Patient/caregiver was instructed upon precautions to be observed while taking insulin as follows:
- Do not share insulin with your friends and family. There are a variety of insulins available and they differ from each other widely. Insulin prescribed to you could be different from insulin prescribed to friends/family.
- Insert the needle at 90-degree angle to the skin surface straight down to administer the dose. Lean individuals with poor fat can pinch the skin and insert the needle at a 45-degree angle for insulin administration.
- Discard all the lancets and needles appropriately into the sharps container, after the dose administration. It is a good practice for all diabetic individuals using regular insulin syringe or insulin pen to change the needle each time insulin is administered. Check with your physician on their recommendation for needle change. Changing the needle on every insulin administration can help reduce the risk for development of hardened lumps in the fatty tissue into which insulin is administered. These lumps can inhibit fair insulin absorption and thus, compromise therapeutic benefit of the insulin intake.
- Individuals using insulin pump add new insulin to the pump and change the infusion set every 2 – 3 days, depending on the recommendation made by your physician.
- Insulin is administered into the fatty tissue, just underneath the skin. Injecting insulin into this fat layer can help absorption of insulin into the blood stream at a desired and consistent rate. Subcutaneous fat is richly available in various body sites, such as, abdomen, upper & outer arms, hips, and thighs. Preferring these sites for insulin administration can help better absorption of insulin.
