Units of measure?

[mhorowit]

I'm using a 1 ml syringe.
It's divided into 100 parts.
I THINK the forum is referring to a single part as a "unit".
Is that correct?

What is 1/100th of a ml called in the medical community? - Mike

[bldoink]

Most guys, at least in the U.S., use human diabetic insulin syringes. These are called U-100 insulin syringes. Yes, U-100 insulin syringes have 100 units per ml/cc. Many of us use considerably less than a ml or cc and so use syringes smaller than 1 ml. I use U-100 insulin syringes of .3 ml/cc capacity (30 units) with with 5/16" or 8mm long needles (many if not most guys use 1/2" or 12.7mm long needles). These hold 30 U-100 units. I've found that using the lower capacity syringes, that are large enough to hold my dose, provide better plunger feel for determining proper needle depth. The smaller syringes will also have more lines to allow easier metering of smaller doses.

Most of what you will see are U-100 syringes but be aware there are other types of insulin syringes that are NOT 100 units per ml. These are usually found in veterinary medicine and are U-40 insulin syringes at 40 units per ml/cc. The U-40 syringes should have a red cap while the human U-100 syringes should have an orange cap, at least in the U.S.

The bottom line is yes you are correct, one U-100 Unit equals 1/100 of a ml.

So yes, if you're talking human insulin, 1/100 of a ml/cc is called a unit. Since most guys use the U-100 insulin syringes we just talk about our doses in units.

I hope that was clear enough.