Changing injection sites--what gives?

Type 1 and LADA
1

I’m unlearning a lot of things I was initially told to do. I was told to use my stomach for basal Lantus injections, so I was using my thighs & butt for the rapid acting. Having now read that this is the opposite of what is best since stomach shots get absorbed the quickest & is more effective for rapid acting insulin, today I did the opposite. Shot the Apidra in my stomach & Lantus in my upper thigh.

All day my BG has been high, consistently high. Didn’t eat anything out of the ordinary, didn’t do anything else differently, my insulin hasn’t expired & I’m not getting sick.

Could just changing the injection site make this much of a difference? I’d think the rapid acting would be getting into me faster & working better. Another diabetic mystery.

2

Everybody’s body is differently. What may work for me may not work for you. So your thighs might absorb faster and better than your stomach or vice versa.

3

Thanks, Cody.

Even if the absorption is different/slower, wouldn’t it eventually have had a lowering effect? Maybe the injection site change is just a coincidence & something else new & exciting is happening.

Where’s the user handbook they forgot to give all of us:)

4

Do you have a lot of scar tissue built up where you injected? And yes unless the insulin was bad it would eventually lower your blood sugar. I have had brand new vials of insulin be bad after repeated injections where my sugar wouldn’t lower.

5

Nope, no scar tissue. Though it’s about two weeks old, the insulin could be off. I’ve had it lose effectiveness when it’s getting close to 28 days. Appreciate you mentioning this.Thanks.

6

I would pull out a new vial and try that and see if that makes a difference.

7

Will do. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try a new bottle of Lantus. Guess this could have gone bad, too. Thanks!

8

Hormones? shrugs I’ve read many women say that affects their numbers. I dunno! I was already a good bit into the menopause thing when I was diagnosed, and am now just about in “full” menopause (Full = 1 year with no cycle. I’m on month 10 with no cycle. YaY!) I’ve never noticed any issues directly related to that, though. And, as Cody said, we are all different, and our bodies all react differently to things! No matter, the body does exactly as it chooses to do, at any given time! Frustrating? Definitely!

I don’t take Lantus (uninsured, can’t afford the stuff), I take Novolin NPH and Novolin R, and give my shots either in my tummy or my thigh, even, on occasion, in my arm. I use my tummy the most though. So far, I’ve had no issues with absorption, thankfully.

As for keeping things separate, I think it goes: that as long as no two shots are closer than two inches of each other, you’re good? Please, somebody correct me if I’m wrong, on that!!

I usually work in a circle, or sorts, around my belly button. I take two shots of NPH daily (am/pm) and R as needed, and average anywhere from 2 to 5 shots a day. (If I eat really low carb, or my body is having some sort of “freak” day, I won’t have to take any R). So I just work them all around my belly, making sure not to be within two inches of the last shot. Luckily, if I need to take NPH and R at the same time, I can mix that in the same syringe. With Lantus, that’s not an option, I know.

My dad used to take Lantus, but he’s on Medicare, and he went into that “gap” deal, so now he takes NPH, like me. But, when he was taking the Lantus, he gave his Lantus shots in his thigh, and his fast acting in his butt, most of the time. Well, he had Mom give him the shot in the butt! I think he just wanted her to look at his butt! giggles Sometimes he’d take them in his tummy, and he even once had me give it to him in his arm. I dunno why he didn’t just give it to himself in his tummy that day?

But yea, Diabetes definitely isn’t a thing you will ever have EXACT results with every time or every day! Frustrating, indeed! But, it’s the way it is! We gotta deal! ;0)

9

Melissa,

Thanks for the smiles about your dad’s butt shots. I figured if I’m going to have injection scar tissue lumps & bumps, I’d rather have them in my rear where I can’t see them!

It’s not female hormones, though who knows if there’s another “mone” going on.

So sorry you don’t have insurance. I can barely afford it with insurance.

10

I shoot Apidra and Levemir in my upper thigh and don’t see any difference in activity. The Apidra works PERFECTLY for me injected there–I never go high after eating carbs . I have stopped injecting in the tummy because I always end up with horrible ugly dark purple bruises. The bruising is much lighter on my thigh when it occurs and it doesn’t occur very often.

When I was using Lantus I was told it doesn’t matter where you inject it. So maybe something else is going on.

BTW, someone turned me on to very short needles and that is what I’m using now. I get much less bruising with them than the bigger ones.

11

Thanks, Jenny. Good to know it’s not necessarily where I’m shooting. Must be some other unknown.

I just got shorter needles also. I wanted syringes with .5 gradings & they came with much shorter needles. Much better!

12

This will be a trail an error thing. Like others said, everyone is different. For me, it does not make a difference where I choose to place my infusion set on my body, I get similar effects. The only time I get different results is if something went wrong with my site or my insulin.

Good luck

13

Thanks, Chris. Happy to hear people’s experiences to know that changing sites may not be the problem. I was kicking myself for changing what was working for me, so good to know that I need to look at other factors. But, as we all know, figuring out what causes these unexpected swings is the trick:)

14

One thing I remember hearing when I first started using Lantus was not to mix it with any other insulin, and don’t even use the same syringe as your short-acting insulin because it can screw up the proteins rendering it ineffective. Maybe this is part of the issue?

15

I was warned about this also. I’ve never mixed them or used the same syringe. I’ve thought about using the same syringe because it bothers me how wasteful it is, but I’ve been a good girl about listening about this. Thanks.