New injection site

[rossi_mac]

Hello all you fine people

It's been a while but I am back!!

So I try an rotate sites as much as possible. I have been having trouble with my right top arm side of bicsepe (sp?) area, bruising and not really letting insulin do it's magic thing. So a few days ago I started using my right forearm. No one has ever said you can't use any particular area to me, but I wondered if anyone else uses their forearms?

Any thoughts??

Cheers

Rossi 😉

 

[Northerner]

I've never used my arms at all Rossi - well, apart from once when I tried the area you mentioned and found it too fiddly, plus it hurt 😱 I haven't heard of people using forearms, I imagine the main problem is that you don't tend to have a lot of fatty tissue there to inject into (I don't have any fat on my legs, so can't use them as it would be into muscle, which can mean the insulin gets into your bloodstream more quickly).

What other areas do you use? This picture shows the usual recommended injection sites:


No forearms 😉

 

[SB2015]

That's a new one on me. I found upper arm difficult enough, let alone using forearms.

When injecting I used upper legs and abdomen. At first I used to swap sides of abdomen each time but found I would naturally tend to land in similar places. Then I moved between R Leg, R Abdo, L Abdo, L Leg for morning, lunch, evening meal and bedtime. I also moved across and down each area which spread them out enough. (My partner did suggest getting a tattoo to mark sites!)

Now on a pump and just use abdomen, and work across three imaginary lines, which keeps each cannula apart from previous and each site has ages before getting back to it.

 

[rossi_mac]

Cheers,

What I currently do is;

Breakfast left hand side tummy
Lunch left hand upper arm
Dinner right hand side tummy
Corrections right hand side upper arm, but now forearm
Overnight buttocks, left Fri,Sat,Sun, right rest of week.

Chatting to someone recently about the depth of an injection and noting the fact it has to go below skin lt's only made me think why not other areas.

I've only done forearm about 5 time so i'm not sure how well it working out.

 

[DeusXM]

You may be slightly 'over-rotating'.

When you use a site, that doesn't mean it's completely out of action for the next 24 hours. You can still do other injections in your tummy, just move it an inch or so away from where you did the last injection.

My concern with injecting in your forearm is that typically, forearms have less fat stored on them, which means you have a higher chance of accidentally doing an intramuscular injection. IM injections work far more quickly than subcutaneous ones which can catch you off-guard if you're not prepared for it.

Incidentally, is there any particular reason why you're not injecting in your thighs?

 

[rossi_mac]

But there is no problem with over rotating, I like routine and this way I am less likely to have issues maybe, also to remember to the nearest inch where on my tummy or arm I did I find difficult so I find this system easier! I don't do thighs as generally I am dressed and was told about a nerve running up thigh and I found it difficult to inject there without it hurting, strange to hear I am sure! I realise less fat on forearms so I angle in.

Cheers for words of wisdom all...

 

[DeusXM]

There is an issue with over-rotating if it causes you to run out of sites to inject in.

You certainly should NOT be injecting at an angle - if you do this, you not only run the risk of trying to break the skin with the blunt part of the needle (making it more painful and more likely to bruise), you also run a serious risk of not going deep enough meaning the insulin could simply 'leak out' immediately after injecting.

You don't need to remember to the exact nanometer where you did your last injection - as long as it's not in exactly the same place, you're fine. You may even be falling into a false sense of security because if you're injecting in the exact same place at the exact same time every day (eg your lunch injection always goes into the exact same part of your left upper arm), you're actually negating the entire point of rotating your sites.

You should not be routinely injecting in your forearm. It's not good for you.

 

[Austin Mini]

Upper arms are so easy. Just get your pen ready to jab, lean against the door frame to plump up your skin and in it goes.

 

[Well.legless.69]

I always use my tummy as my arms are thin but muscular due to using them non stop for transferring etc and as I've not got much thigh wise due to being a double above knee amputee never really do them and as I'm constantly on my butt it's a no go lol I just go all over my tummy

 

[Rosiecarmel]

I would say that I do think injecting into your forearms is not a good idea. I would listen to DeusXMs advice as it is correct and good advice. You don't want to be injecting insulin IM. It should always be subcutaneous. Injecting into forearms runs the risk of IM insulin which can cause sudden and dangerous hypos