ok,I’ll be straight forward,Your first shot,How did it go,the pain anticipation and all,Lets share our First moments of sheer panick.
I’ll go first, mine was given to me by a nurse,Mom was there,she couldn’t look though,I was 15,and I was afraid of the pain but pretended no to,turns out not that big of a deal but I sure did try to stall:can I have it when I get home,how about we starts tomorrow?.The answer was obviousely no.
The thing to mention here is the green color of my thighs,I used to take my shots at the frontal part which was painful and resulted in a green skin with red dots 
.
What about you guys?
31 years and 14,000 or so shots later and I remember the first shot I gave myself. I was fine practicing on the doll they had me practice with, but on me are you kidding. I remember the smell of alcohol most. After all of the practicing the smell was intense. And I remember the fear and after it being done it was no big deal. But I didn’t want to do the next day or the next. After a while they blur together.
Then there was the “automatic” injector that was supposed to help. It slammed the needle in so fast it couldn’t help but scare the dickens out of you. As you jumped you forgot to feel it. LOL
you jogged my memory a little,Alcohol smell should’ve been high on my list.
and as for the automatic injector,I gotta admit that it’s hilarious,the idea of pulling your tooth out so you can forget about your painful leg is really wicked. 
I remember the first shot that I gave myself. I was hospitalized at diagnosis and given insulin via IV and they told me that I could go home once I gave my shots for 24 hours. I had NO idea what to expect. The nurse sat next to me and coached me through it. I took a deep breath and my hands were trembling and eventually stuck the needle in my thigh. I was surprised that it didn’t hurt, but more than anything I was in tears knowing that this what the first of many, many injections.
But I got to go home 24 hours later 
For the first week or two, I needed about 10 minutes to “prep” myself mentally for giving the injections. The problem was NOT that they hurt, but the fear of what would happen if I gave myself the wrong dose.
Now it’s like brushing my teeth
Panic, that’s exactly how I felt. I was hospitalized DKA. First insulin in IV & then injections by nurses. I was so out of it that I don’t even remember the injections I was given. Do remember the daily vials of blood they drew because that hurt & I was black & blue.
The day I was discharged I flagged down a nurse because I had no idea how to inject. I didn’t know doses or anything. Great education, huh? When the nurse said stomach was the best place, I felt ill. After the first one on my own, I was fine. Never had a fear of needles, fortunately.
It’s funny that I can’t even remember if the nurses gave me injections ever or if I went from IV insulin to doing my own injections. Those days are a bit of a blur by now.
What I remember most vividly was having BG tested every 15 minutes around the clock for two days. No one would tell me what it was.
I was in deep DKA and (to be optimistic) drifting in and out of consciousness. On IV’s for a week. I do distinctly remember actually coming back to the “real world” after a couple days on IV’s, and I do remember the nurses worried about running out of places to poke to poke IV needles into my wrist or arm by the end of the first week.
Then I started “real shots” (as opposed to IV insulin): I do remember that, about a week and a half after admission, when my parents practiced with saline on an orange but the nurse just gave me a syringe with insulin and told me it was my turn but I was going to use myself for target practice… I never even got to practice on the orange :-). While I remember being handed the syringe, I don’t really remember giving myself the shot. It wasn’t any big deal after having so many IV needles stuck in me.
Who I do specifically recall was Nurse Rose, a nurse that had probably taught all this stuff to a very large chunk of the T1 kids in my state. When I sent back to the state research hospital for checkups she would always be there.
Now I was also trained on boiling glass syringes and sharpening needles but that training was out of date, I was in fact started on plastic disposable syringes although when I checked out, in my supply kit was a wooden box with a “standard” glass insulin syringe and grinding stone with instructions. I suppose I came at the very end of that era and they figured that in case I ran out of plastic syringes (which were kinda newfangled at the time) I would need that.
I do remember Tes-Tape urine tests very clearly, and before that the test tube of urine with the fizzy hot tablet (I forget the name of that!!!).
Now, my first self bg test, I do remember that. A little over 29 years ago. In retrospect it was obviously superior to the urine testing I had grown resigned to, but I really super resented that I had to check my bg’s 4 times a day too. In fact I remember that resentment way way stronger than I remember the actual poke from the bg test. What was funny was they gave me a band-aid after squeezing the blood out of my finger. Can you believe that, a band-aid for a fingerpoke? Seems ridiculous in retrospect… after many tens of thousands of finger pokes.
oh…i was heartbroken that i was actually going to have to do it before leaving the hospital…lol
i took the needle and repetitively stabbed my abdomen with it…all without pushing the plunger…i was NEVER going home!
i was so scared. and so sick. but i got it…
My first insulin injection was by a nurse. But, after many years of working in EMS and being a Training Officer, I have been injected more times than I care to think about. Always “volunteered” to get stuck for injection classes. After being stuck with needles up to 14ga (think 10d nail), the 31ga insulin needle was a piece of cake.
3rd day in the hospital finally out of the ICU and off the IV. Nurse comes into the room and says “Your mom is also type 1 so you know haw to give a shot?”
“Yes basically” I reply she hands me 2 vials “28 units” she says “whats the mix ratio” I interrupt before she can say Lantus. A look of horror crosses her face “You don’t mix Lantus with anything”, Shows how long ago I quit paying attention to what my mother was taking.
I draw up the shot pull up my gown and Jab it into my leg. “You know you can also use your arm or abdomen” she says. I tell her I’m a little squeamish about the abdomen and forget to mention the fact that the thought of putting a needle in my arm ever again even if only skin popping it just brought back to many memories of mistakes of my past.
Needless to say the nurses seemed much better understanding I grew up around diabetes and had some knowledge. They would ask what I knew and if I understood when they told me something new. The doctors I guess didn’t get to tell many 30 somethings they had type 1. One made a comment about it being odd to get it at my age and the other kept talking to me like I was 9 ugh wanted to choke her at times. I know she was doing her job but I hate being talked down to,
Wow, that is a story that you will never forget!
Haha,that’s funny,not having the guts to push the plunger,I do that regularly,but because I forget to,I wait for the insulin to be absorbed forgetting to actually push it
I can only imagine how horrible it must have been back then,makes me appreciate what we have got now.and I complain about using the kittle,imagine doing that five times or so a day!.
what a story!!
I know that move!,in and out without pulling the plunger,I do it sometimes because I forget,and would be waiting for the insulin to be absorbed absent-minded,quiet stupid
I Asma,
I remember it like yesterday (13 yrs ago…)!
I was at the clinic with my wife at diagnosis. They were coaching me up on things, my general doctor and her nurse. I grew up with bad allergies which required shots, so I was pretty used to shots, although I’d never given myself one before.
I had the syringe all drawn up the skin wiped and ready to go. I was about to put it in the nurse (a large black woman, sort of like the Rebecca DeMorney character on Seinfeld…I think the actress plays a nurse on General Hospital now…) started forcefully telling me I’ve got to do it fast.
So I start putting it in, rather slowly. She starts yelling “Faster, you’ve got to faster!” I think she though I would flinch and chicken out. I finished poking myself with the needle, squirted in the insulin and was done.
The nurse gave me a somewhat disapproving look which made me think that she was thinking “He should have gone faster.” I’m still chuckling as I sit here thinking about it. The nurse and doc were great and took very good care of me in those early D-life days of mine. I am very grateful for their help, despite my insistence of going slow.
Cheers, Mike
I got my first shot from the nurse at my doctors office then was told to go home and do it the next day! Not much training but I was 24 and a quick learner so what the heck. At the time I was living with four guys and the next morning I get up and three of them are sitting in the living room with me waiting to see me do it. I get the needle ready, find the spot on my leg, and 1 and two and three an go! Nope couldn’t do it put the needle down and lit up a smoke (that was years ago). Finished the smoke, nerves calmed, ok breathe, and the needle goes in! Now I don’t do it quick so I slowly press the plunger then remove it, whew done (have another smoke)! All my roommates asked if they could give me my next shot (none ever did)! I used my legs for years and was so happy when I started using the stomach. Now it is a Pod and auto insertion!
Almost forgot…
My then-newlywed wife gave me a shot once, not long after diagnosis. She was balling and crying because she didn’t want to hurt me. I just smiled and told her it was fine, which it was. It was one of those cute moments between newlyweds.
Cheers, Mike
Nice story!,my brother gave me a shot once,fortunately he didn’t start crying,that would’ve been weird,and I can understand why she’d cry,from what I hear needles were far much worse back then.