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Injecting through shirt, needle length

Antje77

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Staff Member
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Messages
21,233
Location
Friesland (the Netherlands)
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
First, I know it's not recommended to inject through clothes and I'm definitely not advising people to do so.

That said, I know many of us do. I usually have the 5 mm pen needles but I have a sample box of 4 mm needles as well, to see what I like best. No problems injecting through my shirt with 5 mm, but wondering if anyone does so with the shorter needles and if they notice a difference.
 
Hi @Antje77 ,

I use the 5mm & have also used the 4s. I have to admit I have never jabed through clothing.

If the 5mm works for you, why are you considering a change?

You could always experiment with the 4mms by dressing an orange...
 
Jaylee said:
If the 5mm works for you, why are you considering a change?
Click to expand...
Was reading a facebook post about different brands and length of needles and what different people like best, just when I was about to order my three monthly stash of diabetes stuff. So I figured I'd ask for a couple of boxes of other brands and lengths as well
I like the 5mm more than the 6 and occasional borrowed 8, but not sure about the 4. They just seem so, erm, short
 
Yep, i get what yer saying.

The 4s don't do it for me either..

If you have no trouble with the 5mm regarding your injection practice.Then stay with the right tool for the job.
 
The thought of a pump cannula through clothing, boggles the mind!
It sounds like one of thise do not try this at home situations.
Woukd cleanly laundered and ironed clothing be sterile?
The layers of clothing might mean not hitting muscle, depending on numbers of layers, but a challenge to wash clothing,
Although with some form of chemical indicator in the clothing any insulin leaking from the cannula might be detected
sooner.
Well all good thought experiments.
 
Hi @Antje77, I use 4mm needles, they work fine for me. I rarely inject through clothing these days (used to more so when longer needles were the norm) and I wouldn't go through more than one layer of realtively fine fabric with a 4 - max weight of fabric would be a t-shirt so for me a cotton shirt would be ok.
 
Well, that's a whole new level of diabetic stubbornness!
 
Never tried to inject through anything thicker than a t-shirt, an not planning to, really. But I think I'll stick to the 5 mm and use up the 4mm's when it gets hot and my shirt isn't in my pants (The main reason to inject through shirt is that I'm too lazy to wrestle my shirt back in my pants )
 
I use 4mm needles and regularly inject through a single layer of clothing (jeans, t-shirts etc not thick wool jumpers) - never had an injection fail because it wasn't deep enough.
@kitedoc - you don't want to be injecting into muscle tissue, that's why needles are short.
 
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