Ok, I need some help. Our doctor told us our daughters back of her arms feel a little fat buildup. They are bumps rather a lager area that is more fatty now. She says this is caused by the insulin but what I don’t understand is we only inject once per day in each arm then stomach and sides. And we rotate up the arm and down it. Do you really think we could be having fat build up with that? She was diagnosed in May so the shots have not been going on that long. If I go any higher on the arm it hurts her and the legs were a major hit and miss with the pain. What should we do?
We have had that issue also, but on the legs and on the tummy. Our 7 year old isn’t very big, and so the injections tend to go into the same spot, even though we rotate around also. her tummy seems to be our bigger issue, since she only has fat in a small area,all shots there go into those spots, even though it is only once a day. After several days you can see it start to inflame. Have you tried the bottom? we use that a lot more, especially for basal doses since they are a larger shot and stay in the fat longer, plus there is more fat to move injections around (lantus is also a bit more traumatizing to the tissue since it is slightly acidic). it doesn’t take long for inflamation to show up, and then you need to avoid the area for a while, sometimes up to a month. It is better to be cautious rather than risk scar tissue, because then the area becomes completely unusable. it can be very frustrating. the smaller the kid, or lower the body fat, the harder it can be to find usable sites. Every time we inject we try to find the previous injection mark, and stay at least an inch away. But that can be easier said then done sometimes. I also check both our girls injection sites once a week for signs of inflamation. if you can catch it early then you only need to avoid it for a few days or a week before it heals back up again. you will also find that some sites are just more prone to inflamation then others. I am sorry for the added complication. As we say a lot in our house. “Diabetes sucks”.
Thank you for the reply. What do you mean by “same spot” on the arm we use that limb just once a day and we rotate from the bottom to the top so we are a least 2 inches away each time. Its hard to explain it but what the doctor told us is if you take your hand an run it down the arm you will notice large area where fat is building up. The area is like 4 in length and 2.5 inches in width. Its like we cannot use any of the arm else it will go into this fatty area.
In each area that we use to inject there is only a spot about 3 x 3 inches with fat, so even if we only use the right arm once a day, each time it is pretty close to the injection that we did on that arm the previous day. does that make sense? i know visuals would be helpful right now =) . Have you tried rotating further forward on the arm? We can use the side and front of the bicep, as long as i can find a little fat pocket (pinch and look for dimpling). I totally understand how frustrating this can be, finding usuable spots that won’t inflict pain is a daily challenge in our house as well. I laugh when i hear advice from the insulin manufacturers along the lines of “you should inject in the same areas so the insulin absorption will be consistent”, I know that applies more to adults, but we use every area possible!
I know it seems odd that there can be trauma when that area is used so little. But we have had puffiness on the tummy after just a few shots. Like i stated earlier, some areas are just more prone to trauma.
Are you injecting on an angle? Or strait in? The hospital told us to inject strait in because the needles would be short enough, but they weren’t. there is less pain if we go in at a 45. I don’t think we could use the legs if we were going strait in.