Hey guys... Just wanted to know if (some... ?) of you use or still use numbing cream. I have since I first got my pump... scared of the pain, much??? :P I am... I've missed a few times, and I cried not because of the pain, but because I hate this!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, just asking. And if you have littler bros or sisses with diabetes, you might want to thell 'em about it, because I learned at a young age:
"It's hard to do, I know, and It hurts, You could get a prescription for lidocane numming cream." -My doctor :P
i had the option of putting some numbing cream on for my first infusion set but decided not to. and most of the time it doesnt hurt badly, i can feel it go in most of the time but thats it. i am scared when removing the needle. my mom does that and puts the infusion set in.
they gave me the numbing cream the first time i got an A1C blood test at the age of 6. needless to say...it didn't work, and 8 attempts later at stabbing me(yeah i got 8 needles) and finally finding a vein that didn't collapse(my veins hide, and if you find one, they like to collapse the second a needle touches them) i was in a fit of tears and screaming at the top of my lungs(this was before they had the "butterfly" needles too).
i've never bothered with the cream since, it didn't work for me. i've only heard a few people i know who've used it for other things(non-diabetic) who actually had it work.
I used numbing cream for a few years when I first got the pump - but I was young. I stopped the cream around 5th grade. I was pretty attatched to the cream. But, honestly, the younger you take yourself away from the numbing cream the easier it will be. Do you use the quick inserter thing? or do you do the sideways kind? I did the sideways kind when I was on numbing cream - but then I switched to the quick inserter which is much easier. I get queezy around needles, and I can't do my own sites if I have to see the needle go into my skin. So with this inserter, I dont see it, all I have to do is press a button & it's in. It really doesn't hurt that bad, it's just annoying to do. But, it's really ok if you want to use numbing cream! There's nothing wrong with it! Your not a wimp. Nobody on this earth is a whimp, because we all go through pain. and deffinetly, diabetics are not whimps, silly :]
Theres a numbing cream? Wow... my daughter has was diagnosed 7years ago and is now14 years old. We have had the pump for just over 3 years now. She used to use the silhouetes (the long skinny needle that goes in at an angle) and she actually preferred doing it manually with no inserter... I know, ouch. But she prefered that way.
We recently got the new pump with CGMS. We went to the quickset, which my daughter says she can barely feel. Now she has to do the sensor insertion, which is a much bigger needle and very similar to the silouetes...only larger in dimension.
We have been trying to get her to use another site other than her tummy. She is so worried about the other areas on her body even her hips...
How well does the numbing cream work? I was wondering because it may help her branch out away from her tummy.
Where do you guys put your inserts regularly? I need help getting her to take the chance in other spots...where is good?
Thanks so much for your help.....from a worried mom
Where do you guys put your inserts regularly? I need help getting her to take the chance in other spots...where is good?
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Heather-
I would have her try using her butt. It might sound weird or uncomfortable at first, but it actually isn't that bad. For the first few months of being on my pump, I was hesitant to put my site anywhere other than my stomach, too. But I was worried that I would wear it out, so I decided to be brave and try my butt. I actually really like having it there. It usually doesn't hurt, unless I end up sleeping on that side for the whole night. I use the outside of my butt for the sets- usually just inside the underwear line- and they work out really well. I haven't branched out to any other spots yet, so I'm only using my stomach and butt.
personally, i've never used any kind of numbing cream. i tried IV prep once or twice, but i had problems with the site sticking after that. i use rubbing alcohol and that works best for me. i don't find the pump site hurts all that often. i have 8 sites i rotate to around my tummy and hips. by the time i rotate back to a site, it's been almost a month and it has had plenty of time to heal. rarely, i'll find a spot that's close to a nerve or just a little tender, but if i move it about just a smidge to the left or right the next time, i don't experience the pain anymore. it's pretty much trial and error. the pain is never that intense or constant where i can't handle it. more of an annoyance than anything.
i think i was only offered the cream because i was so young
it might also have had something to do with the fact that when i was diagnosed and they hooked me up to the first IV i ever remember having...i screamed so loud and for so long because of the whole vein thing...my mom says i woke up the whole ER ward.....
Your daughter actually sounds just like me. I got the pump when I was 9, and up until 9th grade, I would only use my tummy as a site. I was scared to death to go anywhere else. I was actually forced to do it in another place, because my stomach got so caliced & scared - that my body wasn't absorbing the insulin. It was actually scary - my A1C came back to be over 14, which is very high as you know. Well, part of the reason why, was because my body wasn't absorbing the insulin, because of the fact that I only used my tummy. I now do my hips - alternating sides. It works very well. Also, up until 10th grade I would only use the silhouetes, and I wouldn't go near an inserter - so that sounds like your daughter as well! But with my hips, the other kind works a lot better. I don't have the sensor - we can't really afford it right now (my parents are out of work - no medical insurance. it's getting scary because we really can't afford to keep buying supplies. I don't know what we're gonna do..)
I personally would not have her try numbing cream. You put it on 2 hrs in advance to when you change the site. It numbs the first couple layers of skin, so you can still feel it. Have you talked to her endo about the sites? Maybe he/she can talk to your daughter about it?
I was never told about the numbing cream either. I use Insets, which are all pre-loaded in the inserter, and they don't hurt at all. I don't see a need for the cream.
I got my first insulin pump when I was 15 and I was never offered a numbing cream or I.V. prep, just rubbing alcohol. By the time I got my first pump I had already had diabetes for about six years so I was use to needles by then. I think it was Batts that mentioned this and I agree, it is probably offered to younger children more so than others. If the original poster feels comfortable using the cream I say go for it, whatever works for you :)
Where do you guys put your inserts regularly? I need help getting her to take the chance in other spots...where is good?
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Heather-
I would have her try using her butt. It might sound weird or uncomfortable at first, but it actually isn't that bad.
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That's my advice too. I first put it in my butt at camp, when I had a failed site in my stomach, and I thought it would be horrible but it's fine. A bit uncomfortable sometimes but you get used to it.
I think this is a rather new thing that their offering because inserting the pump can sometimes hit a spot that really makes it hurt. When I was working at my local diabetes camp as a medstaff this past summer, they said they recently saw an explosion of doctors offering this in the past 2 years. But the nurse and some doctors were also saying that they're trying to wean some people off it because kids are putting off inserting their pumps when they should be inserted immediately for instance if it gets pulled out and could be going 30 mins-1hr w/o their pump which is not good. Just food for thought!!! But to be honest when I first got the pump 10 years ago...I wish I had that option to not make me so scared about inserting it way back then!
I'm a wimp. I still use numbing cream too. I've had diabetes for almost 11 years, been pumping for about 7 years and I still get scared and have to use numbing cream. Sometimes I forget or run out or miss place it and can't use it and it doesn't hurt really. I just don't really like the feeling of it going in.
i was diagnosed when i was 4 so i do not remember exactly what happened. but i do remember that at first, i didn't want to take shots so my dad would take a shot of saline when i had to take my insulin shot..and he did that for like 3 months or something. not that i am suggesting that any parents take unnecessary shots, haha thinking back, i can't believe my dad did that for me! but when he stopped, we used to slap where i would give my shots to numb it. it was often my leg but then when i was 7 and too old for "slap happy pappy" as we called it, i went to pinching my arm and giving it myself.
then when i got my pump (6 years ago this past august), i used to ice my site for like an hour before i changed it, but that actually did more harm than good. sure, it hurt less, but sometimes the skin got so cold it was almost frozen, which in turn resulted in my blood sugar being high after changing my site because the insulin couldn't absorb through the frozen layers of skin, i guess haha. and then i must have gotten a scratch from the ice pack because i got a weird skin infection around my tailbone, which must have happened while i was icing my site (since i put my pump in my lower back/hip area).
but i didn't actually stop icing my site until this past february, and it was actually a result of my laziness..haha. i was at winter camp and didn't bring an ice pack and didn't want to go put snow in a bag to numb my site. of course, it took me like 25 minutes to get over the anxiety of not numbing it first, but all my friends (none of who numb their sites) were cheering me on haha and then when i finally put my site in, i realized that it was only a mental thing that kept me from changing my pump without icing. once i realized that, i haven't iced my site since, i am proud to say. hahah i mean, it took me 5 1/2 years to get over that mental anxiety, so i totallllllly understand where you are coming from, ahah and take your time, you will come to the same realization i did eventually(:
plus, since i don't ice anymore, my numbers aren't high after changin my pump! wooooht, i cracked the code. FINALLY haha.
i had the option of putting some numbing cream on for my first infusion set but decided not to. and most of the time it doesnt hurt badly, i can feel it go in most of the time but thats it. i am scared when removing the needle. my mom does that and puts the infusion set in.
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Like she said i had the option but then i kept losing the cream and the site kept losing the stickyness and it just made more issues for me i think. Hope my avice helps : )