i am on the pump so i dont normally have to give myself shots... but today i've been fighting my blood sugar and large ketones so igave myself a few shots. i forgot how bad they hurt when you inserted them. it was almost like a burning sensation. idk if it was from me inserting it right after i wiped the skin with alcohol. (most likely it was cuz of that)
so, my question is do you prefer shots or the pump?? if you have a pump that is... if you take shots, then i guess my question would be do you like taking shots? would you like to try the pump out to see if you like it??
i prefer the pump. it hurts way less than shots!!!
I agree. Shots are so much pain. I love my pump. The fact that I don't have to give shots is life saving to me. Everytime I gave a shot I bruised and it hurt so much
i love my pump! i could never go back to shots!! they are painful and just make the whole experience worse. no offense to any of you out there who like shots best- but i have no idea how you do it.
i love my pump! i could never go back to shots!! they are painful and just make the whole experience worse. no offense to any of you out there who like shots best- but i have no idea how you do it.
I'm on the pump too, but I believe there is a "technique" to giving yourself relatively painless injections. There are also syringes available with thinner and shorter needles. (I've had T1 for 40 years and used to use a glass syringe with a 25-guage 1/2" needle. Talk about pain!) The newest needles are 31 guage, 3/16" long pen needles. (The higher the guage, the finer the needle.) If don't find inserting an infusion set painful, I don't understand how you'd find an injection with a much finer and shorter needle painful. It does take practice.. but, I must confess, I hardly ever swabbed with alcohol first and if I did, I always made sure it was completely dry before administering an injection. It is interesting to me however, that when we have trouble controlling our blood sugars with our pumps that we resort to "old reliable"... the injection.
[I've only been diagnosed for less than a month, but...]
I don't find the shots painful at all, unless I inject into my thigh (that hurts quite a bit). But I do not mind having to self-inject at all.
Otherwise, of course I am interested in the pump, and my endo has already scheduled me to go there in a month to talk about going on it (very exciting). But I am just interested in the pump out of convenience, not because I don't like the shots.
I'm on the pump but I also take symlin shots 3 times a day. I dont know why- shots never bother me. I just can't ive myself a shot in front of my mom or she begins to cry (kind of funny)
Courtney, less than a month, wow. I remember being diagnosed and my first month of being diabetic, back in my freshman year of college. I remember staring at the cookies in the dining hall and wishing I could have one without feeling like crap. I also remember going to parties and their being no diet soda, so I had to drink rum or whiskey without a mixer haha
I just started the pump in August or September (I can't remember) so that it was easier to manage my diabetes while at work. I like the simplicity of it, but I miss giving myself a shot. I actually liked the process of figuring things out and injecting...maybe I'm just weird. I help out on the pump for 4 years, mostly because my endo pissed me off by trying to force it on me, so I didn't want to give in to him. Switch my doctor, and he was a nice guy and kindly suggested I think about it, so I decided to do it.
Oh yeah, and I ate about 20 hershey kisses earlier. Mom left a 16 pound bag of them out in the open...I couldn't resist. Just felt like sharing, haha
Courtney, less than a month, wow. I remember being diagnosed and my first month of being diabetic, back in my freshman year of college. I remember staring at the cookies in the dining hall and wishing I could have one without feeling like crap. I also remember going to parties and their being no diet soda, so I had to drink rum or whiskey without a mixer haha
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Hahah, nice. Luckily I am in my second year, so no dining hall (that would have been so hard last year).
[quote user="Steve"] I like the simplicity of it, but I miss giving myself a shot. I actually liked the process of figuring things out and injecting...maybe I'm just weird.[/quote]
And I can totally understand this. I do kind of enjoy giving myself the shots when I am conveniently at home and such. It's just so much more definitive, like- I know this is how much I am putting in my body right now so I can eat. The pump just seems different in a lot of ways.
I don't mind giving myself injections. Needles are so small and thin that you really don't feel them. Plus they are just subcutaneous injections instead of intramuscular ones which do tend to be painful. I have no desire to get a pump. Injections are just fine by me.
That's kind of funny because I was just thinking about an earliy experience I had with Type 1, injections and especially, ...syringes. You see, as a youngster before being diagnosed with Type 1 at 17, I had always wanted to become a doctor. Like most children,those big glass syringes used by doctors had always frightened me, and perhaps that's the reason I had always wanted to get my hands on one. (Perhaps I wanted to finally take revenge on the doctors and nurses who gave me my immunizations and other injections as a child. I wanted to "stick it to them" for once.) And not just anybody could by a syringe in the drug store... You had to be a doctor. So I guess I felt really empowered when I was diagnosed with T1 and got my own real glass syringes. We used to sterilize them in a pot of boiling water too. This was actually one of the only "cool" things about becoming a T1.
How did you stop at 20 kisses? If I eaten one I'd probably would have had to eat the entire 16 pound bag! HA.
Ya know, when I was on the pump about 6 years ago, I was relieved to not have to do shots anymore. But, at the time, I was active in athletics and school things like that, and I sweat a lot, so my pump site would fall out quite a bit. I tried all of the glues and adhesives I could to make the site stick to my body and avoid the pain of having it slowly come out during exercise. Eventually, it was to the point where I was re-injecting the pump up to twice a day, rather than what was supposed to be every three days, so I decided that the pump wasn't right for me at that time. I don't hold any grudges against the pump, as it did make my life a little easier when I could get it to work, but I haven't gone back on it either.
i've been on a pump for about 10 years now, but give myself shots if my BGs go too high. shots really don't bother me-- only hurt if i hit a vein or something. the only thing i don't like about shots are carrying the supplies around with me. i like the freedom of having everything in my pocket. unless i'm traveling, i don't carry extra supplies around with me. i like that :o)
ive been on 2 different pumps [one with the sensor] and ive tried the pen. right now i'm using syringes, and i can honestly say that i don't mind them. i think it's the simplicity of taking shots. it's also nice because with syringes you KNOW that the insulin is being delivered, and with the pump more complications are possible-- like the tubing breaking at the top, or your site ripping out [ouchh!]
I like switching around, but that isnt the reason i am back on syringes. i plan on getting back on my minimed within the next few years. evrything just takes time :)
I just switched over to a pump. Not because the shots hurt though. I found the faster I could get the needle in the less I could feel it. However I'm loving my pump. Event though this is the first week my and we are still trying to get all of the numbers tweeked I find my sugars staying way more level then they did while I was taking shots. I don't think I will go back!
I give myself like 10 shots a day.. I use humulog every time i eat and im always picking so ill do one uit here 5 units there
I am not bothered at all by shots i dont even feel them to be honest and being the soemtimes bad diabetic i am i dont use alcohol so maybe thats why it doesnt burn. Same thing with my fingers, granted they are harder on the tips where i have been pricking them my whole life but i dont feel the prick at all... some people have higher pain tolerances, tattoos and peircings dont bother me either, its prob just how sensative u are.
I've been diabetic since my 6th birthday. For most of the time I was on multiple injections. Since March of 2009 I've been using the Omnipod insulin pump. I prefer the pump to the injections any day. I've not had the problems with bruising like I had when I was doing the injections. It'll happen when you've given so many needles. The other reason I like my pump better is that my A1C is at a more consistent low number with the pump than it was when I was on injections. I had too many lows with the needles. Overall, the pump simplifies my diabetes for me. When I'm in better control, I feel better.
Did shots for 20 years and been pumping for 10 now. i could not go back to shots. It sounds funny, but the sight of the needle makes me light headed. i will stick with my pump and I agree it hurts way less!
I've been doing anywhere from 1 shot a day to 6 for the past 32 years. I don't find that it hurts at all. Occasionally I'll feel a little pinch. I'm used to it and doesn't bother me. I haven't tried a pump. Maybe someday. For now I'm cool with shots. Shots sounds better to me than the whole infusion set thing and having a computer hooked up to me 24/7 365 delivering my insulin. I work with computers. I don't trust them. But to each his/her own. Whatever works for you works for me.