.

 

[tahiles]

I appreciate that, I really do. How many units would you try to get in one of those tiny vials? I was really surprised at how small they are.