Diabetic Discourse: Needles

I’ve been on insulin for a year now.

At first, I was on the kind you keep in the refrigerator and draw up in a syringe with a needle. Good lord, those are pain in the ass.

Not having one clue of all the options, my Insurance Liaison asked if I would rather have pens. I asked what the difference was and she said, “They don’t need to be refrigerated.”

SOLD!

Insulin Pens

I got the pens and loved them right away.

I keep them in my top drawer with all my pens.

I am on both Lantus (long-acting insulin) and NovoLog (more immediate insulin), so poke myself 4 times a day.

Now, as a midwife, I know to draw up solutions with one needle, then change needles and use that new one for the injection. Pushing the needle through the rubber at the top of the vial flattens the tip slightly and when you put that in the leg or arm, it hurts more.

But when I use the lancet on my finger to test my blood glucose before giving myself insulin…

… I (lazily) use and re-use them. They are annoying to change  (4-6 times a day), so it’s just easier to leave it in the mechanism each time. I know, I know… beyond the lazy factor, not too sanitary, either. Especially when I am supposed to be worrying about infections. (I hear you! CHANGE THE LANCETS!)

So when I got the needles for the pens, I thought, “I can be lazy with these needles, too.”

And I was.

Changing Needles

The one thing  with the pens that was different from the refrigerated insulin was the injections freakin’ hurt! It wasn’t unusual to bleed a little after the injection and I also got plenty of bruises.

I don’t recall the reasoning behind it, but a couple of weeks ago, I changed the needle after each injection. Was I experimenting? I have no idea. But let me tell you, when I began changing the needle each time…

… the pain upon injection vanished! The bleeding and bruises? Gone.

What a dork I was re-using the needles.

Clearly, with each stab into my flesh, it flattened those really thin needles enough to damage the skin and tissue.

My Take-Away

Don’t be lazy. Change the dang needle!