I have got a problem with rotating sites. i use my stomach to do all my apidra injections and use my upper butt to do levemir injections. i sometimes do levemir in the thigh but it always hurts on the top of the thigh. if i do it in the side it doesnt, but the top of the thigh, where your lap is, almost always hurts. so i never do it there. is there a technique that anyone uses specially for sites that are particularly sensitive for them? i am nor skinny nor fat, i am a size 8 american/40 european. i run and do lots of exercise, so am muscle-y but there is defo fat of my legs, as i am a woman. i am not sinewy or anything.
also, can i do injections all over my butt, not just at the top? theres a lot of space there on your arse.
how long are your needles?
the reason why some suggest only using a specific area of butt is because if you go too deep on the other areas, you can hit the sciatic nerve and thatās not good. however, if you just have the slightest amount of butt that risk is in my opinion basically zero for subcutaneous injection. you should have seen the needle we practiced IM gluteal injections with, it was multiple inches long!! the sciatic nerve is really deep and covered in fat and muscles, so hitting it with pen needles is probably impossible.
I have 4mm needles and use all of my butt and thighs for injections without problem.
If you havenāt already, try lateral thighs (not top), i find them to be less sensitive. also pinching (if you donāt already do so) can help distract from the pain.
i also use calves for basal injections, maybe you find them to be less painful. itās all trial and error really.
Top of my thighs hurts way more tooāI just always use the sides and toward the bottom/back of them, where I also have a lot more padding, which I expect is why itās more comfortable. I think the skin may be a little less sensitive for some reason as well.
And yes, I use my whole butt and my hips. Thatās where I carry most of my fat, so why not? I definitely have enough of a butt to not need to worry about hitting muscle, let alone the sciatic nerve.
I have a devil of a time inserting at a rotating site. Damn thing keeps moving around. Plus, I get dizzy with all the spinning.
One of the few sites not rotating (very much) after a fifth of Jack Daniels is my big toe. I wear my Omnipod exclusively on the side of my big toe. Itās a little bit of a hassle getting my shoes on, but its workable.
I need someone to teach me how and where to do gluteal injections. Iāve always used abdominal fat and the deltoids, and they work just great. I donāt have a site problem but Iām always looking for more real estate to have in reserve. Maybe Iāll ask the nurse to show me, next doctor appointment.
Fill a syringe with your insulin dose. Toss it on the couch. Sit down on it repeatedly until you feel a sharp poke.
Profit!
I do warn strongly against actually trying to get around there somehow where you can see what youāre doing. There are numerous ER reports of people coming in with the following condition:
Well gluteal injections are not difficult if you wanna do them subcutaneus. Just put that needle in where you like.
Inteamuscular are difficult to impossible, as the fat layer there is usually very thick and, as mentioned above there is the danger of hitting the sciatic nerve. Idk if you can do it on yourself, i would not. And i try out a lot of things. But subcutaneus is really a breeze. I never pinch and just stick it in wherever i likeāŗļøš
about finding the head:
this always gives me a chuckle, as there was a CD i listened to as a kid with a story about a bear (Beltrametti) who gave his daughter (Muzina) such a smack on her cheek that it (the head) flew to the moon. so then Beltrametti and his friend had to go to the moon to search for the head of Muzina, and they found it with a mole who lived there and used the head as a salad bowl. weird story, even weirder now that i think that i listened to this as a 4year old and didnāt think anything about it. (they got the head back in the end and Muzina told her father what a nice dad he wasā¦ )
Sorry, totally unrelated post, but you guys searching for a head gave me a nice laugh
Not sure of any techniques for making a painful spot less so. Icing it ahead of time maybe? Most of what Iāve read suggests āfind a less painful spot.ā Before this post went all silly (looking at you @Dave26), @kimfing posted a good suggestion. Iām not on MDI any more but when I was the back of my upper arms was a favorite spot. Tends to be fatty, not a lot of nerves unlike upper thighs, and I rarely even felt shots there. Always liked it when I came to that location in my rotation.
IMs go in my top of thigh most of the time, and if itās not conveniently available, deltoids. The latter have exceeding little subQ fat, for me at least.
David, how did this experiment go? Iām moving around to new sites. I never knew there could be much of a difference between site until I came access this website earlier this week. (inSite App) Think Iām going to use it to do a little charting experience of my own.
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