who never use alcohol before injection ?

knight191 · #1 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 04:20 AM

I'm inconvenience to use alcohol to clean my skin before injection. I'd like to know who never use alcohol and is there any infect?

I'm thin but before shot I think I pull my skin enough. Why I found a little bleeding after injection?

Thanks

Cormac_Doyle · #2 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 04:35 AM

I've been injecting insulin since September 1999 ... and I have *never* used alcohol wipes or similar.

I've also never had any infections.

Obviously, you have to make sure your hands are clean, the skin is clean and the needle is clean ... but assuming you shower regularly and you aren't actually rolling in mud or dripping sweat, you don't need to take any special steps to clean the injection site.

Gordonm · #3 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 05:03 AM

I never used it for 33 years and never had a problem. On the pump now so I do not use injections.

NoraWI · #4 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 06:02 AM

I agree with the previous comments... I have never used alcohol and have never had an infection. Of course, you do have to be clean and I always wash my hands before testing or handling injection materials.

The reason you sometimes see a bit of blood after injecting is that you must have hit an capillary when you inject. Capillaries are the tiniest of blood vessels that are close to the surface of the skin. Some people aspirate into the syringe before they inject insulin to see whether they are hitting a blood vessel. I don't. If there is no pain when I touch the point of the needle to my skin, then I go ahead with the injection. If I can feel the prick, then I move the needle sometimes as little as 1/8 of an inch (half a centimeter) and try again.

Erin · #5 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 07:18 AM

When I was dx I was actually told not to use alcohol on my skin!!

The doctor told me to use the alcohol to clean the tops of the insulin bottles. He said they were more likely to get dirty because the human body is self-cleaning, the plastic tops of insulin bottles are not. i.e. insulin bottles don't have an immune system.

I don't even use the alcohol on the bottles anymore, and no infections. Sometimes I hit a capillary and see a little blood, or get a bruise, but not often. It happens sometimes

lorkatz2004 · #6 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 07:31 AM

are we supposed to use alcohol to wipe across the lantus top or to use on our skin??

I am too new to injecting that I do not know........I just never thought about it and the nurse who was showing me how to do this never mentioned anything about using alcohol.

Cathy

RobiJo · #7 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knight191

I'm inconvenience to use alcohol to clean my skin before injection. I'd like to know who never use alcohol and is there any infect?

I'm thin but before shot I think I pull my skin enough. Why I found a little bleeding after injection?

Thanks

What's an alcohol swab???

Never and Never.

fgummett · #8 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 07:46 AM

In the hospital or clinic setting there are many more people... blood, fluids and open wounds etc... and the risk of cross-contamination is much higher than at home where it is just you and your family. Trust me... you already share all your family "bugs". As above, so long as you follow general hygiene recommendations (shower, wash hands etc...) you are very unlikely to infect yourself

jillrapp · #9 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 09:24 AM

I rub the top of the insulin bottle with a swab before pulling the meds to make sure I don't infect the bottle with anything. I want my insulin to stay good for as long as possible. Expensive stuff!

jcrome04 · #10 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 11:31 AM

Never used alcohol here. I've never had a problem. Doing it since I was 6.

notme · #11 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 12:54 PM

22 years of injections and I don't use alcohol and have not since the first month of injecting. Heck...I am one of those pigs that injects through clothes if I was busy. I should have some weird blood poisoning by now.

grace girl · #12 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 01:17 PM

While cleaning out the bathroom cabinet last week I found a few alcohol pads leftover from when I was first dx'ed...they were dried out.
I never use alcohol and i've never had a problem.

Jill-O · #13 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 01:28 PM

I don't use it.

Honestly, at first glance, I thought you meant the kind you drink... that's how much I don't even think of using an alcohol wipe before injecting.

viranth · #14 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 02:35 PM

I think the needles are sterilized, so unless you've been in sewage, you won't get an infection when injecting into your body.

owlyn · #15 (**permalink**) 08-15-2008, 03:00 PM

I never use alcohol. Well maybe a drink every now and then

I keep citing a study that was done in Great Britan maybe 20 years ago. I can't find the refernce to it any longer, but they took 400 diabetic and split them into 2 groups of 200. One group used alcohol pads, the other did not. There were two infections reported, both in the alcohol pad group.