Hi just saying hello as a newbie on here and trying to come to terms with fact that I’m about to start insulin injections over the coming weeks and ’m terrified! I’ve been on metformin for about a year and previously managed my diabetes (T2) with exercise and healthy eating even managing to reverse it several times. This all seems to have stopped working for me now and I’m really struggling to accept that as much as I’m trying my body just says nope I’m feeling so pathetic but just can’t cope with needles…and I know this is something I’m going to have to just manage. Any advice would be very much appreciated - thank you x
-
Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Hi Newbie here
- Thread starter Joules100
- Start date
- Status
So Being T1 I can’t talk to T2 or reversing diabetes- but I guess I can talk to the needles part of things - I’m not gonna lie - when I was diagnosed and laying in my hospital bed with cannulas in both arms - being told I would have to inject myself for the rest of my life conjured some pretty gruesome imagery… so I had a similar fear….
That said when you are given an insulin pen and the “needles” the whole process becomes rote, the needles are small and my biggest fear now is not the needles or the injecting - bthat I will forget to dose….
So whilst it might seem a long way off right now - be confident that you’ve got this. It will become habit in no time - and you will own it.
All you need to know is how to work out how much to dose and that will come with education, learning, and experience.
That said when you are given an insulin pen and the “needles” the whole process becomes rote, the needles are small and my biggest fear now is not the needles or the injecting - bthat I will forget to dose….
So whilst it might seem a long way off right now - be confident that you’ve got this. It will become habit in no time - and you will own it.
All you need to know is how to work out how much to dose and that will come with education, learning, and experience.
Inka
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hello @Joules100 🙂 Don’t be afraid. The insulin pens are very simple to use and the needle is nothing like the big old injection needles you might have seen at your GPs. They’re very fine needles and very short. If you need insulin, you should feel a lot better once you get it, so let that be a motivation too. Once you get used to things, you’ll find the fear beforehand is far worse than the reality.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Welcome to the forum @Joules100
Sorry to hear about your worries and fears - you are not alone. I think most of us had an aversion to the idea of sticking needles into ourselves in the beginning - I mean who wouldn’t!
But I hope you are reassured by the replies you’ve already received. A lot of it will be the perfectly natural fear of the unknown. And you may well find that the very small, very fine, virtually pain-free needles involved are far, far easier in reality than what you are imagining.
Depending on your level of concern about needles, there are also additional things you can use which might really help, including auto-shielded needles (so you never see the needle), numbing creams, and sensory gadgets to distract the nerve endings on the skin. But the vast majority of people with diabetes using insulin find that these aren’t actually needed once they get going 🙂
Good luck, and let us know how it goes
Sorry to hear about your worries and fears - you are not alone. I think most of us had an aversion to the idea of sticking needles into ourselves in the beginning - I mean who wouldn’t!
But I hope you are reassured by the replies you’ve already received. A lot of it will be the perfectly natural fear of the unknown. And you may well find that the very small, very fine, virtually pain-free needles involved are far, far easier in reality than what you are imagining.
Depending on your level of concern about needles, there are also additional things you can use which might really help, including auto-shielded needles (so you never see the needle), numbing creams, and sensory gadgets to distract the nerve endings on the skin. But the vast majority of people with diabetes using insulin find that these aren’t actually needed once they get going 🙂
Good luck, and let us know how it goes
TheClockworkDodo
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi @Joules100 and welcome to the forum 🙂
I'm a needle-phobe and there's no way I'd have been able to give myself injections without covered needles, but with them I am absolutely fine - I don't see the needle at all, and it's less like giving myself an injection than just pressing the top of a pen against my skin. The only disadvantage of the covered ones is that they are a bit longer - so it's worth trying with the very very tiny standard needles for insulin if you can - but if you really can't don't worry, the covered ones are still very small, and it is a whole lot easier to inject when you don't have to see the needle.
I tried a couple of different covered needles before I found ones I get on with - mine are Novofine Autocover, but different ones suit different people.
The other thing I found useful is to pinch up a bit of skin to inject into, so the forefinger and thumb not holding the insulin pen are surrounding the area you're about to inject - that way it feels more as it you are injecting something you're holding than as if you're injecting part of you.
I'm a needle-phobe and there's no way I'd have been able to give myself injections without covered needles, but with them I am absolutely fine - I don't see the needle at all, and it's less like giving myself an injection than just pressing the top of a pen against my skin. The only disadvantage of the covered ones is that they are a bit longer - so it's worth trying with the very very tiny standard needles for insulin if you can - but if you really can't don't worry, the covered ones are still very small, and it is a whole lot easier to inject when you don't have to see the needle.
I tried a couple of different covered needles before I found ones I get on with - mine are Novofine Autocover, but different ones suit different people.
The other thing I found useful is to pinch up a bit of skin to inject into, so the forefinger and thumb not holding the insulin pen are surrounding the area you're about to inject - that way it feels more as it you are injecting something you're holding than as if you're injecting part of you.
- Status