My daughter is 17 and has had type one diabetes since she was 15. She has had great control, but lately she has this knot or glob of skin on one side of her hip. She is devastated and will not wear a swim suit. I think she has not been rotating her shots. Will this go away and how can she make sure this will not happen again? She is using the ultra fine needles. It is just on one side of her hip. Also, are the islet transplants still just for the people that have bad control? When will they be available for my daughter? I feel so bad for her because she is constantly fighting her weight and blood sugar control.

More activity each day will help with weight problems.

If you are describing insulin hypertrophy, this is usually caused by overusing the same area, i.e. too many injections in the same spot. Talk to her diabetes team and they can assess the situation, tell her what is causing the problem and figure out what else she can do to avoid it. Avoiding this area usually will let such hypertrophied scar tissue heal and resolve, but it usually takes two or three times as long for healing to occur as for the problem to start in the first place. Another example of prevention being far better than treatment. Some people are just more sensitive to insulin, or the preservatives in insulin, than others, but wide site rotation usually is wisest.

SB
Additional comments from Brenda Hitchcock:

At this time, islet transplants are usually only for adults, primarily those with poor control and hypoglycemic unawareness. Also, there are a limited number of islets available for this procedure. For more information you can also search this web site for more information about islet transplants.

BH