Today a nurse from Shared Solutions is coming to teach me how to use my autoject. I'm hoping it will cut down on my injection site reactions. I noticed that when I shoot myself, sometimes my hand has a slight tremor. I really don't notice it at any other time, so I must be putting pressure in just the right spot so that it causes a nearly imperceptible shake. I think that I'm inadvertently varying the depth of the needle because of the tremor, and maybe that's why I'm getting (what I think) are pretty bad reactions.
The autoject will at least eliminate the varying depths, because the needle only goes in so far (however deep you set it). It would be really nice not to take a Benadryl every night, and a Claritin every day to control the itching. Let me share a cool word with you guys: Urticaria. It sounds so much more cosmopolitan than plain ol' hives. Anyway, I can live with the bruising and weird little bumps, but the itching is driving me insane!
The weird little bumps are from lipoatrophy. Clinically, it's the breaking down of subcutaneous fat at injection sites. To you and me, they're the weird little hard bumps I get at the injection sites. I guess they're permanent, but at this point, I really don't care.
I have no idea (because I forgot to ask-shocker) if I'll be learning with live medicine or an alternative. I suppose I should get out a syringe just in case. I'm pretty sure we won't be using real medicine, because I'm confident it will take me more than one try to get it right.
I am going to cut this short today because I have to do a couple of things before the nurse gets here.
I'll keep you posted on how it goes and what happens.
Addendum- I just noticed that the thing is called an autoject 2. Now I'm singing "Little Shop of Horrors" because all I can think of is Audrey II.
Do you pinch your skin and inject or do you just inject? I know my father in law with his diabetes meds does not pinch, but Dan with his meds pinches some fat on whatever part he's injecting that round, and then injects. He holds his similar to a pencil so he's not jabbing so hard, when he fisted it so to speak it left bruises and hurt at the site. Sure hope it goes well and you get some relief. He'll be getting two shots soon. The pills he's on, technically it's a cancer fighting medicine, but it's also used for RA, anway it causes nauseau, but the shot form does not, so now once a week he'll be getting that on top of the two shots a month in one day (gosh that makes no sense) he takes.
ReplyDeleteI have to pinch when I put the needle in, then release the pinch when the needle is in. I do warmth before I inject, then cool afterward.
DeleteI've been getting B12 for years, so getting a shot isn't new. I think it's just this medicine irritates me, but I'm hoping that the longer I use it, the irritation will subside.
Best wishes with the new medicine, hope it provides some relief!!