May 25, 2005
Blood Tests and Insulin Injections, Other
Question from Milwaukee, WI, USA:
I have been a type 1 diabetic for almost 12 years now and have a massive lump of fatty-like tissue at my injection sites (upper legs). I have only recently, in the last year or so, found out that it is necessary to rotate injection sites. When I was younger, no one cared where I gave myself injections, just that I was doing them myself. I’ve stopped using the area all together for the last year or so (mostly because the insulin doesn’t work as well and the injections are very painful there) but the lump isn’t going down. Is there any other way to get rid of this damaged tissue, other medications, surgery, etc.?
Answer:
Fat pads (lipohypertrophies) contain both fibrous and fat tissue and are caused by insulin’s effect of stimulating growth of fat tissue especially if you inject too often in the same area. You can try to left this lipohypertrophic area alone for a month or two and try not to reuse needles that can cause blunting which increases the microtrauma of repeated injection.
Please discuss this with your endocrinologist.
MS
