How to and where to Inject Insulin?

Many people with diabetes mellitus come to point where they have to inject insulin. In such cases they have inject insulin at least two times a day. That means you will have to prick your skin at least sixty times a month. Pricking the same site of the skin for a long time can damage the skin. Insulin itself acts on the tissues surrounding the injection site and aggravates the tissue damage. Therefore, it is important that you know the correct method and site of insulin injection to minimize tissue trauma.

When injecting insulin, the preferred site of injection is around the umbilicus. You can also inject insulin to the upper outer aspect of the arms and to the outer aspect of the middle one third of the thighs. umbilicus is regarded as the best place to inject insulin. This is because its blood supply is very low. When there is less blood supply, insulin is absorbed in to the circulation very slowly. Therefore, the risk of hypoglycemia is very low. The next preferred place of insulin injection is the arms. Legs have the highest rate of absorption. This causes rapid reduction of blood glucose. Therefore, you can develop hypoglycemia very quickly.

Always follow the following steps when injecting insulin.

1. Check the insulin vial. If you are using soluble insulin, the solution should be clear and colorless. If you are using a suspension, it should be uniformly cloudy. If there is any abnormality, discard the vial and take a new one. Clean the top of the vial with alcohol. Check the insulin pen for the same abnormalities if you are using an insulin pen.
2. Prepare  the site. The site is best prepared by cleaning with alcohol. But, if alcohol is not available, maintaining a good hygiene by cleaning yourself daily is enough.
3.  Draw air in to the syringe. The amount of air drawn is same as the dose you are going to take from the insulin valve. Then inject the air in to the insulin valve. Now you can easily draw out the amount of insulin you want.
4. If you are going to inject insulin to a site around the umbilicus, take a point two finger breadths away from the umbilicus. Likewise go inject subsequent doses around the umbilicus for a month. Then choose another side to inject insulin. For example, the arms. Inject insulin to one arm for a month and then change it to the other arm. Rotating sites like this allows the site to heal.
5. The angle of insulin injection is usually 90 degrees. Bit, if you are a very thin person and going to inject insulin to a place with minimum fat content you can inject in 90 degree angle but, insert only half of the length of the needle. If not, you can insert the needle in a 45 degree angle to avoid going in to deep structures other than the fat tissues.