Self injection issue - thigh muscle spasm

[ktwing]

Hello,

I'm wondering if anyone else here has had this problem?

I've been self-injecting for over four years, and I still find injecting IM into my thighs really intimidating (so, sometimes I do SC in my belly, and my husband sometimes injects me IM in the hip).

Occasionally, even though the thigh muscle seems completely relaxed, when I've got the needle through the skin and in a bit, when it starts to try to go through the muscle there's a particularly nasty and strange type of pain, and if I try to go any further, the muscle just kind of spasms and pretty much throws the needle out!

It happened today in one thigh, and I thought, no, come on, you can do this and tried in the other thigh, and it did exactly the same - so that made me think that somehow it must partly be psychological, although the pain and spasm are real and extremely disconcerting, but maybe my anxiety about doing it is causing the muscle to not relax properly or something?

So yes, it would be great to hear if this has happened to anyone else, or any advice really, thank you 🙂

[wedgewood]

No it hasn’t happened to me in 9 years of injecting into the thigh .( Into the Vastus Lateralis muscle situated in the outer middle third of the thigh) Do you use a withdrawing needle before you use the injection needle, so preventing the injection needle from touching the glass ampoule and making it blunt.

Is the injection needle the finest - 26G ? Do you warm tbe ampoule before injecting ? You can use a numbing cream on the injection site .( obtainable on Amazon )

Sorry that I can’t be more helpful . .

[ktwing in reply to wedgewood]

Thanks wedgewood , yes, I always warm the ampoule, and use a different needle to withdraw. I've been using the orange 25G needles to inject, I thought that was the finest we could use for IM?

I do use the vastus lateralis in the outer middle third - for the last year or so I've been going in from the top, but towards the outside rather than from the side, after watching a video by an NHS GP on how to do the injection painlessly (which sometimes it can be!), but which I've since lost track of - and the nurse that first showed me how to self-inject used the top of the thigh too, but more centrally.

I think tzracer might be on to something below, that I might be going in too slowly. I am a terrible overthinker! Maybe I need to do some self-hypnosis.

I'm partly just worried in case I'm damaging nerves or anything.

[Orchard33]

All I can say is that I can't bring myself to inject into muscle. It's a step too far psychologically. I inject sub cutaneously and it works fine alongside an 8 weekly NHS shot and an 8 weekly private one.

[tzracer]

I have had it happen a number of times. I thought it might be because I was breaking the skin slowly (I have never been able to jab the needle in quickly). I though it may have been a nerve and like Wedgwood said I may have touched the bottom of the ampoule and bent the tip of the needle. I have had the needle go in painlessly only for the muscle to spazam as I injected the liquid, pulling the needle off at an angle. I have always found getting the ampoule to body temp helps too. Try different needle for drawing fluid as Westwood said. Or stick with SC if that suits. Hope that helps and keep going.

[ktwing in reply to tzracer]

Thanks tzracer , I think you might be onto something with the going in slowly, I already do use a different needle, so it should be sharp. It's reassuring that someone else has had this though. I guess I'm also always nervous that I'm not quite in the right place, as it's quite hard to really tell from videos or diagrams, and I'm always scared of damaging something!

[Cherylclaire Forum Support]

Yes, it has happened to me; over the years of frequent self-injecting, maybe a dozen times.

I really believe this is to do with not relaxing muscles sufficiently, although it feels like nerve pain. It does seem to happen when I'm in a rush.

When I feel a bit tense or rushed, I will tell myself out loud "..now relax more" - and then try. Strange having to argue with your own muscles -but this whole thing is strange !

[ktwing in reply to Cherylclaire]

thanks Cherylclaire it's kind of reassuring that this has happened to others - yes it's surprisingly difficult to fully relax the thigh muscles - and this might be worse now that I'm taking more exercise too! Maybe I should meditate right before 😅

[Cherylclaire Forum Support in reply to ktwing]

Even five years down the SI route, even when EOD, it has never become a natural part of my life's routines - always some apprehension. Really not like cleaning your teeth though, is it ?

At least I have stopped worrying about "what ifs" now - which could be a reduction in anxiety symptom. That helps.

I was quite inept, and having never been shown or taught how to self inject, I'm pretty certain that if there had been anything there you should not hit, I'd have hit it by now ! Sticking to outer middle third on either leg, sometimes left leg more difficult as right-handed, but as long as it gets there without pain, either leg will do me on the day.

Still here to tell the tale.

[WIZARD6787]

I am a sublingual guy now. When I first injected I had pain which went away as my neurological system healed. A sensitivity to pain thing. I then had times when my leg would spasm. My implicit self/implicit memory was aware that pain might be coming. That is my implicit self's job. I did no see it as a physiological issue.

I used routine to prepare. I kept all my injecting gear/supplies in a plastic tub. I did the injection in the same place each time. I made a detailed check list and checked each item off as I completed it. This eventually morphed into what pilots call flow. Same thing with putting things away. The same each time although if it was not the same I did not do the blame thing.

When doing the injection I would think of a dart motion and said out loud a little prick. I inhaled and injected on my out breath, which I also do in my golf down swing.

Over time my implicit self remembered it was unlikely to hurt and accepted it the few times it did. I found it helpful to swear loudly when I did have a spasm.

[ktwing in reply to WIZARD6787]

Thank you for these tips WIZARD6787 !