Where to inject your insulin

When you’re first diagnosed your doctors are probably gonna start you on insulin pens, at least that’s what I experienced. When I was at the hospital a nurse came in and showed me how to use the pen and had me try it myself. I was terrified. Completely and utterly terrified. Me, the girl who always hated getting her shots, was supposed to give myself one? I couldn’t really imagine it. At the same time I somewhat knew that this was gonna be my new normal and that I had to learn to do it myself. So I just did it. I counted to 3 and gave myself my first shot. Maybe the fact that I was in a foreign country (more about that another time) and couldn’t speak the language properly helped me to just do it because I couldn’t complain.

 

Back in Switzerland I starded seeing a diabetes consultant. I still see her up to this day and I love her. She was the one who really showed and explained to me how everything works. She was also the one who told me where to inject my insulin. She had me inject lantus into my thigh and Novo Rapid into my abdomen. To minimize the risk of scar tissue being bulit, she handed me two graphics.

Graphic belongs to the nurse at my hospital

The principle is simple. Imagine you abdomen is a grid. You start on one side of your belly button. Each day, you start at the “top“ and work your way down. After day 1 you move further out and start all over, top to bottom. At the end of the week (or after 7 days if your starting in the middle of the week) you change to the other side of your abdomen. Simple, right?

Graphic belongs to the nurse at my hospital

Same goes for your thigh. Since I only had to inject into my thigh once, I would start at the top on day one and go further down on day 2 and so on. After 7 days I switched my thighs. You could also stay on the same thigh for about a month and then change since you’re not using it as often as your abdomen. Important reminder: Always make sure that you are one palm away from your private parts and your knees J

 

This method really helped me to evenly space out my injections. If you’re in a rush and don’t really think about it, you’re most likely gonna end up injecting in the place that has a blue circle around it. But if you take the time and remind yourself of the grid, you can give that spot a break and prevent the building of scar tissue.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.