Calling All Diabetics: Anyone have stubborn, pesky lumps at old injection sites they can't get rid of? Lumps that may reduce in size but still remain despite years of avoiding the injection site area(s)? I have three particularly stubborn lumps that I've had for over ten years. These lumps (fancy term: lipohypertrophy) are located on my left upper arm, right quadrant of my abdomen, and a small lump on a cheek ('nuf said).
Disclaimer: I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1989 and injected "Regular" and "Lente" insulin at least twice daily for many, many years.
While I am on an insulin pump, I tend to avoid the abdomen area for sites because of this reason. Diabetics who've been around for a while like me have likely dealt with this issue at one point or another. Lumps at various injection sites was a major problem with the older so called "impure" insulins, and while the problem improved quite a bit with the advent of "better" insulins over the years, it is not out of the question that such lumps may form, especially at sites the diabetic tends to "favor" or use most frequently.
Nowadays, a subtler manifestation lipohypertrophy is common. Instead of the stubborn lumps I'm dealing with, diabetics now tend to see a thickening of the skin around the area as opposed to the stubborn formation of lumps. While the lumps may not occur, there is often a very real change in the absorption rate of insulin at these sites, and that can have a very real impact on overall glucose control.
That said, it's something none of my endocrinologists or N.P.'s or diabetologists ever thought to comment on or even notice until I brought it up. This doesn't mean it's not important, just that docs may not always be on the alert as much as they should be.
Why Bad Lumps Happen to Good People
It's simple really. It isn't natural to inject ourselves with insulin multiple times a day for decades and decades, nor is it natural to receive insulin via an insulin pump. Tough skin, lumps, or lipohypertrophy occur because as diabetics we have to inject insulin day after day, and many diabetics tend to favor certain spots.
When I was a little girl, it was my right butt cheek because it was easy to reach (as a left-hander) and it didn't hurt quite as much as other spots. I avoided the abdomen for a long time, but once I embraced that area (rumored to be one of the least painful spots for injections), I soon developed a little bump there, too. And while I have more than enough meat on my bones, these lumps are markedly different.
Trouble is, in time the site loses some of its sensitivity, and therefore, when I'd inject in other areas, it'd feel even more painful, so I'd want to avoid injecting in those areas. Made sense to me, especially as a kid. Because of this, I kept injecting in the same favored spots over and over again, even though I was taught to use a little chart to map my site rotations. Diabetes hurts. When faced with an option of lessening the pain a bit, my kid brain (which couldn't see around corners) almost always chose the less painful option. The results? These lumps. Quite the souvenir.
