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India is home to over 70 million diabetes patients, many of whom depend on insulin injections to control and manage their condition. As a diabetes patient, this means using an insulin pen or syringe practically every day for much of your life. In fact, most diabetes patients require a minimum of two insulin shots a day, while many require as much as 7 shots a day. Even if you have high pain tolerance levels and aren’t squeamish about needles, that is a lot of shots to receive over the course of a year! If done right, however, getting your insulin shots doesn’t have to be painful or even uncomfortable. This of course depends largely on choosing the right needles and injection techniques to ensure that there is little to no pain, to prevent scar tissue formation, and ensure that your body actually gets the full dose from each injection.
Understanding Insulin Syringes
Insulin syringes are available in a wide range of sizes as they are designed to administer different insulin doses. The barrel size of a syringe is what determines the insulin carrying capacity of the syringe, while needle gauge refers to the thickness of the needle itself.
The syringe size makes a difference as using the correct size syringe allows you to get a full insulin dose in a single shot, with less chance of errors in dosing. Patients who require different doses of insulin at different times of the day would do well to store multiple syringe sizes. This will also give your room for flexibility, which is important as doses frequently need to be adjusted according to blood sugar level readings at the time.
Choosing The Right Needle Size
While the syringe size depends on your required insulin dose, it would be best to opt for thinner needles as research shows that these tend to be more comfortable for most patients. The length of the needle is also an important consideration as this affects how far it penetrates beneath the skin.
Keep in mind that insulin only needs to reach under the skin, rather than enter the muscles. If insulin is injected into the muscles, which is described as an intramuscular shot, it is absorbed too rapidly and can cause blood sugar levels to fall too low. Shorter needles are therefore safer to avoid this risk.
Needle length also doesn’t determine the accuracy of dosage, as has been revealed in studies. In fact, needles with a length of just 4 mm have also been shown to be effective at administering accurate doses. This can be especially helpful for anyone uncomfortable with big needles.
Good Practices When Using Insulin Syringes
Choosing the right size of syringe and needle are only the first steps in using insulin syringes correctly and effectively. There are a few simple but important practices that you should follow to ensure proper dosing and minimize the risk of pain, leakage, or complications such as lipohypertrophy (abnormal subcutaneous fat deposit).
- Change the needle for each use
- Make sure to rotate injection sites to avoid lipohypertrophy
- Don’t just jab the needle in but pinch an area of skin and insert at a 90-degree angle
- After pushing the plunger leave the needle in for 8 seconds to avoid leakage
Ideally, you should ask your diabetes doctor or educator for guidance to learn insulin syringe administration practices thoroughly and avoid mistakes. This will ensure proper dosing, while also lowering the risk of pain or any injection-related complications.
