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Diabetes » How to inject correctly

How to inject correctly?

With their simple but secure handling modern insulin pens enable hardly noticeable and almost pain-free stitches under the skin. One of the former most common problems, when using disposable syringes, was the loading of the insulin.

With the insulin cartridges inside the pen fortunately this is history. But how is such a pen actually constructed?

The structure

At the upper end of the pen you will find a button that sets the dose of insulin, which is shown on the dose display. Via a small wound rod, with a rubber plug at it's lower end, the insulin is pressed from the cartridge into the extremely thin needle. While the pen is not being used, the needle is protected by a cap. With the measure marks of the cartridge you can always check the insulin level of your pen.

There are Needles of the length between 5 and 12,7 mm for all pens of the various manufacturers. Which needle you decide to use depends on the strength of your deeper skin fat tissue. If the skin doesn't fold during the injection, slender people, children or adolescents can easily use a 5 or 6 mm needle. Long needles are usually for people with normal weight or overweight, and for type-1 diabetics.

Make sure that you always exchange the needle after using the pen! This is the only way to keep the injections pain-free, the reason being that the tip of the cannula is extremely fine ground and the needle has a special coating. If you're using a needle again and again the tip might get damaged and the coating may get rubbed off. Moreover the changing of the needle prevents the leakage of insulin and the creation of air bubbles as well.

So, how do I use my pen correctly?

First of all you spray the smallest adjustable dose of insulin straight into the air with the pen held in a vertical position. Should there be bigger air bubbles in your cartridge you can get rid of them this way, too. Perhaps you might have to repeat this procedure. Turbid insulin can be cleared by shaking the pen approximately 20 times. Then the needed dose can be adjusted by twisting the button on the end of the pen. When all these preparations are met, you should think of the part of your body on which you want to use the pen. Then squeeze a fold of your skin between your fingers and inject the needle into the skin. Push the button on top of the pen or the slider. Please wait for 10 seconds before extracting the needle again. After using the pen it is absolutely necessary to dispose the needle.

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