Ugly lumpy arms

[nmb264]

Hello
20 years of injections has ruined my arms and legs. Horrible lumps with a notice dent in both arms. If looks online and its fat and just the effect of having diabetes for so long. I hate my arms an cover them up at all costs
Does anyone else suffer from this?

 

[noblehead]

I think the medical term for this condition is Lipodystrophy (spelling may be wrong). I had this in my stomach when I first started on injections, I stupidly injected in pretty much the same place as I found it the most comfortable and didn't rotate my injection sites, it's still slightly visible to this day, someone on the forum said you can get cosmetic surgery on the NHS to treat this condition although I've never looked into it.

 

[Picci]

As a child I always used the same place in my thighs and after 10 years my thighs were slightly! The cure is to rotate big time, my thighs are now perfectly normal after giving them a rest! I use my stomach, it's the largest area, keep using a different area, even where the rib cage is. After 33 years of injecting I've never had further problems. No need for surgery, it goes in time


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[glenmoray]

Yes I've been diabetic for over 30 years and I've got the fatty lumps on my arms, legs and stomach now. Try getting on to a insulin pump. With these you inject less so giving your injection sites chance to improve. The other way is to make sure you rotate your injection sites and keep away from the lumps as these can effect insulin absorbsion. Hope this helps you.


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[littlesoldier01]

One other thing you could try is to ask your doctor for 4mm needle tips. These don't hit the muscles anywhere near as often as the larger ones which allows you to use other injection sites that you wouldn't have considered before. I've just moved to the front of my thighs after 30 years on the sides and arms. I've found that the amount of insulin you need to take has dropped also.



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[nmb264]

Thanks for all this. I'm already on the smaller needles. Due to me never been shown properly About injecting into my stomach my arms and legs have taken it all! 6 injections a day I find quite hard to rotate. Think I need to be brave and ask about the stomach injections. I'm on the waiting list for the pump. It was a 2 year wait but due to the additional funding might only be a year! Here's hoping!


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[noblehead]

Thanks for all this. I'm already on the smaller needles. Due to me never been shown properly About injecting into my stomach my arms and legs have taken it all! 6 injections a day I find quite hard to rotate. Think I need to be brave and ask about the stomach injections. I'm on the waiting list for the pump. It was a 2 year wait but due to the additional funding might only be a year! Here's hoping!


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The following has a good diagram that shows the best places for injecting insulin:

http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx ... 01&id=7261