Insulin Pen Needles: Key Tips for Effective Blood Sugar Control
If you don't pay attention to these two details when injecting insulin, blood sugar will be difficult to control!
Insulin is the only hormone in the human body that directly lowers blood sugar. After each meal, the body will automatically secrete insulin according to the blood sugar situation to lower blood sugar, maintain blood sugar stability in the body, and ensure normal metabolism of the human body.
Whether it is type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes, the body's insulin is absolutely and/or relatively insufficient, and most of them need to supplement exogenous insulin to control blood sugar. In real life, some diabetics do not pay attention to insulin treatment, and there are many misunderstandings, such as arbitrary dosage, wrong insulin type, improper insulin storage, and untimely replacement of sites, which can easily lead to serious consequences.
Long-term injection at the same site leads to fat hyperplasia
One day, the ward admitted an 18-year-old type 1 diabetes patient who came to the hospital for treatment because of poor blood sugar control. During the physical examination, it was found that the patient had not changed the insulin injection site and injected insulin in the abdomen for a long time. The subcutaneous tissue in the abdomen had thickened "rubber-like" lesions, hard texture, and fat hyperplasia, poor insulin absorption, and poor blood sugar control.
Since insulin is a growth factor and has a synthetic effect, repeated injections in the same area will cause subcutaneous fat hyperplasia in that area and produce nodules, which will reduce the absorption rate of the drug and prolong the absorption time, leading to blood sugar fluctuations. Once fat hyperplasia occurs and nodules are formed, the best solution is to let the nodule site absorb and recover on its own, and rotate insulin injections in other areas.
It usually takes months to years for fat hyperplasia to absorb on its own, which seriously affects the health of diabetics. Fat hyperplasia is closely related to the reuse of insulin pen needles and the infrequent change of injection sites.
1. Do not reuse insulin pen needles
After the injection needle is reused, the residual liquid in the needle affects the accuracy of the injection dose. If the residual insulin forms crystals, it will also clog the needle. Long-term use of insulin pen needles will cause hook-shaped bends that are not easy to detect with the naked eye, and the needle tip will become blunt, increasing the pain of injection. Repeated use greatly increases the probability of needle breakage, which may cause the needle tip to break partially and cause serious consequences in the human body, and also increase the risk of infection. As the number of needle reuses increases, subcutaneous fat hyperplasia, blood sugar fluctuations, blood sugar is not easy to reach the standard, insulin dosage increases, complications may also follow, and ultimately the cost of treatment will increase significantly.
2. Change the injection site frequently
Four sites can be selected for insulin injection, arranged from fast to slow in terms of absorption speed: abdomen, outer upper arm, outer thigh, and buttocks. Because these sites have a layer of subcutaneous fat tissue that can absorb insulin and no more nerve distribution, the discomfort during injection is relatively less.
Each site is injected for one week, and the injection is rotated, so that each site can be well recovered. When rotating the injection site, patients should pay attention to the distance between the injection points of one finger width, which can greatly reduce the probability of fat hyperplasia.
When injecting in the abdomen, it should be noted that the injection should be within a palm distance of 3 to 5 cm on both sides of the navel. The thinner the subcutaneous layer is on both sides of the body, the easier it is to pierce the muscle layer.
When choosing to inject in the thigh, inject on the front or outer side of the thigh, because there are more blood vessels and nerves on the inner thigh, which is not suitable for injection. It is not advisable to exercise immediately after the injection, because strenuous exercise will accelerate the absorption of insulin and easily lead to hypoglycemia.