Is cold insulin painful

[peggy0]

I've read that giving cold insulin is painful for your doggie and you should prepare the shot an hour before giving it to them? Is this true? My dog seems to whimper when I give him a shot. I'm not sure if its frustration or pain. He's not use to this whole diabetic life poor thing. :(

Any advice is appreciated.

[We Hope]

Peggy,

It's true about cold insulin stinging, but you don't need to necessarily prepare the shot an hour before giving it.

http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Insulin_use_tips

"Injecting cold from the refrigerator insulin can sting, regardless of what species, type or brand. Bringing the insulin to room temperature by removing it from the fridge before actually using it can help avoid painful injections. Warming the capped insulin syringe with your hands can have the same effect. Some people tuck the capped and filled syringe under their arm for a few minutes to warm it before use.

"Do NOT attempt to warm insulin using a stove, microwave, etc.; you may destroy the insulin by doing so."

You might want to take the vial out of the fridge an hour before you plan to draw from it, thus bringing it to room temperature.

One VERY important thing is that most are using an insulin which needs to be re-suspended before it's injected--otherwise you won't get the insulin to work properly if you don't.

http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Rolling_insulin

"Cloudy insulins must be rolled between the hands or gently rotated and inverted several times slowly, to evenly re-suspend the insulin particles in the liquid, before injection. Continue until the suspension looks uniformly milky or cloudy from end to end.

"If you don't roll a cloudy insulin, you will inject an incorrect concentration of the insulin, leading to unpredictable insulin action. Worse, if you repeatedly inject a poorly-resuspended insulin, the remainder of the vial or cartridge will change its concentration!

"Pre-filled syringes and insulin pens containing "cloudy" insulins also need to be rolled or re-suspended before injecting. Gently rolling the pre-filled syringe as is done with a vial will re-suspend it. The instructions with insulin pens and cartridges describe the technique for re-suspending before use.

"If you shake or drop the insulin, you can cause frothing, which will denature (physically damage) the fragile insulin molecules, and weaken the insulin, again leading to unpredictable insulin action.

"Shaking also creates many air bubbles which go into the syringe along with the insulin. They are harmful in the respect that when there's air in the syringe, the full unit dose of insulin isn't able to be drawn and injected."

Syringes should be used with the bevel side of the needle pointing upward:

http://k9diabetes.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1933&postcount=9

http://k9diabetes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124

The thread at the link above in our "Answers" section has a lot of helps in it about giving shots.

HTH!

Kathy

[Cara's Mom]

Hello Peggy,
Have been following the thread with interest. Your question about cold insulin was very timely! Normally I pay lots of attention to warming the insulin...this morning we were a little hurried...did not pay enough attention..and Cara sure let me know I screwed up:(:( So yes, cold insulin hurts:o:o.
A couple weeks ago we had lots of trouble with the shots..she yelled at me several times. Have now changed gauge size from 28 to 29(can only get those in the States!!) and watch closely that the bevel edge is up and have had no more complaints. I even mark the syringe:o so I do not turn the syringe prior to the shot.
So keep up the good work, you will get there! We did!!

[peggy0]

I'm so excited. Please don't laugh :) I held the syringe in my hand for a bit and then made sure the beveling was correct and victory!! He didn't even flinch. When I went to give him his treat, he thought I was going to give him a shot and turned to walk away!!!!!

Thanks so much for your help. I'm sooooooooooooooo glad I found you all.

Best!!

[k9diabetes]

Cool!!!

It usually doesn't take much to warm it up. We didn't give a lot of units so just sitting on the counter while we did other things was enough to take the chill off.

Chris used to get a bit impatient for the mini milkbone he got after each injection and he'd want me to hurry up and give him his shot so he could have it.

Natalie

[eyelostit]

Hi, when i feed i first take the insulin out of the fridge, then i feed, wait the 1/2 hour, by that time the insulin is at room temp.

Hope this helps, Good Job!!:)

[Ginny Dudek]

Starz knew when the insulin was cold and would give me a dirty look. I would roll the syringe between my fingers until the chill was gone. This did the trick, in a short amount of time.
Ginny

[peggy0]

I did exactly that this am and it worked like a charm :) Thanks all

[Ricksma]

I fill Ricky's syringe before he eats, and while he is eating, I hold it under my arm. When he is finished eating, it is nice and warm and ready to inject.

Love and hugs, Teresa and Ricky

[eyelostit]

At food time I take my bottle out of the frig and put it on my table, then i feed, when the 1/2 hr is up after food the insulin is at room temp.

Hope this helps.:)

[forloveofandy]

I fill the syringe immediately and put the vial right back in the fridge. I also put the syringe under my arm and by the time I walk to the bathroom and put him up in the sink it is warm.

I have been told you should not constantly warm and cool the entire vial as this can affect the stability of the insulin. Not sure if that is true or not.