Tamra, are you using syringes or pens to administer insulin to your daughter? You can get an even finer needle if you use a pen. As you can see from the second link that Alan has provided (thanks Alan!), BD offers a nano pen needle which is 32 gauge. I haven’t used the nano pen needles yet, but I plan to give them a try with my next Rx refill. Although I have used other brands of needles, I prefer the BD brand needles. They seem to go in easier.
I have been giving myself shots, in the stomach since April 2011, I have to do it 3 times a day, I go from side to side, and I pinch my stomach, and I get my flex pen ready and Hold my breath and stick myself, and then I count to 6 before I remove the needle.
Christine, I see that you really are very sensitive to needles. As you mentioned earlier, it may be more of a mental thing. Do you have trouble pricking your finger with a lancet-device as well? When I first was diagnosed, I absolutely hated doing that. (Back in those days, I had to feed the meter a full drop of blood.)
Honestly, after you inject for awhile, it will become very routine and second-nature. You won’t even give it a thought. I know this is a difficult time for you, but hang in there; the routine will get better.
You hold your breath? I find it easier to exhale and hold it. When my lungs are near-empty, my abdomen is not as tight and the injection is less painful (and I’m less likely to hit a “bad spot”). You can’t breathe out and hold it for too long though, for obvious reasons.
I’m relatively new to injecting (Type 1.5 here, diagnosed 3 years ago and using insulin about 11 months), and for the most part I have no qualms about the injection. I am very thin (6’1" 155lbs) so don’t have a lot of fat to choose from and stick with my belly for injections.
Most of the time I don’t really feel the insertion, but sometimes I do get weird about it and the method I use at those times I haven’t seen mentioned here:
Rather than pinch the skin up, I actually press the skin in gently (just a few millimeters…roughly the needle length), and then rest the needle tip against my skin. When I release the pressure on my belly, it pops back out to its normal place and the needle goes in super fast and pain free.
Give it a shot and see if it helps!
Chris
Yeah, but the Autolet had those stupid platforms that you put your finger up against. And the platforms would always break, so you needed to use pliers (or tweezers, or teeth) to remove and replace it. But when I first started using the Senserter, I certainly did have flashbacks to the old Autolet…
Nobody I know changes lancets as often as they should. It takes too much time and effort.
The only working solution that we have found in our diabetes club is Multiclix:
https://www.accu-chek.com/us/lancing-devices/multiclix.html
(
Or the same lancing device with a different name in Accu-chek Mobile
http://www.accu-chek.co.uk/gb/products/metersystems/index.html
)
It takes one second to change the lancet, so I usually change the lancet once per day. And the lancet drum once per week or so.
We did try the pens in the hospital, but my daughter has autism and this entire situation is impossible to explain to her. Thankfully, she does well with routines and she is adjusting much quicker than I thought to the entire process. That being said, she did horribly when you have to leave the pen in for a number of seconds. She does great when I inject her here using a regular syringe, as I am as quick as possible with them. (I guess my years and years of allergy shots are finally paying off in new ways!) While she does great with the 30 guage, anything smaller would be even better. As she gets older, hopefully we can switch to pens. I would also love if she could eventually use a pump. Right now, however, she would simply pull that out. Thanks for your input, BMD!
oooooh… the Autolet! That brings back some very dark memories!
I was initially taught to use my stomach, but found it sometimes painful and often experienced the kind of bruising you’re talking about. I switched to my legs and then later added my arms and had far fewer problems. The interesting things is now that I switched to a pump, I use my stomach exclusively and have no problems.
It sounds like you’re already using the thinnest shortest needle you can, so I’d try some different sites until you get more experienced. As you gain confidence, you’ll be better able to deal with the occasional “issue”. The important thing is to take your injections, so do whatever you can to make that easier.
I’m a slow-poke, too. I would always just rest the tip of the needle on my skin. If it hurt, I would change to another place; if it didn’t hurt, I would ease the needle in, and really had minimal pain from injections. I also always used my belly – I tried my thigh ONCE and it hurt so much that I never tried again.
Now, I’m on the pump, and I use the serter thingy, and it goes in fast, and actually doesn’t hurt, but I still don’t think I could do it fast if I had to do it by hand. And I only use my belly – can’t get myself to believe that any other site would work! I’m fortunate that I don’t scar easily – I started shots 17 years ago, and the pump 12 years ago, and have had no site problems, and no fat problems. However, I AM careful to rotate the sites.
All I can say is keep on trying – I’m sure you’ll find a way to come to terms with injections. It’s like you do what you have to, no choice!
Hello Christine, this is what I do I look for the slope on the needle then pinch my skin and place the needle on top of the hump then I sing a song and just glide the needle in. I never just stab it in like the doctors do, nice and slow helps me deal with it. And no you are not insane, I have been Diabetic for more then 20 years and I still have to fake myself out 
As for injecting in other locations, I do the same thing just remember that different locations give you different results. The best place is your stomach just move the injection sight an inch every time.
Great luck and hope I was able to help a little.