Waaaayyyyy OT for math smart folks

Measures

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

The MG is the amount of the drug in the dose. The ML is the amount of carrier fluid in the vial. You need to know how much carrier fluid is used per dose. For instance, each dose from the vial may be 2ml and the vial may only have 20mg of the drug dissolved in the fluid. MG and ML are very different measures, one being for weight, the other for volume. You can't use math to translate one into the other. Suggest you get out the magnifying glass and read the label on the vial for more help.

Re: Waaaayyyyy OT for math smart folks

johnv

mg is weight ml is volume. This equivalency is for water the specific gravity of water.

What is the concentration?

John in NM

That 10 mg is dissolved in how much fluid? I think that is where the confusion lies. Liquid generally does not increase in volume when something is dissolved in it (though its density does increase).

Re: What is the concentration?

kneale brownson

Thanks. No clue about the questions. The syringe is quite small. I don't watch the injections. Shots into a muscle are bad enough. Into the eye are really disturbing for me.

Re: What is the concentration?

John in NM

Oh man... yeah, awful. Friend of mine had to have that too. He said the idea of it was worse than the actual injection.... but still, horrible!

Re: Waaaayyyyy OT for math smart folks

KenK

Some where on that vial the drug concentration should be listed. It will be shown as xx mg/ml. Once you have that, you can do your cost per dose calculation. You will also have to know how many ml are in the vial.

Apples and oranges

Lee Schierer in McKean, PA

As others have noted you are not comparing the proper characteristics. For example you can purchase Tylenol PM which comes in a 200 ml bottle. However, the dosage is 1,000 mg per 30 ml, which is equivalent to two tylenol caplets.

Ask the doctor to explain

John K Jordan

I you have the actual bottle and perhaps the included documentation you can do the calculation. If the doctor keeps these the best thing is to ask for an explanation. The doctor should be able to tell you the concentration and how he calculates the volume of the injection. Get him to write out the calculation on paper so you can check and be assured. The prices of some medicines are surprisingly expensive - one treatment my son gets every two months would cost us over $20,000/year without insurance.

We run into this all the time when dosing medicines for llamas for deworming and infections and such. I can calculate the dose but in most cases there is a big complication since we have to use medicines that are off lable for llamas but for intended for horses, sheep, etc. Some are based on animal weight and and some are a specified quantity regardless of weigh. An additional complication is that llamas use the medicines internally differently from the intended llamas so the dose must be adjusted for the physiological differences. I am fortunate to have expert friend who has done all the research with assistance from the llama medical community and vets who specialize in llamas so she just tells me the does. For example, she brought a bottle yesterday for the annual vaccinations and just told me to give each one 2mm, subcutaneous, regardless of weight - easy!

Even medicines for animals can be expensive. Last May I had to treat a llama for a horrible jaw abcess and the antibiotics and syringes cost me over $300 and required two weeks daily injections and other treatment but saved me $1000 by treating her myself.

She SERIOUSLY didn't enjoy the treatment, making it challenging with a 400 lb llama. I'm happy to say she's fine now.