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Injection anxiety

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K

Kristian

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
My daughter age 7 has been diabetic since November. Most of the time she is very brave with the injections but sometimes she works herself up. Sometimes half an hour will pass before she will do the injection. She isn't quite doing the injections on her own.
Any suggestions how we can keep her calm and make the injections more pleasant?
I'm considering marking the injection site after the injection with body glitter both as a kind of reward and also so we don't inject in the same spot too soon.
Thanks
Kristian
 
Hi Kristian, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your little one's diagnosis, it must be very tough at her age. Your idea sounds a good one to me 🙂 Does she have a Rufus bear from JDRF? You can get one here: https://jdrf.org.uk/living-with-typ...eaflets/kidsac-pack-children-type-1-diabetes/ - might give you some ideas that will help 🙂 I'm not a parent, but hopefully one of our parent members will be along with tips.

Have you got a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents by Ragnar Hanas? If not, I would highly recommend it, it covers every aspect of living with Type 1 and is a very positive and accessible reference book 🙂
 
If you inject in the exact spot it sometimes hurts. I would choose different spots every time 🙂. Good luck. When people say they don't like injections it makes me think o_O(try nearly 50yrs :D inc Panel Pins)
 
Hi Kristian. I was diagnosed when I was nearly 7 and I have always had a needle phobia so I can relate. I think the things which helped me cope were doing the injections on my own (with supervision) because I knew where to put it where it didn't hurt, whereas my parents could not feel it if it touched a nerve! Also I had a 'guide' to put on my thighs - I don;t know if they do them anymore - but it basically was a piece of laminated card with fairly large holes in it (about the size of a 2p coin), spaced fairly far apart, which I would put on my thighs when injecting to prevent injecting too much in one area and to spread the sites better. You could flip the guide to use on the other leg. Anyway, my guide had pictures of Count Duckula on it which made injecting more fun (when I was 7!). Maybe there might be guides available with other characters on which your daughter might like?

My last piece of advice: check the length of the needles are right for your daughter. I'm sure they are probably fine as doctors are more careful when prescribing these days but I grew up injecting with 12mm needles, which went into my muscle and really hurt. I can barely feel the 5-6mm needles but they do the job just the same.

I hope this gives you some help, good luck 🙂
 
Also, plasters with characters on to stick on after injecting? (saw some Minion plasters in Asda earlier). I would have loved that!
 
Lauren said:
Hi Kristian. I was diagnosed when I was nearly 7 and I have always had a needle phobia so I can relate. I think the things which helped me cope were doing the injections on my own (with supervision) because I knew where to put it where it didn't hurt, whereas my parents could not feel it if it touched a nerve! Also I had a 'guide' to put on my thighs - I don;t know if they do them anymore - but it basically was a piece of laminated card with fairly large holes in it (about the size of a 2p coin), spaced fairly far apart, which I would put on my thighs when injecting to prevent injecting too much in one area and to spread the sites better. You could flip the guide to use on the other leg. Anyway, my guide had pictures of Count Duckula on it which made injecting more fun (when I was 7!). Maybe there might be guides available with other characters on which your daughter might like?

My last piece of advice: check the length of the needles are right for your daughter. I'm sure they are probably fine as doctors are more careful when prescribing these days but I grew up injecting with 12mm needles, which went into my muscle and really hurt. I can barely feel the 5-6mm needles but they do the job just the same.

I hope this gives you some help, good luck 🙂
Click to expand...
Well done ! Nasty "Count Duckula" :D
 
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