4MM / 6MM / 8MM Which Needles are the best to take Insulin?

Hi John. I am not thankfully injecting and I am Type 2 D. But surely your doctor or practice nurse or Diabetic nurse will have told you which needles to use and they would be on repeat prescription for you ready when you need them.As for keeping sugar levels good cut out sugar and use sweetners in drinks and baking Canderel is good, also cut down on high carb foods. If you buy ready made foods try to keep to 5% or less sugar in them. have regular meals and a healthy snack in between if you feel you need it. Hope this helps and best of luck. Sue

I suppose it depends on how much fat you have on you but they don't have to be very long.   One website says that as most people have skin thickness of less than 2.8mm then 4-5mm needles will reach the subcutaneous tissue which is where the insulin has to be. If insulin is injected with a longer needle (over 8 mm), the chance of injecting into intramuscular tissue is greater, although having said that I have a friend who is rather large and she uses 12mm needles!  You mustn't inject into the muscle or you risk having a bad hypo.  When  I first went onto insulin, 8 years after I was diagnosed in 1995, I was prescribed some 4mm needles and I don't know why but I was changed onto 5mm ones but they are perfectly adequate. 

As for sugar levels, even on insulin I am finding it hard to reach normal levels. I have a problem with my blood which might be the cause of levels being anything from 9 -22.   I was only injecting small amounts of insulin because I am so sensitive to it that I have a pen that gives half unit doses and while 5 units might fine 5.5 units would send my glucose down too low - eventually.  I say eventually because I am having to increase my insulin to cope with the high sugar levels but since using a Freestyle Libre sensor I realise how much the levels go up and down throughout the day and the insulin doesn't even start to work even when I have injected it half an hour before food, in fact, after I inject my sugar levels go UP. Thankfully I am seeing a diabetes specialist nurse this week and might get a few ideas on how to keep my sugar levels down.  Sugar levels can go up and down depending on lots of things, not just food.  Stress, heat, to much or too little exercise - it's a real balancing act and anyone who has diabetes and has "normal" levels most of the time is very lucky.