position of b12 injections

[jillc39]

When the nurse gives me my injection of B12 in my upper arm I almost cry with the pain. However, now I have a bad leg, a community nurse came and injected me in my leg. Hey presto it didnt hurt nearly so much. I would love to hear from others their experience of where to inject.

[Nackapan]

My daughter initially had them in her leg. Noe at the surgery in her upper arm.

She preferred leg. As not too often she just gets what's given. Some hurt more than others as we know.

I prefer SC at home . Due an IM one soon. Might leave it until well enough to go. Thses whars so good having it at home. I have a choice.

[cocoa in reply to Nackapan]

My experience is that it depends who gives the injection.

I have only ever had upper arm injections but there are a couple of times when it has been really painful.

[Nackapan in reply to cocoa]

Yes I also found that recently with a new phlebotomist. It hurt. Also got very bruised. Come back old HCA!

[SouthSounder]

I inject mid thigh, IM, alternating sides. I use 25G 1" needles. I find the injections are virtually pain free, UNLESS I don't make sure the alcohol has fully evaporated before jabbing. Then it can really sting.

[wedgewood]

Perhaps the surgery uses coarse needles. They might use coarse needles because it’s then quicker to inject . A fine needle can be used with B12 as it is water-based , not oil. At least a 25G needle should be used , as someone has mentioned .

[Widmerpool]

My husband was diagnosed about 25 years ago and has always had his injections in his bottom. They have always pain free.

[Hidden]

I was diagnosed while living in India and had them in my bottom. The nurses were surprised when I told them they are administered in the arm in the UK. "Must be very painful" was their comment. I SI into my thigh.

[jillc39]

grateful to receive these replies. anybody know why it can be so painful at times?

Having it in my leg last time didnt leave any lasting pain like it does when they use my upper arm. One nurse told me she wasnt trained to do it anywhere but my arm. Love some replies advising me what I could have said to her? Two seconds later I was in tears from the pain in my arm.

[Showgem in reply to jillc39]

Some nursing assistants haven't been trained to do injections in the thigh so it was right, she wouldn't have been allowed to do them.

Sometimes when the nurse does them it hurts, sometimes it doesn't although some are more heavy handed than others and inject too fast, then it stings.

[Christine48]

Hi Jill, I have mine in the buttock and barely feel a thing. Had it done like this in Spain and now ask nurse at my surgery to do the same. Huge difference.

[Cherylclaire Forum Support]

When I had NHS injections, they always did them in my arm, alternating, and from behind. Never hurt. The trouble was for the first 10 months I never felt a thing- at all. Had to ask if they were finished. First felt anything on 23rd December; it didn't hurt but I knew that I'd been injected: felt like a Christmas present !

I had at one point 2 injections a week at the surgery. This went on for about 6 months, and could have been any one of 4 nurses - none of them ever hurt me, and only one injection ever drew blood beyond a dot on the plaster.

When I eventually started self-injecting (in thigh), I wasn't very good at it. I got a lot of advice here which helped me. wedgewood could well be right- that the needle is too coarse.

Otherwise it could be any of the following:

The needle used to draw up B12 from phial should not then be used to inject: these needles are easily blunted and usually the longer coarser needle is used for this, a finer one for injecting - a scrape on the glass of the phial is enough to blunt needle tip. But I can't imagine that a nurse would not know this !

If using alcohol wipes, allow it to dry on skin: stings on needle entering otherwise.

The other reason for stinging is if there is still a droplet of B12 at the tip of the needle when injecting. You need to ensure that all the air is out of the syringe but can flick the syringe to remove droplet or (carefully) draw it back in without air entering.

If you keep B12 in the fridge, allow it to warm up first. It doesn't take long. The reason is that the liquid is very much thicker and obviously colder if you don't. I'm guessing that this is part of the problem, since the pain is a couple of seconds after your injection.

Once the needle is in, injection by depressing plunger very slowly and smoothly hurts a lot less. This could also be part of your problem.

It is hard to see what the nurse is doing when they are behind you, so you might need to ask specific questions to discover where the problem lies. You shouldn't have to endure such pain - there must be a reason for it. I hope this helps you.