Coping with fear of needles

  • Start practicing when you are at home, or in another place where you feel safe and comfortable
  • Just hold the insulin syringe or pen in your hand until you don’t feel any anxiety. If you feel anxious when holding the syringe or pen, you can also start by putting it on the table, in front of you and just look at it. Look at it, until you don’t feel anxious anymore. And then proceed with the ‘holding’ step.
  • Practice drawing up the correct dosage of insulin until you no longer experience fear
  • Act ‘’as if’’ you are going to inject, without actually doing so
  • Inject (perhaps into the stomach area first as many people find it less painful as there are few nerve endings there )
  • If you want to try to inject in other parts of the body (not necessary), you can now start to try to inject in your thigh or buttock
  • Continue practicing at other places, a friend’s house, work, a restaurant, in the train