trying my best to inject

[Justified]

PLucked up the courage to try. Got everything ready.Broke vial and tried to draw up. It was making sooking up noises, needle scraping vial and I drew up too far :(. Lots of air so lost all the B12. I'm shaking like a leaf now cos I'm losing confidence again. If you change needles after drawing up do you do it as soon as you draw up before getting any air bubbles out ? sorry for being such a pain but I am soo tired and fuggy and nervous lol

[BigCatFreak]

Hey Justified you can do it! 👍 Since you don't have an answer yet I will try to help you. Change the needle before you get the air bubbles out. Face the needle up & give the syringe a few good flicks with your finger & push out the air slowly. Tell yourself you really need this & get that 1st one under your belt...you will be good. I know you can do it! Good luck!

[Justified in reply to BigCatFreak]

BigCatFreak Oh I really need this. Another wasted day in my life.I am hardly functioning and shooting nerve pains in my feet & hands along with so many other symptoms. . Thank you for your encouragement

[BigCatFreak in reply to Justified]

We all need encouragement & you will get plenty here. So much great advice & best of all people who understand what you are going through & will listen when you want to talk. Best wishes to you 🌹

[pvanderaa]

When you draw up the b12 you will get air bubbles. After taking the needle from the vial, point the needle upwards. Take in a bit more air to clear any B12 from the needle and base.

If you want the change the needle for a fresh one, do it at this point (no pun intended ). Replace the needle guard and twist off the needle. Keep the syringe pointing up so you don't lose any B12. Attach a new needle with a twisting motion and remove its guard.

Flick the syringe with you finger to get all bubbles to form into one.

Press the plunger of the syringe to expel all the air until a drop of B12 appears at the needle tip.

Check the sides of the syringe one last time to ensure there are no bubbles sticking to the sides.

Draw air back in if there are any air bubbles and repeat the flicking with the finger on the syringe. Then expel the air again.

Replace the guard if desired while you prep your injection site.

I use a penny and press it on the injection site for the count of 10. This leaves a nice ring on the skin to aim for.

Clean the skin at the injection site with alcohol.

Remove the guard, place the tip of the needle at the injection site and press gently. If pain is felt, there is a high probability of a blood vessel, so reposition in the ring and press again. You don't want to inject into a blood vessel.

Gently and firmly Press the needle all the way into the muscle. There is no need for anything quick. If you hit a nerve, you may get a momentary twinge.

Press the plunger of the syringe to inject all the B12 into the muscle.

Withdraw the needle and replace the needle guard and dispose of the needle in a biowaste container. (Heavy plastic bottle works to)

The syringe (without the needle) and vial can be put into the bin/trash.

I watched several YouTube videos before I attempted my first injection.

I also had the surgery nurse show me how to do it.

Good luck.

[Justified in reply to pvanderaa]

What fantastically detailed instructions. I will try again tomorrow.... I need to x

[pvanderaa in reply to Justified]

Start a logbook of your symptoms. Treat the injection as day one and restart each time.

You will see new symptoms from the jab. These repeat over several days each time.

By knowing which ones come from the jab you can relax and destress and this helps the B12 last longer.

[Marymary7 in reply to pvanderaa]

Great description and instructions, thanks pvanderaa

😀

[toby57 in reply to pvanderaa]

Fab tip re the penny and to try again if it hurts. Hitting a vein. Really helpful advice. Some time it's easy and so long as I go very slow it's fine. Sometimes I have a bruise left and it stings more.

[Justified in reply to pvanderaa]

pvanderaa I did everything step by step as you suggested except I marked area with nail indent instead of penny. It went so smoothly and as you said,slowly pushing needle in, was so easy. Taking time at each step is the answer for sure & I could almost hear you say "slow down" when I would get nervous. Your instructions are amazing & would help so many other scared first timers. Thank you so much for making the time to do this for me.

[fbirder]

I mark the injection site by pressing my thumbnail into the skin twice, leaving two crescent marks about 2 mm apart, then I wipe with the swab, giving the alcohol time to evaporate (otherwise it can hurt more).

I use a 2 ml syringe for a 1 ml injection. I suck up lots of air when drawing up the solution, making sure every last drop goes up (like a kid getting the last bit out of a drink with a straw). I then put the needle guard back on, point the needle upwards and flick the syringe a couple of times to remove bubbles. Then I push the plunger until all the air is out of the syringe.

Then I remove the needle and put the fresh one on. I don't bother expelling the air in the needle. Such a tiny amount would not be harmful, even if injected in a vein. Plus, having a drip on the end can make the injection more painful.

Then I stick the needle into the skin between the two crescent marks and slowly push the needle all the way into the muscle. I don't bother pulling back to see if it's in a vein because my nurse doesn't. There are very few large blood vessels in the large muscles (slice open a piece of pork (just thought - sliced ham is better) and look for large veins) and even if you were to inject straight into a vein it would do no harm (Martyn Hooper used to get B12 infusions straight into a vein).

The crescent marks also tell me where to put the plaster afterwards. Sometimes a small drop of blood will bubble up, often taking quite a while. I'd rather it mark the plaster than my trousers. This shows that the needle hasn't passed through anything bigger than a capillary on the way through.

[Marymary7 in reply to fbirder]

Brilliant thanks, more help! I have to do this for my brother. 😀

[Justified in reply to fbirder]

fbirder just taking the time to thank you personally for your instructions and encouragement. You have helped me so much at various times on here. I really can't hank you enough. Having managed to do my own injection I can now take matters into my own hands literally and not have to beg to my doctor who says her hands are tied by guidelines which she hasn't read enough into. I now hopefully can stop worrying about my condition getting worse when the answer is out there but denied to me .

[BlueHorizonMedicals]

If you've broken the vial you're past the worst! I was terrible at breaking ampoules in my nursing days, always afraid to get glass embedded in my fingers. Such a wuss compared to my more experienced and delicate colleagues!

Some great advice above, one thing to add, when flicking, use your nail. ☺

[fbirder in reply to BlueHorizonMedicals]

Forgot this bit.

I use one of these - sepha.com/en/products/view/... - to open the vial. It includes a scorer for vials that don't open easily.

[Justified in reply to BlueHorizonMedicals]

BlueHorizonMedicals ...Thanks....I did it, so it wasn't only me that was terrified of breaking these things open. I used a towel round the vial and that helped

[Marz]

After more than three years of weekly B12 injections by ex-nurse yoga pals and various Pharmacists here in Greece I eventually found the courage to do my own yesterday. It took me quite sometime to summon the courage - I looked at a video of pictures only on the internet - sat on my bed and off I went. No bleeding and very little pain in the thigh on insertion.

I was so pleased with myself, I even sent an e-mail to a friend here who also self-injects and was thinking of her whilst I hesitated. If she can do it so can I - I thought

I think it is the thought of it all rather than the deed. You will feel a great sense of achievement once you have done it - and also a feeling of freedom and of being in control of your own well being .....

Wishing you success.

[Justified in reply to Marz]

Marz .....I did it and like you say I am so chuffed.the sense of freedom is such a relief

[Marz in reply to Justified]

Great news !

[pvanderaa in reply to Justified]

Well done.

[Hidden]

I too was shaking like a leaf on my first one. I've found it helps to lay everything out on a plate with a clean tissue on it.

Use wipe on site where you want to inject. It'll dry while you're doing following.

Take the 2 needles and syringe from their wrappers.

Pump the syringe a few times to make it slide more easily.

Fit the first needle.

Flick the ampoule to make sure there's no liquid in the neck. Snap it off.

Then draw up, don't worry about the noise or scraping the needle.

Discard ampoule and first needle. Insert second needle.

Then holding upright push the air out until you see pink liquid in the little reservoir at base of the needle.

Pull skin tight between finger and thumb ( pulling away from each other)

Then push needle through skin. You won't feel the needle go any deeper so push in further then slowly push liquid in. Take your time. Don't try to push it all in immediately. There's an initial sting but that's all.

You can do it and it does get easier. Just don't rush to get it over with!

[Justified in reply to Hidden]

Hidden once again,fantastic instructions enabled me to lose my fear and just go for it knowing I have all the knowledge required to confidently inject myself without doing any damage through lack of knowledge. It turned out to be a dream....no pain at all and no qualms about doing my next one. I can't believe people like yourself have taken the time to write to me,especially in such detail. Apart from feeling fantastic that I now can take control over my own medication I feel humbled and grateful for your help

[Hidden]

No problem. It was only the advice and support from people here that has helped me to feel almost completely well again. My GP is totally disinterested, fobs me off with anything rather than look into things, and without this forum I'd be mostly in bed feeling cr** and unable to do all but the most basic things.