I'm not sure your injection technique is necessarily the cause of your issue, although I would caution you that I've never heard of IM injections done in the belly area. These are commonly done in one of three places: the gluteus medius (muscle in your butt area), vastus lateralis (outer thigh), or deltoid (top of arm before shoulder joint). I'm not a medical professional so I can't advise you, of course, but I watched a bunch of YouTube videos that were for nurses in training, showing them how to find injection sites on actual patients, how to administer, etc.
This is just my experience. I started out giving my own shots in my thigh, because this was the easiest for me to reach, and I got a noticeable allergic reaction my first couple of times. I was allergic to the cottonseed oil. My body adjusted, and I'm better now, still using the cottonseed based T about four months on.
I don't know if this is possible for you, but I've been getting my shots in my glutes for about a month now, and I notice a substantial difference in the effects. I haven't had my levels tested, so I can't say whether it's psychosomatic or not, but I definitely do perceive a difference. I've also been having my mom inject me. I'm gonna be 27 next month, and I stay with my parents, because #poverty, and it was hard for me to ask for help, but she was cool with it. A nurse at your GP's office or even at a free clinic may be able to help you do your injections if you're more comfortable that way.
Like, I'm not consciously afraid of needles or any other medical procedure. I've got a lot of experience with them, mainly because I've had a lot of blood work done over the years and also because I donated plasma to help get through school. (I don't recommend it, but u gotta do what u gotta do sometimes, u know?) I also had a tongue and septum piercing done in my late teens, and those needles were a bit larger and more in-your-face (pardon the pun).
And I'm never afraid... until it's time to get stuck with the needle. Then it's like this instinctual, hindbrain sort of thing grabs hold of me and just wants to nope the heck out of there. That tension is still there when someone else is sticking me, but it's over before I can overthink it, which helps. Less of a chance that I'll mess up the technique because I'm feeling jittery.
Anyway, yeah, this is just what helped me. Hope you're doing okay.
