I'm gonna get a long pen needle (8? 12?) and try this next time I correct a major high on the weekend. I'd like to see how it reacts, and if not too painful it may become a normal part of my arsenal.
If it is much more effective in onset and roll-off (kind of like what we're all raving about with Afrezza) I wonder, why isn't it part of the treatment regimen?
I read elsewhere that one person injects his/her "customary" bolus at the start of the meal. If (s)h/e eats more carbs than customary, injects at the end of the meal to correct for the additional carbs. If someone decides to always inject after the meal, wouldn't it make sense to inject intramuscularly so that the insulin reaction time would be faster than subcutaneous injections?
How does one inject into the arm and pinch? The nurse mentioned backing up into the wall. I don't think she's a diabetic (her knowledge may be "text book" based.
I never really figured it out either! It's been several decades since I even tried, but back then I did it by kinda rolling on the bed.
While they definitely taught me to pinch... it is unlikely for me to try to pinch today.
As i mentioned in my post on page 1, i do not pinch when i inject into my arm. I usually use my arm as a "back up", which means that i only use it when i am high and wanna get down ASAP, so i am actually happy if i hit muscle then, which is easiest on my arm.
I found out in D-camp, that the kids nowadays do not learn to pinch anymore, but to stretch the skin, inject, count to 10, pull needle out and then let go of the skin, that way the risk of insulin running out of the body is minimized.
this is a fairly good video on how to do an arm injection using the "wall" technique
diabetic danica does it with her leg or the back of a chair, seems easier to me.
Since everyone's body configuration and physiological responses are individual, this process obviously has to be too. This is just one more of those things about diabetes that needs to be worked out by trial and error to find the technique and protocol that is right for you.
As far as timing goes, what we are trying to achieve is to come as close to the body's own natural response as we can. Ideally you want the insulin to begin working at the same time as the carbs enter the blood stream. So the answer to your question, as with most things diabetic, is "it depends".
No one knows how your digestion works as well as you do. For instance, if you suffer from gastroparesis, food will take longer to affect your BG. If not, it'll happen sooner. In my case, I inject long enough before the meal so that the insulin starts working just as the food starts to have an effect. The actual lead time depends on the particular insulin I'm using, and was arrived at by empirical testing. The proper timing might be quite different for you.
For the record, I use the abdomen for sub q injections and the deltoids for IMs -- 6mm for the former and 12.7mm (½") for the latter. The difference in response is quite pronounced; IMs are in and out and peak much more quickly.