things from spudley

a little leaked out

there's a bubble

blood!!! there's not normally blood! why blood!

leaky girl

first off relax, it's not a huge deal, it looks like more liquid than it is. next time you do your injection, let a single drop fall from the needle onto your skin and compare it to the amount of liquid that leaked out. it'll barely move the plunger, looks like basically the same dose. I've only ever had one girl go "no it was way more" and she's weird for other reasons.

typically this is caused by moving too fast. after you finish pushing the dose, let the needle rest in place for a few seconds. when you pull it out, put your fingertip on the injection site to hold your skin in place.

when you pull the needle out, friction pulls the surrounding tissue along the path of travel and you end up with a lil path to the outside like >>>>>----. if you hold it in place, things bunch up a lil and helps seal the path like xxxxx----

the TV lied bubbles are safe

if you are in a hospital and having air injected to your veins, do not worry. you are not being murdered, they are doing a bubble study. the tiny bubble left in your syringe will at most cause discomfort. it's entirely unnecessary for our medication (unless you are a very leaky girl!), but when done intentionally this is called the "airlock" technique

when you draw up your dose, pull in a little bit of air and (while holding it with capped needle pointed up) flick the syringe until you have one big bubble at the top to push out. when you inevitably end up with a small one stuck to the side, flick it to unstick it so you can float it to the top. the only reason I do this every time is because I think it's fun.

well yeah blood happens

since subq needles are so small (mine are 29 gauge and .5"/13mm long) it's really hard to hurt yourself too badly. outside of some basic sanity checks like making sure you're injecting into the right place and that you have enough subcutaneous tissue there to comfortably accommodate the medication, there's nothing to really worry about. you nicked a blood vessel.

were your hands shaking at the time? the tip of the needle is a cutting edge on the sides as well as the point, lateral motion with a blade that's inside of tissue tends to cause bleeding. even if it's real small.

one girl told me that blood literally squirted out of the injection site, that one I don't blame her for worrying about. we never figured out why, nothing bad ever happened and it never happened again.

bonus: why the fuck did that one hurt so bad???

this one isn't nearly as common, but I've gotten it a lot. I have never once been able to come up with a good explanation, that seems to just happen.

this is all in the context of subcutaneous injections because, barring specific complications, that's the best ROA. if you do IM just because that's what your doctor told you, please reconsider

1. Exact Location: some parts of your thigh (or other injection site) will have more or less dense nerve endings. if you hit a spot with denser nerve clusters, you’re going to feel it a lot more. I’ve found that you can poke around with your fingernail a little to find spots on my thigh that are fattier and less sensitive and i’ll tend to inject tho those places more.

2. Needle Alignment: the needle can be slightly angled and not aligned perfectly straight from the luer-lock threading. if this happens and the needle is at a slight angle, as you push the syringe down the needle will not be perfectly perpendicular to your skin and the blade will enter at that slight angle. it’s quite painful, though certainly not dangerous. I’ve found that if i notice any angle of the needle as i visually inspect everything i can (very carefully) adjust it and straighten out the needle by pushing on it with my fingernail (carefully & towards the base of the needle to avoid piercing my finger).