I am just having trouble injecting. It hurts. I hate the needles. I am using the tiniest gage and that pinch makes me scream everytime. I bruise easily and I did give myself a bruise at one injection site.
I also have track marks on my tummy from the recent injections.
Is this normal, the marks? The occassional bruise? Does anyone else have this problem?
Of course I'll mention it to my doctor. But was just curious if I am just being a big baby or if this just comes with the territory.
I’ve been on Byetta for going on two years. Injection technique does improve with practice, but it also involves learned technique. I don’t have a lot of body fat, so I use both a small guage needle and a “short” needle. Needles come in different lengths, 12.7mm, 8mm, 6mm and 5mm. I also “pinch and inch,” grabbing whatever “love handle” I can get and “gently” pulling together the layer of bodyfat. Don’t “squeeze” it, that will just put your flesh under pressure and squeeze out your insulin or byetta.
Next, don’t fumble around, slowly pressing the needle in. Just quickly and smoothly get the needle in. You need to remember, a slow insertion of the needle is far more damaging and painful. That all being said, we have all experienced bruises. Even the most experienced diabetics will have an occaisonal silver dollar size whammy on their tummy.
I’ve never experienced Byetta, so feel free to ignore this if it’s way off mark. I just figure that an injection is an injection, and your main problem seems to be with the needle, so my years of experience with insulin might be relevent. (:
It’s normal to get marks where the needle has been - completely. They should heal over relatively quickly, though. I’m on the insulin pump now so scars stay for longer, but when I was on shots the marks would usually begin to fade after just a few days.
The occasional bruise is COMPLETELY normal, and over time you will probably refine your technique so they aren’t as frequent or as bad. Nowadays I usually only get small yellowish bruises, whereas when I first started doing my injections I gave myself a couple of nasty purple ones.
My main advice would be:
I don’t know with Byetta how flexible you can be with injection sites. Abdomen works best for me (less pain and bleeding) but my two real life D friends ALWAYS do their shots in their thighs, because they say abdomen hurts too much. I also find my upper arms to be okay. If you’re able to try different places I would encourage it, because different places really do have different pain and bruising / scarring levels.
It will get better with practise. I found that for me I had to pinch up a bit of skin to inject into, or I would hit muscle and that is so painful. Trying different techniques might help. I know some people who swear by sticking the needle in really quickly, but for me it works better to take it slow.
Good luck with the thigh. I’ve never been able to inject in my thigh or arms. Byetta and insulin should both be injected into the subcutaneous layer of bodyfat below your skin. If you find that your injections are bleeding and are painfulm, that is an indication you are hitting the muscle. Do try the pinch method, it really helps.
