Where do you inject?

[Catherine50]

My nurse injects alternate arm, but can you inject for example your thigh?

[pvanderaa]

Yes. Upper outside quadrant.

I look in the mirror and do my buttocks as there is more muscle. Same upper outside quadrant.

Draw an imaginary cross on your thigh bisecting it in half top to bottom and side to side. Choose the section closest to you (upper) and the left on left leg or right on right leg (outside).

One trick I found is to hold a penny on the skin at your desired injection site for 10 seconds. This give you a feel for the muscle and deadens the site slightly.

You get a nice red ring on your skin where you can clean with alcohol swab and it provides a bullseye to aim for.

There are several YouTube videos on how to inject thigh, etc

The first time I injected I used two needles: one needle to draw up the liquid which hit the bottom of the vial and a second new one to inject just to be sure it was sharp. It went in very easily with no pain and no bleeding.

Now that I'm over the initial trepidation, I use the same needle for both. I place the needle in the circle and press slightly. If I hit a vessel near the surface of the skin it can hurt and I reposition the same needle elsewhere in the circle.

Once I'm happy with the location, I tell my muscle to relax, make sure it is not tense, shake the needle slightly and press home. For IM, push the needle in the whole way then inject the B12.

Bleeding may occur when the needle is removed. This happens if I hit a blood vessel. So have a clean tissue ready just in case. The blood takes a minute or two to stop flowing. I then clean up any residue with the alcohol swab. You may also notice localized bruising the next day which will go away in a week. (This should only be the size of the ring. Anything more, see your GP)

I don't use plasters but you may - the ring marks the spot for the plaster too.

So you need

1. clean new needle(s) and syringe,

2. alcohol swabs, (antiseptic alcohol and clean cotton swab). I used the prepackaged individual swap packets.

3. a clean work area to lay things down (don't let any part of the needle touch anything but the inside of the ampule or your skin when you inject).

4. ampules or vial of B12.

5. Tissue to clean up

6. (Plaster if desired)

7. Get a sharps container for the needle and broken ampule to dispose of properly. The syringe and the rest can go in the trash. Don't reuse the syringe.

Ensure you get all the air out of the needle and syringe before you inject. Tapping with finger works quite well to make a single bubble. with the needle pointing up draw a little air in to save any b12 in the needle, flick the syringe with you finger to form one bubble and then press the syringe plunger to eject all the air until a drop of b12 also comes out of the needle.

If you drop the syringe while doing this, which has happened, replace the needle and expel the air again.

Good luck. The first time is always the worst. Hope the lengthy message gets you more prepared and doesn't scare you off.

[Catherine50 in reply to pvanderaa]

Brilliant explanation

[fbirder]

When I decided I wanted to know how to self-inject, during my loading phase, I told the practise nurse. She showed me how she prepares the jab (using 2 needles) then gave the syringe to me, swabbed a bit of my thigh and told me to go for it.

The next time she had a student in with her, who wanted to watch. Unfortunately I didn't have my reading glasses, so I couldn't do the prep. For the final go I did the lot. Now I'm self-injecting once a week.

[clivealive Forum Support]

I've had B12 injections (by nurse) every four weeks for over 43 years and always in my left arm - unless she wants to take blood at the same time - then I let her use my right arm for the B12.

I'm just "getting used to them" at the age of 74