Yesterday I did my first IM injection into the thigh following a video by a UK GP. It hurt much less than the one I had done in the arm at a clinic 2 weeks ago (to check no allergic reaction) so I thought great, this is the way to go, barely felt it go in, hurrah!
BUT, after 30 minutes or so, I started to get a dull ache in my thigh muscle which proceeded to get more intense as the day went on. Once I got into bed (10 hours post injection) it was aching enough to keep me awake for another 2 hours.
Then, at 5am, I was woken by intense stomach pain, sharp stabbing, coming in waves right from oesophagus to large intestine. It reminded me of when I've had gastritis. Eventually it passed after about 1/2 an hour.
1. Could this stomach pain be caused by the B12 - anyone ever heard of this or experienced it? I have been taking high dose iron as was severely deficient but this has not caused me any gastro effects apart from mild constipation alleviated by Vit C.
2. Is this normal for IM injected muscles to go on aching for so long? Not sure I can take this reaction every other day.
3. Might SC be less painful as you are not disrupting muscle fibres? I do have very tight muscles all over my body.
Thank you lovely people.😊
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Bertiepuss
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Congratulations on first SI, it can be daunting. Okay, so people forget that injections are a very minor invasive procedure. You are introducing something into a muscle. It is not a big fan to start, the body says Hey I do not like this but it is done.
Now signs of redness, swelling or bruising means practicing technique. Lots of people have never done this before but how do you think doctors and nurses practice ?
What is common is the muscle is not relaxed enough. So lying on a sofa, then wiggle your toes, some nice deep breathing to relax and wobble your thigh to tell it to relax even further.
Many of us have low vitamin B12 levels and the loading doses can wake our whole nervous system up as it gets ‘flooded’. We might get more pain, static, pins and needles, burning, our gastrointestinal tract can go into ‘overdrive’. We can have diahorrea or our bladder can tell us we need to urinate every 10 minutes.
Nerves are healing. Think of being a child and you have fallen over and grazed your knee. It starts to scab over and it gets to a stage where it is really itchy. This is what is happening but to your nerves. Now the Enteric Nervous System is the gastrointestinal tract’s Nervous System. So have a brief read via Google. A tiny bit of knowledge on anatomy will help you understand your individual signs and symptoms.
Subcutaneous injection is something I do, for ease and comfort.
Medical students, student nurses, student midwives practice in the classroom. Then on each other. Often I would say to the students I mentored, Right come on, take my blood, I have good veins and you cannot hurt me, I have tattoos and piercings. Their anxiety would soon dissipate as I gently instructed on equipment to hand, how to feel for a vein, angle of needle, piercing of skin, collecting blood, changing bottle and removing tourniquet. Congratulations were in order, regardless of how it went and I would remind them to breathe. Lots of people hold their breath so they are less oxygenated.
You my lovely have Iron Deficiency Anaemia, sub-thyroid disease and bordering on osteoporosis that is really is quite a lot, lovely.
I think I was fairly relaxed, I prefer doing unpleasant things to myself than having others do it to me...a control thing! But as you say, practice makes perfect. I did fiddle with the needle a bit as it went in as I didn't stick it in far enough first so had to then push it in further, all not in one nice smooth movement. Then once in, ended up wobbling it about a bit as I couldn't manage to depress the plunger with the same hand for some reason. All that fidgeting might not have helped, I suspect I must have tensed up at some point with the needle in my leg.
I will try again, but would also like to try SC to see the difference. Do you think it would be ok to use my 1 inch 25g needle if I only push it in half way or should I buy a 1/2 inch 30g needle to be on the safe side? I'm reasonably slim but do have fairly nice tummy roll to pinch!
Yes, I totally understand the ‘want to do it myself.’ You can press plunger at own speed. It can be a bit fingers and thumbs to start. Plus, mild hand tremors can be a symptom of B12D. You are simply doing your best.
I recommend using a different needle. I use orange 25g 5/8 inch 16 mm. It is finer and shorter. Worth watching another video.
The flooding body and worsening symptoms can be called the reversing out process. These were mine - day after 5 th injection rudely awoken as it felt like bees were stinging my mouth. Day after 11th someone had smashed a TV on my head - so much static. I mostly lay in bed, trying to tune my brain into the comedy TV channel Dave. 🤪
Thanks Nackapan ☺️Do you find the subcutaneous one hurts less afterwards? I don't mind a sting at the time, can tolerate quite a bit of pain if it's short lived. Many hours of an aching muscle seems worse for me and I wondered if subcutaneous avoids that?
Sub-cutaneous, worst case is bruising if I hit a blood vessel but nothing after that. No sting or burning as I warm the phial and inject as slowly as possible then wait 10 secs before I remove the needle. I tried in to the thigh and it sent me into orbit, with pains down my leg and into my hip, so back to my pink polka dot tum it is!
Thanks Wwwdot, good to know it's not just me! Yep, pains down leg and up into the hip too. Interesting that so many people do find this area ok though. Will try the spare tyre next with a smaller needle! 😀
Do you ever inject subcutaneously into your thigh muscle to give the tummy a rest?
Yes only twice that was the orbit journey! I don’t think I have as much fat in my thigh.
I am currently SI sub-cutaneous in my tum 4 times a day and I haven’t run out of space. It heels fast now I take more B12 and I have no plans to wear a bikini soon so the “battle scars” are for my eyes only! I use a 13mm 27g needle.
I had a shoulder injury from falling over backwards and crashing it on the ice playing hockey. My physio tried dry needling. It caused me to wake up at night with very sharp pain. After the second time, I stopped having those needles. My husband injects my B12 into my arm. Do you have someone who could do that for you? My quads are very tense too from playing ice hockey several times per week.
Yes, dry needling caused me muscle spasms in my neck, gave that one a miss after 3 goes. I think I have very tight tense muscles all over my body. My upper back is like a bag of stones in a horsehair mattress!
I do have an obliging husband but as he's at work a lot of the time I wanted to be able to do this myself. The idea of sticking my own arm makes me feel a little queasy! Do you find your arm reacts ok, without lasting muscle aches?
I sometimes get aching in my thigh after injecting into the muscle, usually if it's been referred up or I've not been smooth with the needle. I find the best place is the gluteal muscle, but you need someone trained to do that for you otherwise they can prang a nerve!The only thing for certain, it hurts less to do it yourself because you can pause when it starts to sting. I also divide my thigh into 3 areas, and alternate sides for each injection (so 6 different sites means any one place won't get another injection for 12 days) and keep a written record of when and where I've injected. My memory is still pretty hopeless!
Thanks Sailinglady, good to hear what you find works. I wasn't smooth with the needle, maybe that was part of the problem. Not got anyone to show me into the glutes so won't risk that. Do you keep the 3 sites on each leg on the outer side?
Injection technique is really important and it does take practice and a steady hand. It will hurt more if muscles are tense, this happens to me more now as mine have become very tight and painful through my illness.
If you look through the pinned posts, there's one about IM injection technique from Nursing Times. That and either videos, or a very helpful nurse teaching and then supervising you, will help a lot.
Thank you, I've just read the pinned post. It said there is no need aspirate the needle. I did, and that's when more of the wobbling about happened, probably not so great for my muscle. The video I watched said to aspirate so that's what I attempted (badly) to do. I have tight sore muscles too, totally empathise.
The diagrams on the PDF also helped me a lot. Visual info always useful. It's hurt more if I've not inserted needle swiftly and smoothly or if skin not stretched enough.
Right, that makes sense, thank you. I also didn't stretch the skin, my mistake, it's a learning curve! Thanks again for your help, it's much appreciated 😊
I started self injecting myself a week ago and I do it as soon as I get up. That way I’m relaxed and quick so I can get ready for work. I find it hurts less than someone else doing it but I am bruising so I need to work on that. I do it in my thigh.
2011 was when I started b12 injections and my arm was so sore afterwards…for months, but I was really sick back then.
IM injections are nerve wracking at first and not made an easier with a shaking hand. I still find it difficult to inject and depress the plunger one handed. I hold the syringe with my left hand and depress the plunger with the right 🙂
Thank you MorningMist, yes, I think that's what I have to do. Just can't work out how to stretch the skin at the same time. I'm sure with more practice it will become easier, might practice on an orange a few times!
Yes if you stretch your skin you can’t use two hands to inject. I don’t bother to do that. I did read that if you stretch your skin then when you release it the injection site in your skin and through the lower layers won’t be aligned so stopping any leakage of b12. But I haven’t had a problem with that. The main thing is a steady hand.
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