Injection site lumps

[Jelly Babies Save Lives]

Hi, I inject insulin twice a day with a 6mm needle and rotate the sites from my thighs and stomach. Why am I getting lumps under the skin? Ta.

 

[nonethewiser]

Need to rotate sites so can use arms & bum also, find if you push insulin in fast it can cause lumps under skin, if giving big dose split it between 2 sites as that might help.

 

[Jelly Babies Save Lives]

@nonethewiser Many thanks for your reply, I'll give other sites a try. I have 16mm morning and night.
I can only describe it as like lumps of fat under the skin. I have injected in the past and it obviously hasn't gone in properly and sits under the skin in a lump. Sometimes it can feel quite sore.

 

[leonS]

Sometimes this is a reaction to the injection, not usually to the insulin but to something added to the mixture. A change of insulin might help, you might find that the same insulin from a different maker is fine for you.

For this reason NICE say that insulin should be prescribed by trade name. Have a word with your HCT and see what they say.

 

[Jelly Babies Save Lives]

@leonS Thanks for that, I've emailed my doctors to ask for a diabetic review. . .
@nonethewiser I injected into my bum this morning. Okay going in but the angle to pull it out meant I had a little scratch. Might not sit down for a day or two! (joking)!

 

[Inka]

@nonethewiser Many thanks for your reply, I'll give other sites a try. I have 16mm morning and night.
I can only describe it as like lumps of fat under the skin. I have injected in the past and it obviously hasn't gone in properly and sits under the skin in a lump. Sometimes it can feel quite sore.

What pen needles are you using @Jelly Babies Save Lives ? Some needles can irritate more than others. Also, do you make sure to keep at least an inch away from your old injection site (where you last injected)? You need a kind of pattern to move down/up and across. I’d avoid injecting into any lumpy areas.

 

[Jelly Babies Save Lives]

Hi @Inka I use Nova fine 6mm.
I use my thighs and stomach (either side of the belly button being separated areas) and kind of quarter up the areas. One hand width above the knees and then upper area the next time I go there. I rotate all the time. My thighs just feel like giant lumps underneath.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

How curious. Wouldn't hurt to try 4mm needles. I think they make those slightly thinner but I doubt it'll make much difference. (After all, many of us used 8mm needles for years.)

 

[Inka]

Hi @Inka I use Nova fine 6mm.
I use my thighs and stomach (either side of the belly button being separated areas) and kind of quarter up the areas. One hand width above the knees and then upper area the next time I go there. I rotate all the time. My thighs just feel like giant lumps underneath.

You could try a different needle. BD Microfine are good as are a few others. Sorry to labour the point but you ideally need as many sites as you can get so that each one has long gaps until it’s used again. So, for your thigh, for example, you’d be looking at starting the hand’s width above the knee but then not just moving to the upper area, working your way up in a pattern with many injection points. Obviously it will depend on your size and build, but you’re looking to systematically locate a large grid of sites and then work through them with a system too. Lower thigh, upper thigh isn’t detailed enough and you risk inadvertently returning to the same site too soon.

It’s a total pain and I do wish they’d somehow invent an insulin that doesn’t cause lumps, but unfortunately that’s the nature of insulin. There are injection grids you can copy online, eg:


https://www.bbraun.co.uk/en/patient...te-rotation.html#rotation-schemes--an-example

Or you can devise your own. It does help.

 

[nonethewiser]

@leonS Thanks for that, I've emailed my doctors to ask for a diabetic review. . .
@nonethewiser I injected into my bum this morning. Okay going in but the angle to pull it out meant I had a little scratch. Might not sit down for a day or two! (joking)!

Before moving to pump used 4mm needles so didn't need to angle pen when injecting, come to think of it didn't with 5 & 6mm needles either, hadn't done that since using 8mm one & longer..

Used bum fair bit for basal, that & legs, stomach & arms for bolus doses.

 

[Jelly Babies Save Lives]

@Inka That link is brilliant thank you, I've never seen it before! I will definitely try it.
@nonthewiser my doctors have given me 4 x boxes of 100 6mm needles. I didn't even add them to my prescription order!
I'll try rotation and see how it goes.

Would anybody like some 6mm needles do you think? I always used to have 4mm but I think they ran out of stock.

Thanks everyone for making me feel less stressed, I appreciate it.

 

[rebrascora]

Can I ask how long you have been injecting insulin for these lumps to develop? Just curious on the time scale that it has taken.
I too wonder if it might be a reaction to that particular insulin or perhaps the coating on the needles.
I inject basal into my buttocks (I split 22 units between each cheek) on a morning and one thigh on an evening and then bolus insulin goes in my midriff and I move round from one side (literally on the side above my hip) across the front under my navel to the other side and then back across the top in approx. 1 to 2 inch steps. With my buttocks I move round in a circle.... I inject before I get out of bed which makes it so much easier injecting in buttocks and gets my insulin working before my feet hit the floor on a morning... in fact I set my alarm for half an hour before I need to get up to give it a head start.
So far, no signs of any lumps after 3 years but maybe that is early days still. I do have areas where the needle goes in so easily and painlessly and other areas where it really hurts and it is temping to keep going for the less sensitive areas but I resist the temptation. 🙄

 

[DaveB]

@Inka That link is brilliant thank you, I've never seen it before! I will definitely try it.
@nonthewiser my doctors have given me 4 x boxes of 100 6mm needles. I didn't even add them to my prescription order!
I'll try rotation and see how it goes.

Would anybody like some 6mm needles do you think? I always used to have 4mm but I think they ran out of stock.

Thanks everyone for making me feel less stressed, I appreciate it.

It was wrong of the doctors to give you 6mm when you normally have 4mm. I would insist on having 4mm. This size is now the most commonly prescribed. You may still get lumps as I do and you just have to use as many different sites as you can. Apart from the backside my DN suggested upper arm which I now use as well.

 

[helli]

So far, no signs of any lumps after 3 years but maybe that is early days still.

After 18 years, I have no lumps.
Twelve of those years were MDI when I was injecting 6 times or more a day.
And I only migrated to 4mm from 6mm needles after ten years.
Most of my injections were in my midriff. I never injected in my arms or buttocks and rarely used my legs.
I don’t know if it makes any difference that I am quite lean (one reason why I have less choice of injection sites).

Unfortunately, some people seem to be more susceptible to lumps.
It seems higher nsulin doses are more problematic.
But apart from that, I don’t know what makes the difference.

 

[leonS]

Only 18 years @rebrascora, I done 50 with no lumps. Some SDNs insist on look for them. One claimed that she had found a hole. I tolled her that she was wrong. I could not find anything where she indicated.

She insisted. So I asked what shall I do about it. Just don't inject there for a bit she advised.

That advice was not hard to follow, the site was over my pubic bone and I would never dream of injecting there.

Holes are 20 times more common in women than in men, 25 mm wide and 5 mm deep, and not so small that you can not find them.

 

[nonethewiser]

@Inka That link is brilliant thank you, I've never seen it before! I will definitely try it.
@nonthewiser my doctors have given me 4 x boxes of 100 6mm needles. I didn't even add them to my prescription order!
I'll try rotation and see how it goes.

Would anybody like some 6mm needles do you think? I always used to have 4mm but I think they ran out of stock.

Thanks everyone for making me feel less stressed, I appreciate it.

Return those needles to pharmacy & they will go in bin, crazy as it sounds but that's what will happen once they've been dispensed.

Sure there's charity's that take items like that to help disadvantaged people elsewhere around world, worth having look if nobody on here wants them.

 

[Jelly Babies Save Lives]

Can I ask how long you have been injecting insulin for these lumps to develop? Just curious on the time scale that it has taken.

Hi! At a guess 6 or 7 years, but I'm really not sure. I have been using my bum as suggested although find it to be an awkward angle because of a frozen shoulder op. My arms don't go backwards anymore! But I will persevere.

 

[Jelly Babies Save Lives]

It was wrong of the doctors to give you 6mm when you normally have 4mm. I would insist on having 4mm.

Hi! I've always had 6mm, I've never queried it because it never crossed my mind it was wrong. I will take it up with the doctors If I ever get an appointment.

 

[Jelly Babies Save Lives]

After 18 years, I have no lumps.

Perhaps I'm too fat, it feels like fat lumps. I'm going to stay away from my thighs and see what happens.

 

[Robin]

Perhaps I'm too fat, it feels like fat lumps. I'm going to stay away from my thighs and see what happens.

Is it just cellulite? I’ve got lumpy patches on the sides of my thighs, which predate my diabetes diagnosis, so can’t be from injecting. (I haven’t read much about it recently, journalists move on to the next latest thing, but about 20 years ago, you couldn’t open a magazine without it containing an article on how to get rid of your cellulite)

Cellulite - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org