Review of needles

One of the medications that keeps me alive (yeah yeah, I know, disservice to humanity) is injectable.  This means that I need to have a daily supply of 32 gauge by 4 mm needles.

I have settled on Novofine by preference, but, apparently, at the moment they are unavailable from the supplier.  So, the pharmacy has offered me samples of a couple of alternatives.  So, I'm taking the opportunity to review the needles.

One of the options is BD4 (or, possibly, just BD), which is the same design as a brand that goes by the name of Droplet.  I don't like these.  For one thing, the protective packaging, and particularly the inner guard, which has to be replaced when you dispose of the needles in the sharps container, is small, and thin, and oddly flexible, and it's hard to get the packaging reassembled, in order to dispose of it, without stabbing yourself.  (The flexibility means that it is soft, and, when reassembling the package for disposal, it is too easy to have the inner guard bend when you are pushing the needle into it, and therefore have the needle poke through the guard and stab you.)  In order to do so, I have to get out my reading glasses.  The Novofine has a much better design, and, in the early morning when I do the injection, I don't have to turn on full lighting, and get my reading glasses, in order to avoid stabbing myself while I use the needles if I am using Novofine, but I do when using BD4 or Droplet.  So, for me, personally, and, I suspect, for any other elderly persons, BD4 and Droplet are definitely not preferred.

Also, today, using the BD4 needles, I bled for the first time in a number of years.  The BD4 needles therefore seem to be somewhat rougher and more tearing than other types.  Given how often I am offered them, I suspect that BD4 and Droplet are somewhat cheaper.  They are definitely lower quality.

One of the sample options is Clickfine.  (Unfortunately, a very small sample size, of three needles, but ...)  According to the pharmacist, Clickfine is cut using a different technique, and therefore claims to be sharper, and therefore less painful.  I used one today, and, in terms of pain, didn't have a particular problem (although, because I don't have many Novofine left, I'm being very careful with my injections).  The Clickfine packaging design is, unfortunately, almost the same as the BD4 and Droplet, although the inner guard, while just as small and thin as BD4 and Droplet, is not flexible, and so there is slightly less chance of stabbing yourself through the inner guard.