I was looking at the TUdiabetes featured photo by Stephen a few seconds ago, it shows him giving a shot of insulin in his arm.... very cool photo indeed. I was thinking, I have never given myself a shot in my arm in the 26+ years I've lived with Type 1 diabetes. So, I went online to seek out an "insulin shot diagram"...low and behold I found what I was looking for on banting.com....
When I was younger, I would only inject in the back of the upper thigh (with my moms help) and the front of the upper thigh. I have never ever injected in the lower back?? Another website I went to showed injecting between the shoulder blades (see the first response to this thread below)?? LOL! The only three areas since my diagnosis I have injected (syringe or pump infusion site) are my front/back upper thighs and stomach. How about you? Anyone out there use all of the above and some?
** Wait, I have tried the infusion site in the buttocks area on a beach vacation I went on several years ago, it only lasted a day and fell out. :(
Thanks for the graphics, Danny. I have injected into the inner tricep area of my arm (into my oh-so-sexy “bat wing”) but I find it’s painful and hard to hold my arm up the whole time.
After a really bad hypo last summer I read on-line to inject Lantus into the thighs (front or side) and Novolog (fast-acting) into the abdomen/belly area. Using these sites in this way is supposed to help with hypo unawareness.
I asked my doctor and he agreed. He said that the thighs absorb a bit slower, which is fine for the larger Lantus shots, but the abdomen absorbs a bit faster, which is better for the smaller fast-acting injections.
I hope those shoulder-blade locations are intended for a parent injecting a child, or a nurse injecting a patient, etc. I can’t imagine anyone being limber enough to do that area for themselves! The outside of the arm would be tough, too. Weird.
Are you sure that graphic isn’t for medical personnel?
Shoulder blades. No thanks! Used upper arm area once & saw stars & little birdies. It’s too difficult even without the pain.
Interesting that the second diagram doesn’t show upper stomach, back thighs or butt. I use upper stomach & as much of my rear I can pretzel twist reach.
I’ve experimented with all areas (except the shoulder blades). I find the arms hard to work with, but the rest, I like and use. Lower back is one of my favorites actually!
I should add that I have heard of women who also use their breasts. Haven’t tried that yet!
Yeah, well I guess this “new info” won’t be helpful for you and it still makes me cringe to think about it
I just saw that you added your experience with the upper buttocks. This was my favorite and only infusion set area for my first 4 years on the pump. I was young and stupid and thought that scar tissue wouldn’t happen to me. No rotation and now my buttocks are out of commission. I think that I like putting it there because I felt like the pump was out of sight, out of mind. It always surprises me that people don’t use that site all the time, but then again, people are allowed to be different…
