How many cc's in 5000 units? Insulin / Heparin?

[Littlechickenman]

I have a 100 cc syringe and I need to take 5000 "units" of heparin. Does anyone know the conversions? Where do I pull the stopper back to, 100cc's five times???
Hey NURSEBSN, I am not a health care practictioner!!! Thanks for the condescending comments, though.

NOW IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO CAN ACTUALLY BE HELPFUL??

I need to take 5000 unites of heparin and all I have is a 100cc syringe.
Sorry its a 1cc unit syringe!!! I dont understand this stuff at all!

[NurseBSN]

A cc/ml does NOT equal 1 unit. Usually with insulin there are 300 units per cc/ml. You should already have a pre-filled syringe labeled in units. This is what you probably have-a 100 UNIT syringe. A 100 cc/ml syringe is over 3 oz and is the size of a turkey baster. Do you really think you need 50 turkey basters full of heparin or insulin? Also, if you pulled the stopper back to 100 units only 5 times, you'd be dosing at only a tenth of 5000 units. Please think carefully before you do something you or your patient will regret. You need to call a health care professional to get some thorough education on this matter because it does not appear that you are prepared to be giving injections.

Again, a 100cc syringe is the size of a TURKEY BASTER. You should NOT be using this to give yourself heparin or insulin. Again, 1 cc/ml DOES NOT EQUAL one unit! They are different units of measurement! This kind of mistake can KILL somebody! Please call your health care professional immediately.

[ladypam]

It actually depends on what's written on the heparin vial / injectable solution that you have. Some have 10,000 units per cc (which is 10,000 units per 1 ml) This means, if you have a 1 cc syringe, you only pull it to half the 1 cc mark since you would only need 5000 units, which is only half a cc. (0.5ml) Some have only 3000 units per cc. therefore you need to pull the syringe twice, once to the 1 cc mark, second at the 2/3 mark, since you would need 1.66 cc.

However, there are also differences in concentrations when taking these heparin injections especially if you are going to use it directly on your body or through an IV.

It would really be best for your safety to verify with your doctor your prescription and the exact concentration of the medication to use.

Hope this helps.

[phanratty]

Usually 5000 units of heparin will come up from the pharmacy already prefilled in an ampule. When drawing up the injection with a 3cc syringe it is 0.5 of an ml.