Giving Shots
Most kids get help from their parents when they first start getting shots. As you get older, you'll need less and less help. You and your parents can use this guide to make shots easier.
Site Rotation
In baseball, you have to touch all the bases to get a home run. No matter how far you hit the ball, jumping up and down at home base just doesn't cut it. Injection site rotation is like that. Giving yourself a shot in the exact same spot all the time gets to be no fun, real fast. That's because repeated shots in the same spot can cause fat deposits, called lipohypertrophy, which make your skin look lumpy.
These fat deposits can be prevented by regularly changing where you give your shots, or "site rotation." It doesn't mean you never re-use a site. It's more like running the bases; you move to various spots and eventually come back to where you started.
You can give yourself insulin shots pretty much wherever there's enough fat under the skin. The main areas are your stomach, your thighs, and the back of your upper arms. The stomach is generally most popular. It's easy to reach, and the insulin is absorbed from your stomach at a more consistent rate from shot to shot. Site rotation is different for every person. Here are the basics.
Each injection site should be about the size of a quarter. You only have to move about a finger-width away from your last shot each time you rotate. Of course, you have to remember where the last shot was!
Don't inject too close to moles or scars.
Some people rotate only within a certain body area, like the stomach. Others may use the stomach for morning injections and the thigh or some other area for evening injections.
Talk to your parents, doctor, or diabetes educator about the best option for you.
If you inject in the arm, use only the outer back area of the upper arm (where the most fat is). Otherwise, you run the risk of injecting into a muscle (ouch!).
If you inject in the thigh, stick to the top and the outside area. Stay away from your inner thighs-rubbing between the legs can make the injection site sore.
If you inject in the stomach, don't do it too near your belly button. The tissue there is tougher and makes the insulin absorption less predictable.
- Sometimes, you can develop fat deposits even if you rotate sites. If the skin around where you inject starts to look funny, stop injecting there and let your parents know. They may decide that it's time for a quick visit to the doctor.
There are many different ways to keep track of site rotation. If it's always the same people giving you shots (you or your parents), then it's pretty simple. You write in your log book the body part where your last shot was given, and move to a new site (about an inch away) each time. Always going the same direction (like clockwise) around the area helps.
Another method is to use the same site for the insulin at a certain time of day. For example, breakfast means you use a leg, dinner is abdomen, and bedtime is arms. This also works well if you have different people helping you with your shots all the time. It's easier to track.
