Painful injection sites

[MeiChanski]

Oooo - that reminds me. Some GPs have been prescribing cheaper needles recently and there have been a few threads about these not "gliding in" as easily and being more painful.
@MeiChanski if your needle brand has changed recently, it is definitely worthwhile asking if you can go back to the old brand.

Oh I am familiar with cheaper brand of needles, I have experienced the cheaper brand of 8mm needles and that was a nightmare to use. I don’t know why out of all lengths, the previous gp thought 8mm was a good length, but hey anything to save money right? Thankfully the gp here hasn’t made an attempt to change it and I have been getting the BD microfine 4mm needles.

 

[MeiChanski]

@helensaramay has taken the words out of my mouth! Are you still using the same needles? I mean brand? a few years ago my G.P surgery tried changing over from BD to a cheaper alternative. You get what you pay for! I found these not only hurt but left me constantly bruised. I only insist now on the BD type, which I say I have earned by length of service! (that's just the brand I like but there obviously are other of a 'higher' quality). Finding another brand maybe kinder to you, just thought it worth a mention too! And gosh, I hope you get this sorted cos it makes life very difficult as a type 1.

I can relate, I was prescribed BD microfine 5mm needles for a long period of time. Until I went to uni and the gp there changed my prescription of needles to a cheaper brand and a different length. It was a nightmare to use.

 

[MeiChanski]

Just done the same hing and it said Do not inject insulin into your inner thigh because of the number of blood vessels and nerves in this area. So that I guess is a good reason however like I said it was more then 30 years ago when I did that and things change ~shrug~ I have also done outer thighs as well, not sure I would at the moment as I appear to getting some muscle back in that area

Indeed, even when i'm injecting i'm surprised at the amount of muscle I have. We live and we learn eh?

 

[hodders]

Hello Diabuddies! How are you?

I would to ask has anyone on MDI encountered painful injection sites? I do rotate my sites, however sometimes when I pick a spot to inject, the needle barely pierces the skin and I get a rush of pain. If I would to push the needle to inject, it would hit into a hard spot. I think I do have some hard areas that never really went away. If I had to rate the pain out of 10, it’d be 11.
Is there a solution? Is it worth mentioning it again to my new diabetes team? My new consultant did say use some moisturiser to get a good feel around to check for lumps. In the past everytime my previous diabetes team asked and I said yes, they weren’t able to give me any advice. I also did avoid that area for a number of years and it doesn’t feel like it has healed. Which is strange, right?
I usually don’t inject arms because that’s quite painful and muscly and apparently DSN in the past said to avoid arms. so I usually do belly rim area, buttocks and upper outer thighs and theres where I encounter the painful spots.

Hi there
My experience is almost identical to yours. Quite often breaking through the outer layer of skin is nearly like cracking a shell. My solution to this is to really massage moisturiser into my midriff daily, this does really help. Nurses have told me that often the outer layer can be quite tough on some folk. Good luck with it.

 

[MeiChanski]

Hi there
My experience is almost identical to yours. Quite often breaking through the outer layer of skin is nearly like cracking a shell. My solution to this is to really massage moisturiser into my midriff daily, this does really help. Nurses have told me that often the outer layer can be quite tough on some folk. Good luck with it.

Thank you,

 

[Marie 2]

I have a pump now, but I remember sometimes I would inject and go yow!!!! I figured I hit a nerve and bore through it. But I never hit a hard patch?

Now my dog on the other hand gets shots and she will yelp off and on so I move the rest of the shot to a different area and she's fine. I just figure it's a nerve hit if it's just off and on.

 

[Wjohn]

Hi there
My experience is almost identical to yours. Quite often breaking through the outer layer of skin is nearly like cracking a shell. My solution to this is to really massage moisturiser into my midriff daily, this does really help. Nurses have told me that often the outer layer can be quite tough on some folk. Good luck with it.

Hi ,
Yes it does help ,but I find it does not get better .
I’ve been a Type 1 for over 56 years ,over these years averaging 3 injections per day .,by rotation of injection sites I’ve managed to avoid lumps ,painful sites etc ,but ,recently wear and tear has caught up with me .Over the last 6 months ,I’ve developed lumps ,resulting in irregular/irrational release of insulin .This in turn .leads to very poor BG levels ,my Libre has really helped .
Has anyone been moved onto a pump as a result of something similar. .?
Thanks wjo

 

[MeiChanski]

Hi ,
Yes it does help ,but I find it does not get better .
I’ve been a Type 1 for over 56 years ,over these years averaging 3 injections per day .,by rotation of injection sites I’ve managed to avoid lumps ,painful sites etc ,but ,recently wear and tear has caught up with me .Over the last 6 months ,I’ve developed lumps ,resulting in irregular/irrational release of insulin .This in turn .leads to very poor BG levels ,my Libre has really helped .
Has anyone been moved onto a pump as a result of something similar. .?
Thanks wjo

Hello, thats an interesting input, I know some diabetics being on a pump means less injections but I don't know if that helped with lumpy injection sites.