OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF INSULIN
How to cope with fear of insulin?
a. Insulin pens cause minimal pain perception due to their fine gauge needles.
b. Lesser pain perception increases a patient’s preference for the pen devices.
Don’t fear the injection pain. Try these tips for a pain-free experience:
- Relaxation skills and confidence are the two important ways to make injections less painful.
- Confidence develops over time with:
- Regular practice
- Using relaxation exercises
Use relaxation exercise
Use the relaxation exercise while doing feared activity and continue to practice until you reach fear level of 3 or less for each step.
- Sit on a comfortable chair and close your eyes.
- Take a slow, deep breath and hold for 3 seconds.
- Breathe out fully for a count of 5 seconds.
- Repeat this for two more breaths.
Open your eyes and you may notice subtle differences in your body and mind. - With practice, you will be able to notice a feeling of relaxation.