Giving yourself insulin shots is the easiest thing in the world. I think putting in contact lenses is more difficult and more painful than insulin injections (and I’ve done both – thousands upon thousands of times).
I will admit that I don’t do it like many others though. Most prefer to do it quickly and all-at-once (like ripping off a Band-aid). Me – I touch the point of the needle on my skin, then push until it punctures through, then slowly insert it all the way. I feel everything that’s happening and am more “in control” that way.
Hi Patricia!
I am 52 and was just diagnosed 3 years ago. I was put on insulin from the beginning. They said I couldn’t leave the hospital until I learned to inject myself. I did. I still really, really hate it. I use Lantus (24 hour, one shot a day) The pre-filled pen (Solostar) is simple and fairly pain-free.
One thing nobody ever told me, was to stay clear of obvious veins near the surface of where you take your injection. I have (on two different occasions) shot my insulin right into a vein and that caused my blood sugar to drop rapidly. (from 189 to 40 in an hour!!!) Not fun.
BUT… you’re not on insulin yet. Read all you can about diet and blood sugar control and exercise and all that and you may never have to take insulin. Fight it!!!
And you should also check out one of the alternate site testing glucose meters. I test on my forearm and it’s not too bad at all. (Freestyle Flash)
Good luck and come back here often and stay positive.
Hi Patricia
I was on a couple oral meds and my A1cs kept getting worse but I put off going on insulin because I thought I could “beat” it and because I did not wanna be tied down having to do shots…
Well you know what, if your doctor starts pushing u to go on insulin because your A1cs start getting bad, accept it.
I thought oh but if I go on insuline I will always be on insulin… UMMMM yeah and…
Of course that the way its going to be , if your oral meds are not working as good anymore then you need to go on insulin, yeah you can go back to oral meds and have a1cs of 8 or higher… Unfortunately it is a one way ticket for most. Now if you believe these health food gurus on this site who have “cured” their diabetes with Raw foods and all that, go for it.Personally I am not going to spend all my waking hours thinking about how healthy my food choices are… Their food choices may be healthy, but in order to “cure” it must be extreme and constant.They are constantly thinking they need to control their disease by what there food intake is.It may work for them, but not for me.That is why there is Insulin or Oral meds.
When I give myself a shot (5 times a day) I push it in slow, no jabbing for me, if it pinches I pull it out and move over 1/4 inch. To be honest,8 out of 10 times I dont even feel it, if it piches going in… when injecting it will sting a little, mind you nothing to even come close to even saying anything… So pull it out and move it 1/4 inch and you feel nothing, not the needle going in, or feel insulin going in… I take 75 units of Lantus if I feel a pinch, pumping 75 units is going to sting like crazy… but not if u move it over 1/4 inch… See it’s not like a nurse jabbing you and not caring if it hurts or not, you are in control… Like I said… 80% of time it feels like nothing… Dont let that deter you from making the decision of using insulin if your a1cs start going up… Insulin will give you much tighter control and best of all, you will feel much better with your numbers in the normal range! Good Luck to you Patricia
Like many Patricia - oranges were the victims of our needles. I was so scared when my Mum finally went from injecting the OJ - to ME!!! By the age of 8 - I was giving my own injections - as I got fed up with having needles going into my clenched back side muscles. Luckily, from needles that I sharpened on a stone, boiling up the glass reservoir, and now with 32g pen needles (teflon coated - I can cook an egg on them) - times are much different. I have to admit tho’ - I still dislike needles from time to time - more so when someone else is doing it. Where I find it hard is when I have to inject someone else - not sure how others feel about that - I hate inflicting pain. I have done home care over the years - to a few elderly diabetics - and I hate giving them the vampire bite in the finger tip (I think that is worse then the insulin shot) - and then their insulin shot. I’m pretty fast at doing it - so one man when I’d already taken aim and fired - looked at me and asked if I’d done it yet - and I said I had. He said it was the first time he’d not felt discomfort or pain. I felt so happy at that comment
If it helps you any - maybe just think of all of us standing “nakid” while we shoot up with insulin - and have a laugh at the same time - we’re all in this together - alive and kicking!!
Would I be able to give our senior cat Abby or our senior foster Rottie Penny a shot if need be ??? That is the question … I never had a problem with me , diagnosed at 42 in 1983 , pumper since 2001 . I have always hold it as " life sustaining " and this get’s me through …even the long needles of the continuous glucose monitoring system .
Hang in …PLEASE …
It’s true that a lot of it is mental. I have always been shot phobic. It’s not the needle, but the pressure when pushing the liquid in, that bothers me.
They had me practicing on a pillow that I held to my stomach to practice, but when it came to my first shot, it took me over an hour to actually press the plunger (I had the needle in half of that time). The CDE told me, that the week before, she had an army man, sent back from Iraq, who took over 5 hours, to do his 1st shot. He said guns weren’t nearly as scary. Not sure about that, but it does become routine.
…PLEASE …