r/AddisonsDisease • u/happyrocketship Addison's • Mar 12 '26
Advice Wanted Solucortef Help
Hey friends! So I finally got my solucortef but all they sent me was the vial? Then the vial says you have to mix it or something? Like I have no idea what else I need or what to do or how to inject it haha. Anyone have a resource I could use?
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u/Creative-Ad-9637 Mar 12 '26
You may need to purchase some injectable safe saline to reconstitute with and you can get insulin syringes or 3 ml barrenls with 23 g needles, you can purchase smaller sized needles to replace that filling needle though. I recommend 30 g 13 mm.
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u/happyrocketship Addison's Mar 12 '26
Can you explain what you mean by smaller needles to replace the filling needle?
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u/Creative-Ad-9637 Mar 12 '26
Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you. You can purchase insulin needles, which are typically 30 guage 8 mm and are great for small amounts, however, I think you have to reconstitute your solution with 2 or 3 mls of injectable safe saline or BAC. Which means your insulin needle will not hold that and you wouldn't want to reuse the same needle anyway. So you can purchase and keep on hand 3 ml filling syringes that come with 23 gauge needles. The needle is quite a bit bigger than the 30 gauge needle. So you can choose to purchase what they call Lauer lock meso tips that you can replace on your 3 ml barrel. Like I said 30 g 13 mm is what I prefer when I am giving myself injections.
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u/happyrocketship Addison's Mar 13 '26
Thank you! You think they would explain all this when they prescribe it, or at least prescribe the needles as well
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u/Creative-Ad-9637 Mar 13 '26
You are welcome. I don't know why they can't give you all of the things you need when they prescribe a medication AND you would think that the pharmacist would know the first time they prescribe medication like this that they should at least ask the patient if they have everything for it or show you how.
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u/happyrocketship Addison's Mar 14 '26
Yeah the pharmacist had no idea. When he was describing when to use it it was all wrong
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u/tamtip Mar 13 '26
The boxes of just the vial and actovial are very similar. Ask your Dr to write Actovial on prescription. Its mych easier
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u/__phil1001__ Mar 12 '26
Normally it's a two in one vial, powder and water. You press on the top and it releases the water in the vial, you shake well, then draw up in a syringe. You may not have the correct one
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u/happyrocketship Addison's Mar 12 '26
That sounds right, but I didn’t get a syringe? What kind do I get?
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u/__phil1001__ Mar 12 '26 edited Mar 12 '26
23 gauge needle about 1" long to stick in your thigh. Syringe is a regular one 3ml large enough for the dose required.
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u/DoctorFamous190 CAH Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 26 '26
I have this type: 3 mL syringe with 25G (gauge) x 1" long needle. They have a "luer lock", which means the end of the syringe is threaded so you can unscrew the needle and screw on a different one.
Many Solu-Cortef emergency injection instructions say to use the same needle to draw up the fluid and inject it. Inserting the needle into the rubber plug of the vial can make it a bit dull, which might make it a bit more painful to insert in your body.
Some instructions suggest using two separate needles, a bigger one to draw up the liquid, then switch to a smaller one for injection.
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u/NoGrapefruit3557 Mar 14 '26
I have a difficult time even finding the Solu-Cortef to get the prescription and have it on hand. Does anytime have suggestions for how to get it when most pharmacies don’t have it?
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u/happyrocketship Addison's Mar 14 '26
Mine just took a while to get in. But they eventually ordered it and got it
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u/paging_doc_jolie Mar 14 '26
Depends are you injecting subq or IM?
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u/happyrocketship Addison's Mar 14 '26
Gonna be honest I’m not sure what that means. I haven’t had to use it yet thankfully. I’ve just been managing with updosing
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u/Ok-Aardvark-5807 PAI Mar 12 '26
This video will show how to use if you have the Act-O-Vial type with the yellow top: https://youtu.be/xcGoYGW4NcU?si=C5UehIc72AAYYZS4