Have you encountered these common problems with insulin injections?

*It is only for medical professionals to read.
A must-see for doctors and sugar friends! Experts say that for a long time, insulin has been the top spot among all kinds of hypoglycemic drugs with its excellent hypoglycemic effect
.

However, in actual clinical practice, less than one-third of diabetic patients receive insulin therapy, and many patients quit when they mention taking insulin
.

The reason, in addition to the conceptual problem, is more of a fear and misunderstanding of insulin injections
.

Next, let’s take a look at the common problems of insulin injections and their solutions, in order to eliminate the fear and resistance of patients with insulin injections
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The first hurdle: injection pain.
Many patients are afraid of needle pain.
When they see the needle, they feel embarrassed
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In fact, all insulin injection pens are used for insulin injections, and the needles used with them are also very thin, and there is almost no pain during injection.
Therefore, there is no need to worry about this problem
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Of course, if the disposable needle is used repeatedly and the needle tip has burrs, bends and barbs, it may cause pain at the injection site
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The treatment measures should be short and slender needles, try to reduce the repeated use of needles, and avoid injecting in areas with induration of the skin
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The second hurdle: Hypoglycemia Hypoglycemia is the most common side effect of insulin therapy
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Mild cases can cause palpitation, sweating, dizziness, trembling hands, and weakness; severe cases can cause trance, mental abnormalities, strange behavior, coma, and even death
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Its occurrence is related to factors such as excessive insulin consumption, failure to eat or eat too little in time after injection, increased exercise volume but failure to add meals in time
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Handling countermeasures ■ Fully coordinate the relationship between diet, exercise and medication, live a regular life, eat regularly and quantitatively, and do not increase the medication dose at will; extended reading: Diabetics eat the right meal, blood sugar has been controlled by half! (With diabetic recipe) Do people with diabetes need to exercise? How to exercise? That's all here! ■ Learn to recognize and deal with hypoglycemia.
Once hypoglycemia occurs, you should immediately add sugary foods or beverages.
In severe cases, you should inject glucose solution intravenously.
Always keep some sugary foods or beverages around for emergencies
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The third hurdle: weight gain Some patients will have a slight weight gain after using insulin treatment.
We should have a correct understanding of this
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Insulin can promote the absorption and utilization of blood sugar by the tissues, reduce the loss of urine sugar, and convert excess sugar into glycogen or fat storage, which will cause a certain degree of weight gain, but it also shows that clinical treatment is effective
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Treatment measures ■ Patients receiving insulin therapy should cooperate with diet and exercise therapy; ■ Take combination medications, metformin, acarbose, SGLT-2 inhibitors, GLP-1 receptor agonists and other drugs can reduce body weight and reduce insulin Combined with these drugs, not only can reduce the amount of insulin, but also offset the weight gain caused by the latter; ■ Try to choose insulin that has little effect on body weight
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Doing the above points can completely avoid weight gain
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Fourth hurdle: Insulin hypersensitivity Insulin hypersensitivity is relatively rare in clinical practice.
It mainly manifests as itching, erythema, rash and subcutaneous induration at the injection site.
This situation mostly occurs in patients who use animal insulin, which may be related to animal insulin and humans.
The structural difference of insulin is related to the low purity of the preparation
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Treatment measures ■ Switch to high-purity human insulin or human insulin analogs; ■ Change injection sites frequently; ■ Use anti-allergic drugs as appropriate
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Fifth hurdle: Skin infections are mainly manifested as "red spots" or redness at the injection site
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There are many reasons for skin infections in diabetic patients: firstly, the high sugar content in the tissues of diabetic patients, which provides a "hotbed" for bacterial growth; secondly, the skin at the injection site is not strictly disinfected; thirdly, the repeated use of disposable needles and ( Or) Use expired and spoiled insulin, etc.
; in addition, diabetic patients have poor resistance and recovery ability, which makes the infection easy to spread further
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Handling countermeasures Wash your hands before injection, thoroughly disinfect the skin at the injection site, pay attention to the aseptic operation of the injection process, and try to change the needle at a time
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Sixth hurdle: subcutaneous fat hyperplasia or atrophy Some patients who have been injected with insulin for a long time will have skin bulges or depressions at the injection site, that is, subcutaneous fat hyperplasia or atrophy.
In contrast, subcutaneous fat hyperplasia is more common than atrophy
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Whether it is hyperplasia or atrophy, it will affect the absorption of insulin, which will lead to fluctuations in blood sugar
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It is generally believed that these two situations are mostly caused by long-term fixation at the same site for injection and the use of unpurified insulin
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Countermeasures ■ Choose high-purity insulin as much as possible; ■ Pay attention to frequent rotation of the injection site.
In addition to the abdomen, other injection sites include the outer upper arm and outer thigh
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Seventh hurdle: skin bleeding or bruising is often caused by needle damage to subcutaneous capillaries
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The thinner the needle is, the lower the possibility of bleeding.
Therefore, it is recommended that sugar friends choose shorter and thinner needles as much as possible
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Press the injection site for 5-10 seconds after injection to prevent bleeding
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The eighth hurdle: Blurred vision often occurs shortly after starting insulin therapy
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The reason is that the rapid drop in blood sugar affects the osmotic pressure of the lens and vitreous body, and the water overflow in the lens causes the diopter to decrease, causing hyperopia and blurred vision
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Treatment countermeasures usually do not require treatment, and can recover on their own within 2 to 4 weeks
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Avoiding too fast a blood sugar reduction rate can prevent this from happening
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Ninth hurdle: Insulin-induced edema usually occurs in the early stage of insulin treatment, mainly manifested as edema of the face and lower extremities
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The reason may be that insulin promotes the reabsorption of sodium in the renal tubules and causes water and sodium retention
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This edema caused by insulin is temporary, mostly not serious, and usually resolves on its own within a week or two
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Countermeasures ■ A low-salt diet can disappear on its own
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■ Individual patients with severe edema can take oral diuretics or stop insulin as appropriate, and switch to oral hypoglycemic drugs
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Tenth hurdle: Insulin-induced neuralgia is relatively rare in clinical practice.
It can be manifested as pain in the extremities and (or) chest and abdomen walls.
Symptoms appear relatively quickly.
Most of them occur when insulin (or other hypoglycemic drugs) is used to treat blood sugar.
Within 2 to 4 weeks after control, it is generally believed that the blood sugar drops too fast after the application of insulin
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After the blood sugar stabilizes, it can gradually relieve itself
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When lowering blood sugar, it is necessary to master the appropriate speed to lower blood sugar according to the condition of the disease, and try to avoid rapid blood sugar control causing acute painful neuropathy
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