8mm, 6mm or 4mm needle to get the golden dose

[xenamorphin]

About to get some needles to get the golden dose out the mounjaro Kwik pen.

I know that 32g is finer than 30g for the needle but was wondering which length I need to get, seen options for 4, 6 and 8? Wasn't sure if it was shorter if it would reach the medication to pull it out.

Thanks in advance

I get the 8mm ones, as I also worried about being able to reach the medication. I don’t know if that’s a genuine concern or not, as I must admit I’ve not ever tried to measure the depth of the red seal.

The 6mm is ok to get out. Not sure about the 4mm as never tried it.

I would recommend getting syringes with a Luer needle fitment. Then get wide bore needles to extract (eg 18g red), because it's a viscous fluid and takes a bit of drawing. Then swap for a fine needle (I use 25g orange) to inject.
Length doesn't really matter to be honest. I use 1" needles, I'm just careful when injecting that I don't go too deep, to remain sub-cutaneous and not go into muscle. That's why I don't go into my thigh, always my chubby tum!

@HappyWineDay 😲 you know you don't get prizes for the thickest and longest needles? 🤣 Why are you recommending such unnecessarily thick and long needles to Mounjaro users?

Mounjaro is not viscous, it is water consistency, and definitely does not need such thick 18g or 25g needles, 25g is much thicker than needed for subcutaneous - a more comfortable 31G - 32G is absolutely fine. I can do my B12 easily through a 31G needle and that is a more viscous than Mounjaro.

If it feels tricky to draw from the vial, that’s just the vacuum causing resistance, not the liquid itself.

A 1" needle? Definitely unnecessary, not recommended for subcutaneous injections and not the safest choice, I would not recommend anyone to have needles that long for Mounjaro. A shorter, recommended, 4mm - 8mm is much more appropriate.

Thanks for your input. Tip your pen up and you'll see it's thick, which is why I suggested a broad gauge needle for drawing up. You may have noticed people have had a lot of trouble drawing up, some people even suggesting injecting air into the pen to make it easier which is a really bad idea.
If you bother to read my post again, you will also see that I went on to say use a fine needle to inject. I didn't recommend a 25g, I said that's what I use. Nor did I recommend 1" needles, again I said that's what I use and I also said that care needed to be taken. So wind your neck in.

@HappyWineDay it is an aqueous solution with low viscosity, it may appear to not flow in the vial as it is in a vacuum, it is hard to extract because it is in a vacuum. Put it in a container and it flows just like water with no stretching/stickiness, and can be easily drawn up when the vacuum is not present (obviously no one should do this then inject that liquid), if you have ever had some back flow you will have noticed the drip flows fast and thin down your skin just like water. It is not viscous.

Saying you are using a needle and “length really doesn’t matter” is strongly implying a recommendation. It absolutely does matter for safety reasons.

I have said my point and hopefully it stops anyone buying unnecessarily long or thick sizes and they choose something more appropriate and safer.

I’ll wind my neck in now…….have a good day

I got 8mm syringes from Amazon originally - still pretty long but ok. Hurt a bit.

I thought I should get some medical grade ones so asked my pharmacy - they gave me some 10mm ones (free of charge which was nice of them).

OMG - massive! I used it in my stomach (squidgy) and it bled, hurt for ages and I have a big bruise.

wont do that again - have ordered some 6mm ones and that will be what I use.

Why is it a bad idea to inject air into the pen - it breaks the vacuum which is stopping the liquid from flowing into the syringe.
Breaking this vacuum causes the liquid to flow into the syringe easily.
Any air that enters the syringe can be flicked and primed out.
And if you do inject a bit of air it really really does not matter as it’s a subcutaneous injection, not one into a vein.

Why don’t you just buy another pen needle and hard twist the pen? If you wear washing up gloves you can get a really strong grip on the pen and just twist it past the stop all the way to the 1. That’s what I do. Feels a lot safer than drawing it into another syringe.

I use 32g 1ml insulin needles with a 4mm tip.

I have never had any difficulty drawing up the fluid.

It's really not the mission some people make it out to be.

This breaks the plunger on most pens. The mechanism was changed to try and stop people using the magic dose.

@museumumI used to do that, but two times in a row the whole internal mechanism broke and it would no longer inject. So i just go straight for separate syringes which I know will always work.

Using longer needles can be counterproductive as it’s a subcutaneous administration - i.e. into the fat directly under the skin. That’s why the needle that comes with the pen is 5mm. Going deeper can push the drug too far in and it won’t be effective.

I’ve done it my last 3 pens but thanks for the heads up it might stop working. I will always have the next pen ready in case it breaks.

@PurpleChrayn8mm is still considered subcutaneous, so anything from 4 to 8mm is fine. It’s personal preference really.

It's not complicated. I'm a non medical novice. I used these

https://ukmedi.co.uk/products/fms-micro-syringe-32g-8mm-1ml-fms-fms-32g-10ml-ukmedi-co-uk

Which was advised on a MN thread at the time.

It was all very straightforward

This! I use the same syringes and have done for 5 extra doses now. It's really straightforward & I've had no problems at all.

I don’t remotely agree with you on the viscosity or indeed any of your comments, so we’ll have to differ in our opinions and I stand by my original post

The issue is that the air can contain bacteria and cause contamination. Maybe not such an issue if you are only drawing once, but potentially an issue if you draw a partial dose and retain what remains - as many people do

Ah ok. Thank you.
I only draw once (and have not keeled over yet) so will continue as I am. :)

Does this actually work? I had 2 pens on the go because I was going on holiday. I flew but my husband drove but because of that, left before me so he took a pen in his fridge. I used the pen I had at home after he left. I had to take 2 doses whilst I was away and must have gotten confused, as I then threw it away

Can 23G x 1" be used?? It's all I have and need to take dose tonight 😢

You could, but 1 inch is way way longer than a subcutaneous length needle. So you’d have to be very careful to only insert it into your body no more than 8mm so as to remain subcutaneous and not go too deep. It’s also much thicker than the usual needle width, so may be more painful.

I would rather wait than try it, personally.

I managed to force twist my last pen with pliers but I couldn’t do it by hand it was too stiff.

My success rate with force twisting is 7/8 - in one, the plunger essentially came away from the lowe pusher thing so couldn’t be used that way. I prefer trying to force first, as that way you’re not messing around with extraction unnecessarily.