# Can You Inject Your Own Buttocks?



## TheClockworkDodo (Dec 14, 2015)

Seriously - I'd like to give my legs and abdomen a rest occasionally, as I don't have much spare fat and they're always covered with bruises.

My DSN says it's impossible to inject your own buttocks though.  Does anyone know differently?  If so, how do you do it?!


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## Cofito (Dec 15, 2015)

Hi clockwork dodo 

All I know is my son can and has been doing it himself. It's probably not the easiest area to reach but then he finds it difficult to inject in his arms as he can't grab any flesh to pinch


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## Northerner (Dec 15, 2015)

She must have a very peculiar concept of anatomy if she thinks you can't inject your own buttocks - I've been doing it for 7 years! No need to pinch, and lots of 'real estate' available  So yes, of course you can! As Cofito says though, arms (the 'bingo wing' area) are difficult.

The only thing to be slightly aware of is that insulin absorption may be slightly slower from the buttocks.


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## KookyCat (Dec 15, 2015)

Well I can but I prefer not to, but then I'm hypermobile and super bendy so I might not be a good example.  It depends if you have a bit of saddle bag going, so if you're sat down your buttock sort of spreads to the side and you can grab and jab.  I can do this but I don't really have enough padding to make it comfortable so if using that area I stand and grab the upper part of the buttock to inject.  I use the pen at an angle parallel to my body (so going in from the side).  All that said I rarely use that area because its probably my least padded area and a bit of a twister.  From friend who has a much more splendid bottom uses it all the time, she utilises the saddle bag method


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## grovesy (Dec 15, 2015)

I would suspect it depends if you reach and twist enough.


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## Matt Cycle (Dec 15, 2015)

Have done it many years ago but it's too much arsing about now!


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## Robin (Dec 15, 2015)

I suspect it depends on technique. When I started out, I was given 8mm needles and told to pinch a bit of flab to inject into. This involves two hands, so wouldn't have been able to twist far enough to reach. Then I swapped to 4mm and no need to pinch, so doing it one handed shouldn't be a problem. I tend to try and reach as far round as I can, both in the leg/hip area and the waist, on the grounds that I need to save the accessible bits for when I'm older and less flexible.


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## Bloden (Dec 15, 2015)

I've never jabbed my bottom, but it sounds like fun! And twist, and pinch, and hold, and jab...Apidra aerobics.


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## everydayupsanddowns (Dec 15, 2015)

I never found the need to pinch since it's quite a fleshy area. I found injection pens with the button on the end easiest (hold with fingers, press down with thumb), but I mostly used it for Lantus via Autopen 24 which has a little slidey button on the side which was a little more tricky but very do-able. You don't need to be able to bend very much.


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## AJLang (Dec 15, 2015)

Ha ha I used to do this regularly until my arms started to stiffen...then I found that I'd got the needle but I was having difficulty in pressing the plunger in. I felt like a dartboard with a dart stuck in it


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## khskel (Dec 15, 2015)

I suspect there aren't too many forums where you could ask that question without being regarded as somewhat strange. not that there is anything wrong with strange.


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## DeusXM (Dec 15, 2015)

Maybe I'm missing something here...but the point of least accessibility in your rear area is surely the, er, exit point. So bluntly, if you can wipe your own bum, shouldn't you be able to reach your own buttocks? You don't actually have to have a full visual of the needle going in if you've a reasonable amount of injection experience. Just put your arm behind you and jab it in, surely? No bending or flexing required.


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## Northerner (Dec 15, 2015)

DeusXM said:


> Maybe I'm missing something here...but the point of least accessibility in your rear area is surely the, er, exit point. So bluntly, if you can wipe your own bum, shouldn't you be able to reach your own buttocks? You don't actually have to have a full visual of the needle going in if you've a reasonable amount of injection experience. Just put your arm behind you and jab it in, surely? No bending or flexing required.


Quite!


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## AJLang (Dec 15, 2015)

In my experience not right.  You only need one hand to wipe your bum but two hands for the injection - one to hold it in place - unless you want it dangling by the needle - and the other to push in the plunger.  If one of your arms is too stiff to hold the syringe/pen or push in the plunger you can't do it.  Been there and got the t-shirt.


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## Northerner (Dec 15, 2015)

AJLang said:


> In my experience not right.  You only need one hand to wipe your bum but two hands for the injection - one to hold it in place - unless you want it dangling by the needle - and the other to push in the plunger.  If one of your arms is too stiff to hold the syringe/pen or push in the plunger you can't do it.  Been there and got the t-shirt.


I jab it in and push the button with my thumb - only needs one hand.


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## AJLang (Dec 15, 2015)

You're braver than me


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## Northerner (Dec 15, 2015)

AJLang said:


> You're braver than me


Practice makes perfect  Also, one of the advantages of working from home, I use my tummy when out!


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## newbs (Dec 15, 2015)

I quite often inject my Tresiba in my buttocks.  Not the easiest of places but not that difficult either.  It makes a change from my thighs which I don't have much flesh on and gives another choice of where to stick it!


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## AlisonM (Dec 15, 2015)

Nope, I can't bend that way these days. I use my arms, thighs and round my navel, and there's plenty of me so I don't need to pinch.


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## TheClockworkDodo (Dec 15, 2015)

Thanks everyone for your replies, even though it was a serious question I have been giggling reading them! 



Robin said:


> I suspect it depends on technique. When I started out, I was given 8mm needles and told to pinch a bit of flab to inject into. This involves two hands, so wouldn't have been able to twist far enough to reach.



Robin has hit on the issue for me - I do use two hands because I have 8mm needles and I hold the flesh with one hand while injecting with the other, so I was thinking that it was a question of whether I could twist enough to get two hands behind me and see what I was doing (so I didn't inject my fingers)!

But I hold the pen like Alan and Mike, with one hand, and thumb on the plunger, so it sounds as though it would be possible for me in theory if I can find enough padded bits that I don't need to pinch!  No saddle bags, but I might be able to try Kooky's method.


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## Caroline (Dec 15, 2015)

Never tried, I'm not that flexible but when getting my insulin training I was told to use my tummy as a clock and change injection sites like that round my tummy button


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## trophywench (Dec 15, 2015)

Well after 43 years bodging holes in tummy and legs, neither absorbs well at all - well there's no actual fat on most of my thighs so no way could I use them even if it didn't hurt so much - it's a bloomin good job I had virgin buttocks, wasn't it?  I can even, not only get a cannula in - that's one handed too - but also attach/detach the tubing on the ones nearest the side.  Any others, my husband has to do for me.  I'd be in a right mess if he wasn't here.

I positively hate being THAT reliant on him for my life, frankly.


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## DeusXM (Dec 15, 2015)

I don't think I've ever done a two-handed injection before - I've certainly never needed a second hand to hold the pen in place and I'm not sure how the needle size would affect this. I just hold my pen like a biro that I'm going to click the top on. You probably don't need to pinch up when doing a buttshot because regardless of whether you're over, under or perfect weight, your buttocks are the first place you will store fat so unless you are currently in a famine zone, there should be enough there.

Also, you can theoretically inject through your clothes, so a buttshot can actually be one of the easiest to do.

Don't forget though to thoroughly rotate your sites - even if you're rotating like a clock around your bellybutton, you're still basically putting insulin and needle trauma in the same place, which will lead to developing a pad of fat that you simply cannot shift no matter how much weight you lose. Use as many different areas as you can.


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## TheClockworkDodo (Dec 15, 2015)

khskel said:


> I suspect there aren't too many forums where you could ask that question without being regarded as somewhat strange. not that there is anything wrong with strange.



Also probably not that many forums where one of the replies could mention "virgin buttocks" without getting modded! 

Jenny, I have been wondering about asking R to have a go at injecting my buttocks for me, but dexterity is not his strong point (well, it wouldn't be - he's left-handed) and though I've shown him how to do an injection in theory he's never tried in practice.  And usually when I'm injecting Novorapid he's organising the food and when I'm injecting Lantus he's fast asleep, so altogether awkward, and I'm leaving that option until I really need it.  Can understand why you hate relying on your OH for it, too.

The needle size is related to the need to pinch up, DeusXM - if you have 8mm needles and no spare fat, you really do need to pinch up (or not put the needle all the way in) because otherwise it's really painful.  Though as you say, the buttocks should theoretically be the area where this is least necessary, so it's certainly worth my trying there without the pinch, though I don't have a lot of spare fat there either.

I can always tell where I've injected for the past week or so because even where I don't have bruises I have needle marks, so it's relatively easy for me to rotate sites.


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## TheClockworkDodo (Dec 15, 2015)

R has just walked past and read the title of this thread.

"Of course you can inject your own buttocks", he said.  "All you have to do is put the needle upside-down on a chair and sit down".


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## Northerner (Dec 15, 2015)

Why not get some smaller needles?


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## TheClockworkDodo (Dec 15, 2015)

Unfortunately they don't make covered needles in a smaller size, and if I didn't have covered needles, R would have to do ALL my injections, or I'd faint every time I saw the needle getting near me ...


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## Northerner (Dec 15, 2015)

Ah, I understand Juliet  Do you use the BD Autoshield? It should also work for 5mm needles:http://www.bd.com/hypodermic/products/autoshield/


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## KookyCat (Dec 15, 2015)

What a bizarre and brilliant thread this is .  You should see my injection technique it'd make you laugh, defo requires both hands when you have hypermobile thumbs and a nerve damaged hand, it's quite the art I'll have you know, can't apply pressure with the thumb because it'll dislocate, have to use ring finger because he's less mobile, but he doesn't quite reach.  Plus someone needs to tell my backside she's supposed to have a high proportion of fat, she doesn't know and enjoys being practically convex .  I'm cultivating a small patch of fat at the side of my thigh though for emergency purposes.


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## TheClockworkDodo (Dec 15, 2015)

I did try the BD autoshield, Alan, I'd forgotten those, they gave me a few to take home and try out when I was in hospital.  But the ones I normally have are Novofine autocover and I like those better because they aren't as chunky - it was much harder to avoid veins with the BD autoshield.  Swings and roundabouts, I suppose.

R couldn't press the plunger with his thumb either, Kooky - not sure if that's the result of his having broken it years ago (it never quite recovered) or just that his fingers and thumbs are at a different angle from mine!  Are the hypermobile thumbs a result of HMS?  I have a couple of friends who have that as well as ME.  Always fun when you have to juggle multiple conditions ...


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## Matt Cycle (Dec 15, 2015)

Before pens in the days of syringes and vials it was a two handed task to load it up.  Vial upside down in one hand and syringe in the other using your thumb and fingers to extract the plunger.  No hiding from the needle either as they were on the large size compared to the miniscule pen needles we have now.  Not having many fleshy bits and with the larger needles I was told to pinch and have carried that practise on.


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## KookyCat (Dec 16, 2015)

TheClockworkDodo said:


> I did try the BD autoshield, Alan, I'd forgotten those, they gave me a few to take home and try out when I was in hospital.  But the ones I normally have are Novofine autocover and I like those better because they aren't as chunky - it was much harder to avoid veins with the BD autoshield.  Swings and roundabouts, I suppose.
> 
> R couldn't press the plunger with his thumb either, Kooky - not sure if that's the result of his having broken it years ago (it never quite recovered) or just that his fingers and thumbs are at a different angle from mine!  Are the hypermobile thumbs a result of HMS?  I have a couple of friends who have that as well as ME.  Always fun when you have to juggle multiple conditions ...



Yes I have EDS (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) or Hypermobility Syndrome as it used to be called and still is by most doctors, my rheumatologist insists on EDS and there's a type but I get it mixed up.  We're very prone to ME apparently although nobody knows why, we also do a nice line in autonomic dysfunction, wonky blood sugar (even without diabetes) and digestive disorders including fluctuating hyper digestion and delayed stomach emptying oh and generalised panic disorder.  We're a classy bunch though, I mean how many people can whip their leg over their head.  It makes me chuckle that I can contort myself into the most ridiculous positions but I can't push a plunger on a ruddy insulin pen, I've got extra muscle mass genetically for goodness sake and a pen defeats me.  Good job I've got a sense of humour!  Rheumatologist loves me, I'm his first genetic condition/delayed onset autoimmune patient, he practically rubs his little hands in glee when I rock up these days   You have to look on the bright side though, at least I'm making someone's week


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## Bloden (Dec 16, 2015)

KookyCat said:


> Yes I have EDS (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) or Hypermobility Syndrome as it used to be called and still is by most doctors, my rheumatologist insists on EDS and there's a type but I get it mixed up.  We're very prone to ME apparently although nobody knows why, we also do a nice line in autonomic dysfunction, wonky blood sugar (even without diabetes) and digestive disorders including fluctuating hyper digestion and delayed stomach emptying oh and generalised panic disorder.  We're a classy bunch though, I mean how many people can whip their leg over their head.  It makes me chuckle that I can contort myself into the most ridiculous positions but I can't push a plunger on a ruddy insulin pen, I've got extra muscle mass genetically for goodness sake and a pen defeats me.  Good job I've got a sense of humour!  Rheumatologist loves me, I'm his first genetic condition/delayed onset autoimmune patient, he practically rubs his little hands in glee when I rock up these days   You have to look on the bright side though, at least I'm making someone's week



LOL Kooky. I love the image of you with your leg over your shoulder in polite company... As my friend Carys (42 going on 92) would say: " you're a tonic".


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## TheClockworkDodo (Dec 16, 2015)

Good that you have a rheumatologist who's interested rather than a random dismissive consultant, which so many people seem to get, Kooky.  One of my friends was diagnosed with HMS, the other was told she had EDS and that it was a type of HMS, so I gather the nomenclature for that is as mixed up as it is for ME and CFS and everything in that spectrum of illnesses   Autonomic dysfunction is pretty much what ME is - brain can't communicate with autonomic nervous system properly so ANS goes haywire and bits of it stop working (or over-work) at random.  In the (almost complete) absence of NHS provision for ME I saw a private ANS specialist, who wanted to know whether I could touch my wrist with my thumb (among many other tests), so I presume he was checking I didn't have HMS/EDS as well (I can't and don't - I think he was quite surprised).  Digestive disorders are also a major feature of ME - my friend with ME and EDS has multiple food intolerances from the ME, and stretchy gut from the EDS which means she can't swallow either liquids or solids  (before anyone asks, the answer is thick soup and scrambled eggs).


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## TheClockworkDodo (Feb 11, 2016)

I've just been trawling through old threads looking for this - wanted to say, thanks again for all the advice, I am now injecting my buttocks regularly!  I am using Kooky's technique of standing up and twisting.

I have learned two things, which I will mention here in case anyone else is trying to work out how to do it. 
1) Do not inject too near hip bone - this will hurt.
2) At the risk of stating the obious, if you are using two hands, remember that the arm holding the pen is longer than the other arm, so to inject left buttock pinch with left hand and inject with right; to inject right buttock pinch with right hand and inject with left.


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## KookyCat (Feb 12, 2016)

I'm still laughing at virgin buttocks .  Glad you're having some success, another tip for buttock virgins is to exercise caution if you then do activity that works the buttock muscles vigorously (oh good grief I'm having a carry on moment).  I've found that if I inject in a buttock and then go walking it quickens the insulin, I'm assuming this is because I walk in hilly areas and have to use those muscles more, or its just Kooky weirdness


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## Robin (Feb 12, 2016)

Ive been twisting round as far as I can go with injection sites recently. It occurred to me I ought to save the readily accessible ones at the front for when I'm old and decrepit ( I mean, older and decrepiter).
Kooky, I find I drop low if I go for a walk wherever Ive injected, even into stomach flab I'm pretty sure I don't engage even with the hilliest bits.


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## TheClockworkDodo (Feb 12, 2016)

I've been trying to do one injection in each leg, one in abdomen, and one in a buttock each day, but you're right, Robin - perhaps I should do both buttocks now and leave abdomen for when I can't reach them.  Or for when I'm out - haven't yet got quite blase enough about being diabetic to drop my trousers in public.  I did use to know someone who did that, many years ago, before I was diabetic myself.  He was an engineer and had his own home-made insulin pump attached to his leg, which frequently required attention, so he'd just take his trousers down and deal with it, wherever he happened to be - often in the middle of a meal, with 20 or 30 other people there!


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## Northerner (Feb 12, 2016)

TheClockworkDodo said:


> I've been trying to do one injection in each leg, one in abdomen, and one in a buttock each day, but you're right, Robin - perhaps I should do both buttocks now and leave abdomen for when I can't reach them.  Or for when I'm out - haven't yet got quite blase enough about being diabetic to drop my trousers in public.  I did use to know someone who did that, many years ago, before I was diabetic myself.  He was an engineer and had his own home-made insulin pump attached to his leg, which frequently required attention, so he'd just take his trousers down and deal with it, wherever he happened to be - often in the middle of a meal, with 20 or 30 other people there!


A home made insulin pump?


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## novorapidboi26 (Feb 12, 2016)

TheClockworkDodo said:


> My DSN says it's impossible to inject your own buttocks though.  Does anyone know differently?  If so, how do you do it?!



impossible, how?

unless your quite big there is no reason why you cant do this,really.....


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## TheClockworkDodo (Feb 12, 2016)

Northerner said:


> A home made insulin pump?


Yep, back in 1987.  I think it monitored his bgl as well, not entirely sure - I didn't take in all the details at the time, not being diabetic then and being extremely squeamish.  But as I said, he was an engineer, and it was a prototype.


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