How to avoid pain | How to inject insulin without bruising
Is pain, redness, bruising, and insulin bumps a familiar story? Yes! All these are side effects from injections. We will discuss why this occurs and how to prevent it.
How to avoid pain
Injections are not completely painless, but the main issue is the level of sensation. A particularly painful injection happens when you accidentally get a needle into a nerve. Can you endure? Inject insulin quickly. Otherwise, you will have to pierce the skin again in another place.
You can check the location of the nerves by gently pressing the needle onto the skin. In some places, the sensitivity will be higher. Find a place where pain is felt less and try to insert the needle as quickly as possible. Although there are people to whom a slow injection will be much more suitable.
We are not insured against pain with the introduction of insulin, but you can make the process much milder.
In some places the sensitivity is higher. Find a place where pain is felt less.
Choose the correct type of needles with which the sensitivity will be lower. The length of the needle and its diameter can play a huge role.
Follow all insulin recommendations.
You can use special automatic injectors or catheters. An automatic injector punctures at high speed, which reduces pain. Catheters (ports) are installed for a while and then insulin is injected through them. This reduces the number of injections, which means that the unpleasant procedure will have to be carried out less often.
How to inject insulin without bruising?
There are a few tricks you can do to prevent bruising at the injection sites.
Although there are many reasons why you may have bruises after an injection, you can try the following techniques to reduce the chance of bruising.
Apply ice to the site of future injection. This must be done 30-60 seconds before the injection. Low temperatures will help to reduce capillary blood vessels, which if injected lead to subcutaneous bruising.
If you notice that you have bruises on your stomach more often, make sure you do not inject insulin too close to your belly button. For indentation use the “two fingers” method — the injection site should be at least at a distance of two fingers from the navel. It is also worth avoiding the conditional central vertical line of the abdomen, which also passes through the navel. Injections in this area are very painful.
Do not inject insulin too close to your belly button.
This may seem contradictory, but the shorter your needles, the more likely you are to get bruised. Try different needle lengths and choose which works best for you.
Reducing the number of bruises will help the introduction of the needle at a right angle. This allows easier and more effective penetration of the skin than piercing at an angle. At the same time, do not forget that the injection technique is primarily determined by complexion to avoid intramuscular administration of insulin.
Try different needle lengths and introduction angles
Do not forget about the rotation of the injection sites. Frequent use of the same place can lead to bruising and scar tissue. In such places, the absorption of insulin is also difficult, which reduces the effectiveness of the administered dose.
Bruising is not the only problem that occurs when injected in people with diabetes.