Hello, as I’m new here I don’t know if this has already been covered before, and I wouldn’t know where to start looking even if it had.
I have a problem with my injections, I know a couple of other type 1’s and neither of them know what I’m talking about, also my diabetic specialists always look a bit puzzled when I tell them about it as well.
I usually inject in my belly, alternating regularly between the left and right of my belly button. I use the Novarapid pen for my shots. I’d say about 60% of the time, I place the needle into my belly, and when I push the plunger, there’s a resistance and I have to push it very hard with a lot of force. When I remove the needle, I see the whole dose of insulin squirting from the end of the needle, hardly any of it has gone into me. I always know when this is happening because the rest of the time I can push the plunger down easily and I know I’ve received the full dose of insulin.
But my problem here is that each time it doesn’t inject properly, I have no way of knowing exactly how much insulin went into me, and how much of it squirted out when I removed the needle, making it impossible for me to compensate with another shot.
This isn’t just something that happens occasionally, it happens every day. I alternate my injection sites regularly and that doesn’t seem to make any difference at all. I was just wondering if anybody else ever experiences this, and what is it that the needle comes up against in me to stop the insulin coming out? It’s very frustrating.
Can you see a certified diabetes educator and or Nurse Practitioner who can observe you while you inject? I Insulin injections are most easily done in fatty areas… If you have a lean body type , those areas may be hard to find… Are you new to injections? Please have someone observe you when you are doing this. Does the same thing happen when you use a regular syringe.? In my state ,they can be purchased w/out a prescription…You need to see if it is your technique, the site location, or the injection device that is giving you the problem… Are you close enough to the other type ones so that they can watch what you are doing? I do recomend that you let medical personnel, optimally, observe you while you give yourself a shot… Hope these suggestions help
I have had boxes of needles that are faulty. I have had to dispose of them.
You need to test fire the needle and ensure that the jet of insulin is in line with the needle. If it is not then test another needle. I have had this may times.
It is possible that you have developed scar tissue around your belly. Usually this happens more often to pumpers but if you are always using your belly it is likely that it happened to you. This scar tissue has problems to absorb the insulin anymore. The bad news is that this will not go away easily. My diabologist usually looks at the injection sites. If he sees skin changes there he will recommend to not use these places anymore. Maybe forever or maybe for a long time to help the tissue to recover from the injections. The cause of these skin changes seems to be related to the injuries of the injection and to the additives of the insulin.
Hi Chris and Welcome,
I use the Solastar Pen for my Lantus injections and sometimes they are a little hard to handle especially if you take a large dose! I also had that problem a time or too, but figured out if I didnt use the fatty areas that was when in happened. So now its all fatty areas,maybe you are more fortunate than me and dont have any,lol Also if the needle is not lined up correctly it wont work correctly so make sure you give the needle a straight shot. I also set it on 2 and hold it straight up and make sure the needle is working properly then set my dose and off i go. You might try the sides of the thigh too,and give your tummy a rest for awhile or drape your arm over the back of a chair and hit the fatty spots…thats what i do sometimes,hope this helps
sounds to me like your pen or your needles might be defective, like Bill said. I had a similar problem with a disposable Solostar pen once. I had to throw it away although it was still half full. If it’s the needles try using a new box of needles or try out the needles by pushing out one or two units of insulin before injecting.
Hello, thanks everyone for all the replies and suggestions. Ok a lot of you have suggested faulty needles or pens, but I don’t think it’s either of these. I have two Novarapid pens, one which I keep at home, and the other one at work. I’ve gone through several boxes of needles on both pens, and I have the same problem with both, and all the boxes of needles.
I don’t think it’s my technique, I always ‘prime’ the pen by squirting a couple of units out before I inject, and I always make sure the needle goes in straight and not at any kind of angle. Somebody mentioned whether the same problem occurs with a syringe, and after considering that, I have to say that I’ve never had the problem with a syringe. The only difference between the syringe and the pen is that the syringe has a longer needle.
I’m a bit nervous about changing the injecton site completely (like to my arm or thigh) For many years after being diagnosed, it took me a long time to inject myself. Always afraid of needles, I had to use a spring-loaded Penmate for a long time before I could actually bring myself to push a needle into my skin. I’ve only ever injected in my belly over a wide area, but I think injecting anywhere else would bring those old fears back again, it’s purely psychological, but I’m sure many of you understand.
Oh yes, I did inject myself in front of a diabetic specialist while I was in hospital. I even prompted her to watch while I did it, and sure enough, I took the needle out of my belly and the insulin squirted everywhere. The specialist just stood there with a puzzled expression on her face and told me to hold the needle in place for 7 seconds after injecting, but that doesn’t seem to work either.
Thanks again for all the replies everyone, and thanks for reading.
Chris, I’ve been t1 for 41 years, and pumping for 18. I used by abdomen exclusively for 17 of those 18, and I have some serious scar tissue issues. I never know when I’m going in a place that’s good, and it’s a constant background worry for me 24/7. There is nothing I can do to make it better. I also did not want to do thighs and other places. here is a suggestion: get yourself a scrip for EMLA cream. I use the generic. put some on 1-4 hours before you plan to inject, and put a tegaderm or something like that on it. This will totally numb the area. Scrape it off, and use alcohol. It also turns your skin there slightly whiter temporarily so you can see where you put the cream. then you won’t be afraid to stick yourself. also, do you have another person living with you who could do it for you? I get my husband to help me put my infusion set in my backside. Your CDE perhaps could help train the person. It’s really really important to rotate!
Just a thought after reading your reply. Longer needles might help. I don’t know about the UK but over here you can get pen needles in different lengths.
Kat
BD offers these lengths:
12.7 mm (1/2")
8 mm (5/16")
5 mm (3/16")
I had problems with needles shorter than 8mm. The insulin will be injected in the upper layers of the skins and this hurts and some insulin will squeeze out after the injection. Now that Kat wrote about it I remember my experience with different BD needle samples three years ago.
This sounds like what I was doing when I was injecting with a pen on a certain kind of insulin (can’t recall it even though I’m wracking my brain!) I was injecting 60 units and it would squirting out all over. It was because of “equipment” problems. I sent cartridges to the company and even had them replace the pen. To me, it sounds like you may want to approach the maker of the pen and the.manufacturer of the insulin. It was also because the cartridges were fracturing because of the pen and the amount of insulin I was injecting. .
Also, as Brunetta said, have someone observe your injection technique. It may help explain the situation … or not.
I hope this helps you. Please keep us advised of the situation. But do contact the manufacturers also.
Sounds like a classic case of scar tissue. That’s exactly what happens to most people when they inject in one body area over time. I had that problem as a kid when I didn’t rotate enough.
I never liked the pen. I didn’t have this issue, but I always felt that it wasn’t as exact as if I measured with a syringe and vial.
I’m not sure if you can get insulin syringes there (where I live in Hungary, only pens are available… so I order my syringes from the USA). I prefer this. But many people do prefer the pen.
As many have said, it is really important to rotate where you give your injections. I like giving mine on the upper buttocks. I found that to be the least painful and I have plenty of fat there.
Chris, we were using for a while the 6mm needles instead of the 8mm prescribed and several months later, they could feel the bumps on his legs and arms. His A1C went up a lot also during that time and they told me that the length was too short for him, to use the 8mm. We had to leave the affected areas alone for 3 months before we could use them again for injections. The thing is, the bumps don’t form everywhere and maybe that is why it doesn’t happen every time you inject. Hope this helps.
Hi Chris
I think you have the same problem that I have…sometimes I have to find several sites per injection. Does the skin feel like thick lumps underneath at all? Mine does and I had exactly the same issue of the insulin not injecting properly and having no idea how much insulin I’ve had - scary!
I’ve spoken to my Diabetic Nurses and have been advised to widen the area on my abdomen that I inject into considerably which has eased the problem enormously.
How many injections are you taking a day?
Keep well
Catherine
Thanks again to everyone for the replies, sorry I didn’t get back sooner, I’ve been in hospital again, but I’ll write about that in my other thread.
Catherine I inject about 7 or 8 times daily. I’m going to order some longer needles for my pen and like you, widen the area where I inject. I do notice hard lumps under the skin sometimes where I’ve just injected, but they usually disappear over the next few minutes.
Thank you all again for your tips, I’ll take them all on board and let you know how I get on
