View Full Version : looking for numbing agent prior to injections
My 20 year old college student after 7 years of pumping just switched to lantus pen and novolog flex pen, she has terrible pain when injecting and is getting black and blue marks, anyone have a suggestion for numbing area prior to injecting.
KRenee
10-09-2008, 02:44 AM
You can always use a numbing cream, like Emla, to numb the area. It takes 30-45 minutes to work. My dd uses and ice pack for a couple minutes - that seems to help her.
The bruising is because she is hitting a blood vessel. It might help to hold pressure on the area for a minute or two after injection - just like after a blood draw.
There is usually pain if you hit muscle or a nerve so make sure she is pinching up enough skin to get away from any underlying muscle. And stay away from joints and belly button.
Bruising and pain should be rare with insulin pen needles. My suggestion would be to review injection technique with her diabetes team.
KatelinsMom
10-11-2008, 09:11 AM
I agree with Jeff. Also, the pain could be due to a bad box of dull pen needles. We have encountered this a few times where the whole box of needles were dull and practically needed to be pounded into the skin with a hammer...:eek: Just kidding about the hammer..but they did hurt. We ended up tossing them and opening up a new box.