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It's getting painful...

SRO

Well-Known Member
Messages
89
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Evening all, I hope you've all had a good weekend!

Looking for some tips if you have any, please.

I've only been injecting for 3 months, but I'm finding my fingers are aching from testing. I'm down to around 7 or 8 times a day, but I'm in a ritual and don't know if I can do less as I'm only just starting to get good control.
I only use 3 fingers on each hand (no thumb or forefinger) and use both sides of the finger.
I change my needle every few days and have my pricker (?) set to level 2. Any lower I find it difficult to get enough blood. Any higher it hurts way more.

I also feel a bit of pain injecting my insulin. I use 4mm needles and change sites every time. I don't use the same needle twice for this.
I only inject in thighs, bum and (mainly) stomach. It's only sore when the needles going in, not while actually injecting.
Going slow does help, but I feel I'm having to work myself up to it and fear it will get worse.

I feel like I'm over reacting, and it's ONLY a 4mm needle, but I'd rather sort this now.

Any ideas how I can avoid the pain?

Cheers everyone.
 
Hi
Your fingers will toughen up and you won't feel so much.. Honest..
Your needles... What make are they?
 
Perhaps consider getting a freestyle libre...give your fingers a bit of a break?

I find that the fine point needles are quite painful...maybe see if you can get some BD microfine...these have always worked for me
 
Try a distraction technique when injecting, so think of something that makes you happy, like your favourite song, flower etc, in time injecting will get easier, it will continue to be hard if you think negative thoughts.
 
Hi. I have 4mm needles. I found my stomach has toughened-up over the last year or so but my thighs haven't. I don't test anywhere near 7-8 times day. It is easy to test too often? Make sure you know why you are testing each time e.g. before and during driving. If your insulins are reasonably balanced and you don't have too many carbs then you may be able to reduce the number of tests. I assume you are carb-counting and have tried to get your Basal balanced.
 
It is the BD micro fine that I use.
I would love to try a libre, but I'm not confident that the results are accurate (from what I've read about it).

I'll suck it up and just get on with it. Hopefully with better control comes the confidence to test less.
 
SRO said:
I only inject in thighs, bum and (mainly) stomach. It's only sore when the needles going in, not while actually injecting.
Click to expand...


You can also use the back of your arms.

If your tensed-up about injecting then it's going to hurt, try and relax and not think about it too much as I'm sure this will help somewhat.
 
Hi! Regarding the Libre - I've had mine 3 weeks & love it. Have double checked results a few times with my meter & they were the same.. HTH
 
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