May 21, 2006
Remember that the information presented here is not intended to replace the care of your own doctor. Before making any changes in the management of your own illness, you should consult your physician or other qualified medical professionals.
Question
My husband has started using the pen for his insulin, and the syringe part will not go into the small syringe disposal containers he had been using for his disposal needles. Can you recommend a very small container that will fit easily into a suitcase since we travel a lot? The only ones I can find are very large ones. He has filled four of the small ones in about two years from his other kind of needles, so I would order several small ones for the pen type as well.Answer
I don't think you need to dispose of any syringe body in a "sharps container", provided you render the syringes/pens useless prior to throwing them away (e.g. bending the plunger, removing the rubber stopper, etc.). However, the needles themselves should be disposed off in a proper receptacle to prevent inadvertent needle sticks.
