Neuralgia in thigh after SC injection - Pernicious Anaemi...

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Neuralgia in thigh after SC injection

Wwwdot profile image
24 Replies

Hi All

I usually self inject sub-cutaneous into my tum sides.

I decided to be brave and inject into my thigh. Right thigh was ok and leg and thigh is perfect with no evidence of an injection.

Left thigh othe other hand (or should I say leg🤣) was different. It was an uncomfortable injection and I could feel twinges above and below the injection that stopped and started as I stopped and started the syringe plunger - so I think defo twinges related to injection. This morning on the top of my thigh there is an area about the size of my hand that is experiencing neuralgia but it is about 4” away from the injection site. The skin sensation there is different without touching it and when I do touch it I can tell then it’s definitely the case.

Coincidence? Although I have never had skin neuralgia on my thigh before. Thank you in advance.

🤗🤗🤗

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Wwwdot profile image
Wwwdot
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24 Replies
Narwhal10 profile image
Narwhal10

Hello dot,

No, it is not a coincidence, unfortunately. The injection on your left side has ‘upset some of the baby nerves in your left thigh’s skin. So, you can just gently massage for a couple of minutes throughout the day. Do not use your left thigh as an injection site for at least 2 weeks. So, if you fancy, inject right thigh, stomach or whatever order.

Most importantly, do not forget ‘jazz hands’ at the end.

This is me being silly because since a child I have been involved with all types of dance. 🩰🎭😘

B12life profile image
B12life in reply toNarwhal10

And .. step step kick! 💃

OldmanD profile image
OldmanD

Everyone gets that now and again. . . . . . Make sure you are relaxed . . . . . . Sitting straight up in bed legs out straight. . . . . I prefer IM to SC even with the occasional twitch . . . ..

Wwwdot profile image
Wwwdot in reply toOldmanD

Hi OldmanD

Needle and Relaxed cannot coexist in my life!

I hate needles - I am still in awe that I manage to self inject!

I cannot manage the pain of IM - had 6 loading doses that way and my arm felt like it had been kicked by a horse!

🤗🤗🤗

OldmanD profile image
OldmanD in reply toWwwdot

Before all the B12 caper I gave blood . . . . . . Never had any problems until I got this particular nurse who couldnt find blood in anyone .. . . . I was black an blue . . . Big patch on my arm about 2" dia. . . . . . Anyhow . . . . . I eventually refused to have her after 3 bad run ins and ye know I was afraid of anyone with a needle for a while. . . . . I was tense and it hurt. . . . . . Relaxing is dificult. . . . . Just try my suggestion. . . . . Two good pillows behind you and keep fairly straight up. . . . . . You can support yourself without even twitching a muscle in your thighs. . . . . . If your muscles are tense it will hurt. . . . If you twitch during jab it will hurt and possibly bleed/bruise . . . . . . And well doen for Si'ing in any manner. . . . Your fears will slowly fall. . . . . . I dont think anyone looked forward to this . . . . . I think I am in 4 years most of which has been every day or other day and on occasions twice. . . . . Twice just now at reduced doses as an experiment. . . . . . I still dont lolk forward to it but I at least now look forward. . . . . .

Wwwdot profile image
Wwwdot in reply toOldmanD

Hi OldmanD

Bless you! Thank you. You are indeed a vet of B12 compared to me. I will give it a go as you say in a couple of weeks.

🤗🤗🤗

Narwhal10 profile image
Narwhal10 in reply toWwwdot

Sorry dot,

For anyone who hates needles you have my total admiration. People do not understand nor appreciate this.

I do not know how you personally SC in thigh. Like OldmanD said :-

1) Support legs on bed/sofa.

2) Do the wobble test. You shake your outer thigh and then you tell it, Stay wobbly.

3) You can do the fingernail mark test as well.

4) You are testing what is underneath the skin where you are going to inject. (Noting does that hurt, change area if it does).

5) Use a wipe and tell your leg, You are still wobbly.

I know it sounds extremely silly talking to your own leg but often it works.

We do have an internal monologue, quite a few times when I could not coordinate my body, my nearest and dearest would hear me say, Will you behave ? They would look confused. Obviously, I had spoken out loud. 😘😘

Wwwdot profile image
Wwwdot in reply toNarwhal10

Hi Narwhal

Thank you - yes just because we inject ourselves frequently doesn’t make it mentally easier. I have become more practically competent but mentally I am still in the “grin and bear” it camp.

What is the fingernail mark test?

I talk to myself too and my body - sometimes it’s the only sensible conversation I have … and the added bonus is it doesn’t answer back!

🤗🤗🤗

Narwhal10 profile image
Narwhal10 in reply toWwwdot

We talk to ourselves because we need expert advice. 😉

Yes, the grin and bear it camp, is not good.

Like WIZARD6787 has pointed out injecting into the thighs is different. (Anatomically, our stomach are not our thighs). Most people just visualise inject site. Swab, wait, inject. But we can also mark that spot. When you push down on your skin and leave a fingernail mark, you are also checking what is underneath the top layer of the skin or dermis.

As long as you use a sterile wipe, dry and then I stretch the skin on insertion. (Rationale: There are different receptors in the skin for temperature, feeling sensations and when a person knows, prepares the skin for a very minor injection then it is tolerated more. Obviously, letting go of the stretched skin then reduces bleeding because the skin springs back into place.)

At a GP Practice, it is swab, whack it in, cotton ball, tape, next. At one appointment, even I thought, Flip, that hurt.

Wwwdot, I love anatomy and physiology. 😘

OldmanD profile image
OldmanD in reply toNarwhal10

My other self scolds me sometimes for my antics. . . . . And he has been caught on at it . . . . Wifey always presumes I am giving off about her!!!!!!! . . . . . . She says she doenst understand my other self and asks "are you okay" in a peculier tone. . . . . Then I hear her not only talking to her chickens but talking with them about them . . . But she doesnt do that she tells me. . . . . hahaha. . . . . You are really good at remembering all the little things to instruct people . . . . . Our legs must be relaxed. . . . . . . I have even tried it in a table chair with and without arms and another below my calfs . . . . Doesnt work . . . . Bed is the only good place for me. . . . . I like the way the bedding and pillows hold me. . . . . Ye kinda sink in and once straight you need to make a very intentional and active movement to get out/up . . . . I do give it a quick rub over with my thumb just after . . . . . Then I usually use the nebuliser so I just pull the bedding up around me and read Health Unlocked etc

WIZARD6787 profile image
WIZARD6787

Hey Wwwdot,

First good on you for being brave and trying something different!

I have not experienced what you describe although I must have injected into my thigh over 2000 times by now.

Narwhal10's understanding seems plausible.

SC into my thigh is different for me for reasons unknowable. If I inject into my thigh I have to massage the area prior and after I inject or the B12 which is almost all saline builds up and I can feel a lump. Sometimes the injection site is a very tiny bit sore, almost unnoticeable. I prevent the build up of saline by massage as I do not want to give my body something else to deal with when it is totally preventable.

In my abdominal area I do not massage with no known adverse effects.

OldmanD profile image
OldmanD in reply toWIZARD6787

Put on a 1" needle and go for it, you;ll have no lumps. . . . . . Piercing the skin is the worst bit

WIZARD6787 profile image
WIZARD6787 in reply toOldmanD

Incorrect.

Wwwdot profile image
Wwwdot in reply toOldmanD

Hi OldmanD

You sound like a vet injecting a cow! Ow!! 🤣🤣

Piercing the skin is the easy but - it’s what I hit beneath that causes the issue for me!

🤗🤗🤗

OldmanD profile image
OldmanD in reply toWwwdot

I dont want to sound like a vet . . . . Some of them are rough. . . . . I can hurt myself and have done. . . . . . . I know or think that not everyone is the same or has the same muscle.nerves layout. . . . . . I know drawings show us a pretty large area on our thighs where it is apparently safe . . . . . It apperas as a very big target for a very small needle but I think it should be like a dart board with a bulls eye for zero . . .xero pain . . . It does exist. . . . . . . Hurting to me doesnt feel safe. . . . . Try your right thigh again and if it is okay mark it with a little ring. . . . . . Copy to the left thigh. . . . I have dificulty translating both the position and angle from right to left. . . . . I have an area in both thighs where I feel nothing and other bits where I have to go easy on the plunger, . . . . . If it is more than slight pain stinging I'd be aiming for a differnt area next time around. . . . . . I have removed a needle before now and moved a bit. . . . .

WIZARD6787 profile image
WIZARD6787 in reply toOldmanD

I have to rotate due to the number of injections to adequately self treat now I understand how.

I use a waterproof marker to be able to keep track.

I thought of of getting tattoos with numbers on them.

OldmanD profile image
OldmanD in reply toWIZARD6787

Tattoo like an oval dartboard with different colours for the places and work and the ones that make you jump. . . . . My good bits are all nearer the top of the muscle area in both ways as in nearer the groin and nearer the top. . . . . Down around the side or further away I hit more jumpy bits . . . . . Not always but enough to keep me away from there . . . . But we got to keep trying and we got to keep encouraging the newbee's bear in mind that I am only at this caper 4 odd years. . . . . . . .

WIZARD6787 profile image
WIZARD6787 in reply toOldmanD

I was referring to keeping track. I just prick the skin and move it if needed.

Wwwdot profile image
Wwwdot in reply toWIZARD6787

Thank you Wiz

It’s just I keep hitting veins in my tum and I am black and blue! So thought I would be brave! So thank you for recognising that.

I do massage for a while but still rushing around trying to hold job down, manage family and home as well as find time to keep jabbing !

But there’s a light side too if one cares to look 🤣🤣🤣

🤗🤗🤗🤗

Hectorsmum2 profile image
Hectorsmum2

I get the stinging/ hurting as I inject the B12 whilst moving the plunger I have to inject very slowly and sometimes I get nerve pains furthur up my thigh to where I am injecting. I have alwasy been ok after except the odd bruise. I doubt you have done any lasting harm.

Oneash profile image
Oneash

Do double check that there are no air bubbles in the syringe before you inject. I've caused the odd bruise on my thigh. Middle outer is best. Doing the right always easier than the left. I always reckon if it hurts a little on the surface, it won't underneath and visa versa. Relaxing the muscles is important. Don't worry I've read your other comments, easier said than done.

WIZARD6787 profile image
WIZARD6787

As I wrote about my issues with having lumps from my injecting into my thighs in reply to this post I choose to write the solution I found to injecting the solution here. Pardon my interjection.

I still do the massage thing. It is not necessary. I can insert the needle and gradually withdraw the needle and the solution disperses and no lump.

Problem solved!

Jr499 profile image
Jr499

I'm very late replying, but I just wanted to chime in that I had pretty much your experience, too, although I don't know if that's reassuring or not!

I regularly, but not always, have a nerve sensation up and down what may be my IT band when I inject which never lasts (I only use my thighs, the stomach scares me!). I do now have a patch of numbness about the size of my palm that sometimes hurts in the middle, and for a while all of the skin on my entire thighs hurt all the time, but that's lessened considerably. I don't have solutions or causes, but wanted to let you know you aren't alone in this symptom. Thank you for posting about it!

Wwwdot profile image
Wwwdot

oh

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