Painless injections

[Kingjoe007]

If you suffer from painful injections or have to inject others , one reason maybe that your needle is not straight. It is important to keep the needle level so that the needle can enter cleanly, smoothly and painlessly.
My hack is to glue a small spirit level to the handle (underneath the indicator) so that you know your needle is level. Result painless injections every time. Hope this works for you.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you’ve found a solution that works for you. Though personally I never found it was the angle of injection that made the difference, it was more whether the needle just happened to hit a nerve ending or capillary. It was rare that injections caused me much discomfort at all. Though some have suggested that placing the needle just on the skin in a couple of spots up until they find a place where they can’t really feel it has helped them inject painlessly.

I’m not aware of any clinical evidence relating to injection angle. Did you find any, or was this just your own experiment?

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I’m not aware of any clinical evidence relating to injection angle. Did you find any, or was this just your own experiment?

Well, you want the injection to go straight into the skin. I think it's exceedingly unlikely to make any difference whether the needle is horizontal or not. But concentrating on whether it is (especially using a spirit level) might well be a useful distraction.

 

[rebrascora]

I imagine it very much depends on where you inject as to whether a spirit level would be helpful. You want the needle to go in perpendicular to the flesh that you are injecting and since none of us have straight, flat surfaces on our bodies, using a perfectly horizontal pen might require some contortion to achieve the desired perfect 90 degree angle.... maybe a set square attached to the injector might work equally well.

 

[merrymunky]

I inject in my tummy and it never hurts. It’s only ever stung once or twice. I don’t usually feel it.

 

[Ljc]

With me I find their are a couple of areas that are more likely to hurt , the sides of my thighs or more to the outside of my belly can make me wince at times.

For those that find these injections painful their is a devise you can attach to a pen that provides a distraction, I think it’s called a tickler .

 

[Ljc]

Welcome to the forum @Kingjoe007 .
I am glad you have found something that works for you.

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, sorry I didn't mean to be disparaging about your idea. If it works for you great.
I too have areas that are much more painful than others. Some parts of my stomach are really tender whereas between thigh and buttock I don't feel it at all. It is of course important not to keep jabbing into those painless places too often so I use a variety of sites.

 

[Kingjoe007]

Welcome to the forum!

Glad you’ve found a solution that works for you. Though personally I never found it was the angle of injection that made the difference, it was more whether the needle just happened to hit a nerve ending or capillary. It was rare that injections caused me much discomfort at all. Though some have suggested that placing the needle just on the skin in a couple of spots up until they find a place where they can’t really feel it has helped them inject painlessly.

I’m not aware of any clinical evidence relating to injection angle. Did you find any, or was this just your own experiment?

Hi, thanks for comments. My Diabetes nurse told me to keep it as level as possible. This might be so that the sharpest point of the needle enters the skin ? I rotate my injections across my stomach, left side am, right side pm. Some injections are more painful than others. I also find that if you touch the skin with the needle point then gently “glide” it in can also help.