Your healthcare provider may recommend that you inject insulin using a syringe to help you control your blood sugar level. This brochure will teach you how to inject your insulin using a syringe.
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Injecting Insulin Using a Syringe
Your health care provider may recommend that you inject insulin using a syringe to help you control your blood sugar level. Injecting insulin with a syringe involves: choosing an injection site, preparing the syringe and insulin, and injecting the insulin into your body.
Your health care provider will tell you what type of insulin you need, as well as when and how much you need to inject.
Things you will need:
Selecting your injection site
The areas for insulin injection include: the abdomen or belly, upper arms, the thighs and the buttocks.
When selecting your injection site:
Preparing your syringe and insulin
Step 1 Wash your hands with soap and water and then dry them.
Step 2 If your insulin needs to be mixed, gently roll the bottle between your hands twenty times to mix evenly.
Do not shake the bottle. It may cause clumps to form in your insulin
Before injecting yourself, make sure your insulin is:
Step 3
Be sure to use a new syringe each time you inject insulin.
Step 4 Remove the syringe from its package.
Step 5 Remove the needle cap from the syringe.
Do not:
Step 6 Pull back the plunger to draw in an amount of air that is equal to your insulin dose.
Step 7
Step 8 With the needle still in the bottle, turn it upside down
Step 9
Step 10
Make sure the needle doesn't touch anything
Injecting the insulin
Step 1
Step 2 Pinch a two-inch fold of skin in the cleaned injection spot.
Step 3 Hold the syringe like a pencil, and quickly insert the needle straight into your skin at a ninety-degree angle.
Make sure the whole needle enters your skin.
Step 4
Step 5 Pull the needle straight out to remove it.
Step 6 Throw away the syringe into your sharps disposal container.
Never throw your syringes or needles directly into the trash.
Contact your health care provider if: