Lumps and bumps around insulin injection sites

It's called lipoatrophy. When you repeatedly inject insulin in the same areas you can get lipohypertrophy (abnormal accumulation of fat) or lipoatrophy (loss of fat tissue). I had huge indents in my legs a year into my diagnosis...the only thing that will help is time...your body needs time to heal. I think it probably took me 6 months to a year for the fat to reaccumulate.

I have been a diabetic all my life. Started using the insulin pump in 2000. I do the rotation every 3 days. My problem is not lumps but indentations(stomach, buttocks and thighs), this leaves no fat to put the infusion sets in. Any suggestions.

Naomi only refers to someone else. Want to know, from someone who knows, how do we get rid of the large lump from all the injections??

I've been using pumps for 12 years, and totally wasted my abdomen before being told about this issue. Now I avoid it completely, using my "love handles" on the side and back, my arms, on the outside down to about 4 inches above my elbow, and the inside of my thighs. I've had trouble with the outside of my thighs - sometimes ripping out the set when I pull my pants up. :-) I've found I can't use the fattest parts of my arms and thighs, as the insulin doesn't absorb very well. I have to find spots closer to the muscle tissue - just not too close!

I am a type 1 "Brittle" diabetic due to removal of my pancreas in November 2008. My readings go from low 50's to off the chart. I have been told I'm carb sensitive and insulin resistant. Sooo...what do I do? I do have a CGM, but it's rarely in sync with my actual reading. With being a Brittle diabetic...it alarms all the time, which gets on my nerves at times. Also....I am slim, very, very body fat, especially in the stomach area. I have used every inch that is available for a good spot for my infusion and CGM. I had a "Whipple" in 2008...hence the Type 1. Good sized "frown" scar and I can't get too close to that. Have tried outside my area but usually get "no delivery" alarms. Also, CGM many times will hit a vessel and bleed like crazy. Got any good ideas?

You would think with the advancement in therapies, there might be a solution to lipohypertrophy. Will Liposuction work? How about Ultrasound to disrupt the bumps? Are there any Laser technologies available?

Angela and Gary, thank you both for your comments and I’m sorry to hear that you sometimes have trouble with your infusion sets. I’ll have our HelpLine team reach out to you both to try to help.

I saw this article, and was curious....I only have used my stomach for past 15 years I have bruising and lots of scars but the hardening doesn't occur, just rotate on a larger scale....I have use almost every spot till my love handles reach my spin...it's better to have correct medication then have to waste equipment, and time.

Read these emails and thought I would make a comment. I have been on pump therapy for 28 1/2 years. I too have some of these issues, but they go away after a few days. I think the bleeding is caused when we hit a small capillary under the skin. Use a tissue to stop the bleeding, but if it continues a bandadi works just as well. amy best advice for everyone is find an Insulin Pump group that meets xregularly with a Diabetes Nurse Educator. Many of your problems will be answered by others who have found simple solutions. I live outside of the Chicgo area and the group meets at Elmhurst Hospital the first Tuesday of the month. We would love to see some new faces if you live close. We also have specialsits who come to tell us about the latest things related to pump therapy or our health. I change my sites every two days as I learned the insulin crystalizes in the tubing. Good luck with your therapy. I would like to have one month "off" when I didn't have to think about blood sugars and where my pump is located. I do not use the CGM at this time, but have been thinking more about it. Again, good luck.

Have had diabetes for 47 years, on the pump for 4 yrs. Have much scar tissue in abdomen so have moved to my sides & changed to a sure-T infusion set. Have Polymyalgia Rheumatica for 4 yrs & consequently due to pain , can't do it myself so my husband has to do it. Am running out of places there. Also have degenerative disc disease & just got a back brace which does not get along with the infusion sets. Any suggestions would be helpful.

if i used my bottom my bloods go very high if i used my thighs the same thing happens

I have been a type 1 diabetic since I was 17 mths old. I am now 20yrs old and have started noticing lumps n my abdomen area. I have been messaging them, dieting, exercising, etc, and can't seem to get rid of them. I sometimes hate my body, because my body frame is small but there's two big lumps on each side of my stomach. I been on web sites and still no one has an answer to my question, which is "How can I get rid of these lumps"?

I have juvenile diabetes. Diagnosed when I was 18 months old. I am now 21 years old and have been on the insulin pump since I was 8 years old. I try to rotate my insulin site as much as possible, but it always itches severely when I put the site in my arm or leg, so I have to stick to putting it in my stomach or bottom. I have had these very small bumps that almost look like goosebumps in the areas I put my site in. They do not itch and are not puss filled. However, I am very self conscious about them. I was wondering if they are related to an allergy to the infusion set, are simply scarred tissue, or what?

Can these lumps or bumps affect if you are pregnant? It is the first one I get and didnt know what it was so I panicked a bit but reading this helped a bit to clam down. Guess will discuss at my next dr visit.

Hello,

Ive been using the sure t infusion set for a while now. I got type 1 on my 5th birthday/Christmas and started the pump when I was around 13. I am 23 now so 10 years so far with it. I have a lot of issues with my sites including hard bumps, bruising, bleeding, and I struggle with rotation also. I used to use the quik set and put it in the abdomen and upper hip area and it worked pretty good but back around 2009 I had nothing but issues with the quik set. The tape used to stick to the inserter and I kept stabbing it over and over until it would work. I am sort of anal with getting my sets in perfect so if it was not laying flat of whatever the case I would tear it out and start over. After a while I was done with the quick set. I tried all different sets after that. The mio, silhouette, sure t, everything you can possibly think of. u went with the silohuette for a little while but the length of the needle scared the crap out of me and it took an hour for me to just insert the thing. Then I went with the mio. Wasnt bad, kind of like the quick set but the inserter was much wider than the quick set so that swayed me away from it. So I wound up with the sure t next. I was very apprehensive about a needle in my skin 24/7 but I started using it and kind of liked it. Better absorption, great readings, I couldnt go wrong. But now after all the stabbing and everything, my skins a mess. Rotating at this point is hard. My upper hip doesnt work well with the sure t so I just go with my abdomen. My hip sent me to the er once bc I could not get the set out of my skin, that was fun. So now I stick with the abdomen and keep moving it around. I get 24 boxes a month because of how bad my skin is. I fought my doctor because I kept running out constantly and I have learned to realize this is never going away. Ive been to dermatologists and they simply tell me heres a cream you just got to deal with it, take it one day at a time. Stay strong!

Hi, I've been Type I for 40 years (I'm 55) and on a pump since 2007. I have large pin cushion size lumps on both of my thighs becasue this is the easiest place to place the pump. I have to wear large pants than I normally would because of them. I'm pretty sure that my insulin absorbion rate is getting worse becasue of them, soooo I have to give myself more insulin and the pin cushions get larger ... it's a vicious circle. Can someone comment as to whether or not liposuction or laserliposuction is a real alternative to reducing these? I saw my doctor yesterday and he really had no answer except to 'rotate' my sites. Looking for some help here.

My 9 year old daughter has had Type 1 diabetes for 3 years. At this time, she cannot have a pump, she uses both fast-acting and long-acting insulins. The only sites we can use for her long-acting insulin are her outer thighs and upper left arm (her belly and right arm are used for fast-acting insulin and the sites can't be mixed). Both outer thighs are hard and swollen, hot to touch, and really irritate her. Her pediatrician, endocrinologist, and diabetes case manager said there's nothing that can be done, there's no other area to rotate out to. My poor child already has this horrible disease...I don't know what to do, any suggestions at all, does anybody else have information that the doc's out here don't know?

The advice to rotate is not helpful. When I was a kid I rotated between my arms, legs, butt, and stomach. I got lumps everywhere and honestly, there are only so many places to hit without hitting muscle if you're thinner. I got an insulin pump fifteen years ago. I rotate every four days or so switching sides and moving it around mostly the love handle area (again, I can't move it too many places because I don't have a ton of body fat and it really hurts when I inject into muscle). I can't put the pump in my arms or back or butt or legs because I'm also an athlete and having the pump in those locations doesn't work. So I'm stuck with big love handle ridges even though I have next to no fat on the rest of my body. It's really frustrating. And quite embarrassing. I won't wear a lot of nicer looking but tighter clothing because of these ridges. If I do, I try to wear men's boxer briefs that have a large, wide band (than any sort of women's underwear does) so that I can pull that up to compress the ridges (it also doesn't slip out of place and down as do women's boy shorts). That works okay ... it's sad to have to do this, but better than having them stick out like I've got rolls when my body fat is actually pretty low for a woman.

I've been using a pump for a few months and the results have been very inconsistent. I switch my sites every three days and always rotate areas. I was told by my healthcare provider that I should focus on the abdomen because of my build. However, insulin absorption seems to be hit or miss. Any thoughts?

Congress did not approve the CGM bills presented last year.
There is a great need to have Preventive medical care for many diabetics on
Medicare.
There are many people like me who are NOT benefiting from the CGM system because
Medicare will not and has not made a decision to cover the continuous glucose
monitoring system in nearly two years.
My endocrinologist has prescribed the CGM to warn me of these occurences. Even
with the endocrinologist's letter that states the CGM is a medically necessary, there has
been no reply.
The CGM system is expensive however, it’s annual cost is low when measured
against the cost of one ER or hospital stay due to a serious low and or high blood glucose event.
There is an urgent need to have Preventive medical care like the CGM system
approved for insurance coverage now.
What can be done to push CGM legislation forward for Congress to approve this
vital technology.
How long must we continue to wait for approva?
Thank You for all you are doing.
Roy Taylor

I have had type 1 diabetes since I was 18 been on pump therapy since I was 26 now 37 overall much better control on the pump compared to shots but have issues with leaking, no rhyme or reason to it am very diligent about site rotation but can b very frustrating when it happens and apparently no real answers find myself constantly checking site now almost every time I give bolus to try to catch early if it is leaking

I have major bumps next to my belly buttons on both size. I'm not sure how to get rid of the bumps; do I need to exercise only or is there anything else.

I ve been on insulin injection for over two yrs nw.i administer d injection on my thighs but ryt nw all d sites are swollen ad red. Wit alot of black spot which re really annoying. Is dere anyfin i can do to get rid of all dis marks on my thighs tnx

where exactly do you put the injection in your leg and what part of your stomach....I get bruises from the needles is this normal?

I have been on the pump since march of 2016. When I first went on the pump, I had no issues with the therapy, however as time went on I started to get bumps, redness, and pain at the sites of the cannula. One was so bad that my whole lower abdomen was red and painful. I went to my doctor and she said that this problem is due to the injection of insulin and that I need to rotate sites more often. I do rotate my sites on every change out without success. I now know that I cannot use my abdomen or thigh for my sites of injection any more due to the lumps. I will try using the love handles and buttocks for the change outs. I did find something that worked on my last two change outs to a certain degree, after removing the cannula at change out, massage the site with an alcohol swab in a hard circular motion. I did this on my abdomen, no lumps formed during those change outs to my surprise. At least this worked for me. But, I will still use other sites since my abdomen is still lumped up.

My name is Dennis. I have been taking insulin pens for about six months and have lipohypertherapy over 70% of my abdomen. I am running out of areas to inject. I stopped taking my blood thinner on 1/15/17 and it has helped a little but the areas do not go away even with arnica and if I inject in an area that is already bruised the pain is worse than a normal injection. i do not want to stop my blood thinners. How can I keep from bruising and how can I erase these bruises? Some are 3 months old and unfazed by arnica

Hi, I have a question for anyone who can answer it. I have been a diabetic for over 20 years now and for the past year now I have been on the pump. Which is great and a big improvement on the levels. My question is: what other locations can I use for my infusion set bc the areas I use are my bully and legs and that is it. I did hear you could use your arms but not sure now that would go. Feels like I would lose range of motion there with the hose. I also heard you use your butt, but not sure of the area on where. Wouldn't want to sit on it, I don't think that would be comfortable. Thanks for any information

why is it when i do my shot in the stomach area it swells and get real red and burns, but when i do it in my thigh I do not get that reaction.

Hi, I've been a type 2 diabetic since 1998. Recently the doc changed my diagnosis to type 1.5 and I was able to get a pump. I started out with the standard Quick-set, but because of all the scar tissue I was having a lot of failures. I just recently changed to the Sure-T set and I'm getting much better results, however just after the last site change I noticed a bruise at the site of the insertion and again at the anchor point. Both were the size of the sticky pad. Three two days later the anchor point is fading, but the insertion site is now huge. I am due to change again today. My rotation would take me back to the bruised area. I'm new to the pump and haven't tied the arm yet, but today I'll probably go there.
My question is, you say to rotate, but what is an acceptable amount of time before you can safely come back to an area? I know I probable couldn't hit the exact site again if I tried, I'm talking about the general area, maybe to 2-3 inch area.

Is there a.way to make these lumps/bumps go away?