Bruising

[Rosiecarmel]

Saw the consultant today, he changed me to Levemir so I can split it. He asked if I rotate injection sites and I said yes, but I favour the left side due to me being left handed. I showed him a bruise on my stomach and said I had an identical one on my thigh. Scuse my stomach but this is it



There's one almost exactly the same on my left thigh. He didn't seem to have any ideas apart from rotate more often. Is bruising just an inevitable side effect of diabetes? I remember somebody posting on here about needles and me saying I use 4mm GlucoRX ones. I was told they're not great, but can bruising like this really be down to the brand of needle? Or could it be related to the Toujeo? As a side note, probably coincidental, but I took my first dose of Levemir this morning (I was in a rush so forgot to take the Toujeo before going to the hosp, probably a good idea) and it didn't sting. Toujeo really hurts to inject!

 

[jocat]

Hi Rosie I get bruising like in your pic on my tummy and thighs, I use 4 mm bd microfine needles, I wish I knew how to avoid it. I've tried injecting fast and slow on my basal no difference, can't change speed on my novopen for bolus. My basal is the worst, I've even changed from a humapen savio to a luxura, made a small difference, the savio really hurt when injecting. Hope you find an answer
Jo

 

[grovesy]

It might worth getting differnt needles.

 

[Robin]

AM I right in thinking Toujeo is similar to Lantus? Lantus stings like crazy, because of the PH ( it's either more or less acidic than the human body, can't remember which, which is what causes it to crystallise under the skin). A word of warning, it can take several days to clear the system, so make sure you don't hypo by taking too much Levemir while your body's getting rid of the final drips of Toujeo.
I used to bruise all the time when I had 8mm needles, haven't bruised at all since swapping to 4mm, but I'm on BD ones, which have a good reputation for being gentler, I think.

 

[Ljc]

Hi. We will all get the occasional bruise and some brands of needles are not that good. Im trying your brand ATM sometimes they do seem to catch on the last bit of skin as I withdraw them. Being rather to well endowed myself, I find tensioning the skin as I insert and remove the needle much better than pouching .

 

[Ljc]

Hi Rosie I get bruising like in your pic on my tummy and thighs, I use 4 mm bd microfine needles, I wish I knew how to avoid it. I've tried injecting fast and slow on my basal no difference, can't change speed on my novopen for bolus. My basal is the worst, I've even changed from a humapen savio to a luxura, made a small difference, the savio really hurt when injecting. Hope you find an answer
Jo

I found those needles vile, they snagged most of the time

 

[zx10pilot]

I was using B Braun Omnican 31G (0.25mm x 4mm) and bruised all over my tummy & legs when injecting. Some bruises were 3 inches across 😱
Now changed to Insupen 33G (0.20mm x 4mm) and am bruise free 🙂

 

[Radders]

I used to bruise a lot when I was injecting. It was suggested that I put ice on my injection site afterwards but I didn't find that very practical!

 

[Ralph-YK]

Is bruising just an inevitable side effect of diabetes?

I'm more suspecable to bruising becuase of medication (dispersable asperin?). I am much more likely to have one when my blood is taken. I don't remember who I mentioned it to. They weren't bothered.

 

[Rosiecarmel]

AM I right in thinking Toujeo is similar to Lantus? Lantus stings like crazy, because of the PH ( it's either more or less acidic than the human body, can't remember which, which is what causes it to crystallise under the skin). A word of warning, it can take several days to clear the system, so make sure you don't hypo by taking too much Levemir while your body's getting rid of the final drips of Toujeo.
I used to bruise all the time when I had 8mm needles, haven't bruised at all since swapping to 4mm, but I'm on BD ones, which have a good reputation for being gentler, I think.

Toujeo IS Lantus but lantus is 100u per ml and Toujeo is 300u per ml so it's more concentrated. Good advice, thanks. I have just taken my tea time dose too but I will set an alarm for 2am to make sure I don't hypo!

 

[Greyhound Gal]

I seem to be the opposite to most others 🙄. I use both RX (5 and 6mm) and novofine (6mm) needles and I've only started bruising, albeit slightly, since using the novofine in the past six weeks.

 

[AlisonM]

I use the BD Microfine 5mm and don't have any problems @Rosiecarmel, maybe you should try them. In 7 years I've only had one dud, they're really good quality.

 

[Bloden]

Yep, bruising is the norm for me. Not so often on my stomach, but pretty often on my thighs - I'm gorgeous, me.🙄

 

[Northerner]

I get the occasional bruise. I've been using the same novofine 6mm 31g needles since diagnosis. I remember I used to get bruises more often in the beginning, now it's very rare, so maybe it's got something to do with my technique improving? Changing needles might help a bit, given the poor reputation those ones you are using seem to have! 😱

This link explains the difference between levemir and lantus:

https://www.diabeteshealth.com/lantus-and-levemir-whats-the-difference/

 

[JazzieJamJay]

I used to bruise on the 8mm needles, I have been using 0.23x4mm GlucoRX for the last year or so, no bruises whatsoever. I use my thighs and my stomach

 

[trophywench]

Well 4mm is ALLEGED to be long enough to get beneath any human's skin (unless they have that horrible deforming skin disease where it just grows and grows on itself all the while but I don't think any of us has that!) so 8mm is long - but I never found 4mm long enough TBH and gave me painful, hot lumps within the dermis. Funnily enough when originally in hospital in 1972 and for the first couple of days on several jabs of 'soluble' a day administered by nurses usually in my upper arms (on the basis that I'd spend the rest of my life stabbing other bits of me, the least they could do for anyone 'new' was steer clear of the usual self-injecting sites) In the finish I did very well on 6mm needles and still favour 6mm cannulas - not too long and not too short. Too long needles (however long too long is for you personally also hurts like billy-oh and since you are going into the next layer of dermis instead of into the space in between the epidermis and dermis (where the interstitial fluid sits) you will, inevitably encounter far, far more capillaries and eek! -proper veins! - than in the epidermis or the space.

And if you actually don't have sufficient body fat underlying the dermis on certain bits of your body - sheet it ruddy hurts! and that proper amount of fat is what you destroy (having turned it into something that resembles Nottingham lace instead of the fluffy blanket it's sposed to be by constantly and repeatedly jabbing holes in it for years) it simply isn't able to continue absorbing insulin any more.

There is ALWAYS a reason for jabs hurting or having bruises appear more than just occasionally and ignore them at your peril - so try as many lengths and types of needle as you need to and if your DSN or GP tries to object tell them you couldn't care less what they THINK - that you are telling them FACTS not thoughts, and the FACTS are the only things that matter. If you get towards the end of your tether with them - ask them to explain in simple language EXACTLY what you need to do, in order to avoid this happening, if it's easy to avoid some other way. And if they can't explain - ask to be referred to someone else that might be able to, please.

Oh yes I've done that. And just sat there and glared at my GP until he did refer me to someone who DID have a clue! - and helped me.

 

[Austin Mini]

Well done Jenny. Sometimes the docs need to be told. It's not like the old days when they were concerned about your health it's all time and money now.

 

[mikeyB]

Just a little point, so to speak. This kind of bruising is just bad luck slicing through a tiny blood vessel. Makes no difference 4mm or 8mm, or with any flavour of insulin. With me it happens maybe once a month. I am untroubled by the cosmetic effect. I live in Scotland, and never take my shirt off in public. And it's completely harmless, and it doesn't affect your diabetic control. There are more important things to bother about, when all's said and done.

Interestingly Rosie, when my consultant changed my Lantus to Levemir, he split the dose to breakfast and bedtime. Haven't had a night time hypo since.

 

[KookyCat]

Occasional bruising is normal for me, glucoRx needles bruise me every time but in my case it's because they're simply not as sharp as the novofine needles I was using (only the occasional bit of bruising with those). My GP refuses to prescribe novofine because they're more expensive and on the basis that since I have EDS I have fragile tissue so I'm prone to bruising, he refuses to accept the needles are at fault. Funny that because when I try to get them to engage with EDS in general they poo poo it 🙄. If you're bruising constantly I'd request to try another needle type.

 

[Northerner]

Occasional bruising is normal for me, glucoRx needles bruise me every time but in my case it's because they're simply not as sharp as the novofine needles I was using (only the occasional bit of bruising with those). My GP refuses to prescribe novofine because they're more expensive and on the basis that since I have EDS I have fragile tissue so I'm prone to bruising, he refuses to accept the needles are at fault. Funny that because when I try to get them to engage with EDS in general they poo poo it 🙄. If you're bruising constantly I'd request to try another needle type.

Have you tried the argument that you are going to have to do this thousands of times, and therefore need to minimise any potential long-term damage to your injection sites (lipohypertrophy)? Surely a trial of novofine needles for a month or two to see if there is any improvement would be the logical thing to try, or is that extra pound or two likely to blow the CCG budget? 🙄