injection technequie and body deformation

When I was diagnosed I was taught pinch up some fat, stick in a needle (which I generally do slowly rather than a quick stab in). Now at the time I had a BMI of 16.1 so you could practically make out my skeleton. This wasn't due to an eating disorders it just took me a while to seek help and my body had burned off all my fat by the time I did. As such if I didn't pinch I wasn't going to get a lump of flesh thick enough to put a needle in.

I was just emptying a box of needles into the trays I use to help track what shots I've done that day (think of it like a pill box with meals marked out but for needles) and I did something I don't normally do these days. I glanced over the instructions, as a man we tend to ignore these even when we don't know what we are doing but when we do reading guidance is almost unheard of but it was a few lines of large type on the flaps of the box and one of them read:

Suggested injection technique: insert straight in, without pinch-up."

These are 4mm needles where as when I was diagnosed I was on 6mm needles so maybe not needing to pinch is something to do with that. Although I'm not flabby my belly is a little deformed and maybe all the pinching has a part to play as you pull the fat out 3 times a day then it's going to have a tendency to stay there after a while.

So my question is what do other people do and has anyone got any advice on how to tone up my abs a little without compromising my ability to inject there? I'm not looking to develop a 6 pack but I'd like to do something about the slight sag I've developed in the belly area as a result of my injecting insulin. My current BMI is 21.2 so I'm far from overweight but I guess it does bother me that my stomach area almost seems to contradict that statement.

So what do other people do and has anyone got any tips?

I have a lot of fat to pinch ( although a lot less than last year)... but dont pinch I just insert needle and count to 10 before removing it and have no issues with injection sites

I am pumping now, but have never pinched in all the 14 years I have been diabetic.......

My wee brother did back in the late eighties, but I believe that it was old ill informed advice, at least now with the newer more flexible needle lengths.......

if you were really skinny it may have helped though.....

I think that may be it, I was so skinny at the time that I needed to pinch to find something to get the needle into and no one has ever told me otherwise as they probably didn't realise I was doing it so it's just never been corrected. I'll give no pinching a go and see how I get on.

Hello Apollo,

I switched from 8 mm to 4 mm needles on the DAFNE course a year ago, and we were told then that we didn't need to pinch with a 4mm needle. (I have a BMI of about 24).

Do make sure that you are rotating your sites regularly though. This site covers correct technique:

http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx?cat=7001&id=7282

I'm not sure whether you are saying that you are developing lumps in your abdomen as a result of injecting into the same place too often, or just developing visceral fat around the abdomen which I also experience. I am slim and muscular everywhere else, but a slight thickening around the girth due to my current messy divorce with Mrs Chocolate. I've only noticed it since being diagnosed 3 years ago, so it is possible that that is related to injecting.

There are many other sites that you can inject though. One of my diabetes support group only injects QA in her arms (skin above the tricep). I tend to inject QA into the abdomen, and BI into my sides. I tried the back, but it was too hard to work out whether I had injected or not when I couldn't see what I was doing. Thighs and calves are also possibilities.

Cheers,
Warwick.

That link is brilliant, I'm going to read over that in great detail later thanks Warwick!

I'm not getting lumps, it's almost like when seated my belly looks like the correct pinch technique illustration for 8mm -12mm needles but without me needing to pinch it.



If I stand tall it gets stretched out evenly but once I sit everything bunches into a band between the belly button and the top of the hips.

like you I'm on the 4mm needles, was on a mix of 5mm & 6mm 3 years ago.

Looking at the rotation diagram they offer as a print off for the belly I don't think I've got enough fat above the belly button to rotate to the extent they suggest there.

Hi, I pinch some sites and not others. The basic issue is you want to avoid injecting into muscle, firstly because it will hurt and second because the absorption profile is different to fat/subcutaneous. This is what the diagram above is trying to show, If you, as I do, inject into your rear-end there is plenty of cushioning however the abdomen is a bit different and in some of us has areas with more fat than others Of course needles are a lot shorter nowadays as well which makes life easier. It seems unlikely that pinching has caused deformations, although anything is possible.

I've injected in muscle more than a few times and uttered a few choice phrases as I did so.

I have tried my backside once but found it to be a real pain the arse *boom boom!* seriously though I had trouble getting the shot on straight and was left with a lump where the insulin had pooled rather than spread.

I don't think the pinching alone would have caused the deformation although I can't see it helping any especially given I take a few minutes to give myself a shot. The deformation and should I still be pinching questions were really two different points on the same general subject. I think the deformation is largely down to taking most of my shots in that area. Do my backgrounds in the thighs and QA in the belly.

Having tried to take a few shots without pinching I'm finding it a little hard, I guess a big reason is that I'm not used to it though.