First injection today!

[missmacyrose]

So I am currently writing this post from the nurse clinic where roughly 10 minutes ago I received my first injection after being on oral Estrogen for over 9 months. I am super happy to be on injections now but am curious about some things. Immediately after the injection I got really, really lightheaded. My vision started to blur and I had to lay down. The nurse also said my face was really pale. My blood pressure went super low. I laid down and drank some water and within 10 minutes I felt fine and my BP went back to normal, but I was wondering if this is something anyone else has experienced? I also wonder if it is because I had only eaten a small bowl of cereal a couple hours before. I am very excited to be on injections now and I will update this post with how I feel and any changes, because obviously I won't be feeling anything this shortly after.

[Northern Star Girl]

So I am currently writing this post from the nurse clinic where roughly 10 minutes ago I received my first injection after being on oral Estrogen for over 9 months. I am super happy to be on injections now but am curious about some things. Immediately after the injection I got really, really lightheaded. My vision started to blur and I had to lay down. The nurse also said my face was really pale. My blood pressure went super low. I laid down and drank some water and within 10 minutes I felt fine and my BP went back to normal, but I was wondering if this is something anyone else has experienced? I also wonder if it is because I had only eaten a small bowl of cereal a couple hours before. I am very excited to be on injections now and I will update this post with how I feel and any changes, because obviously I won't be feeling anything this shortly after.

I always took HRT orally in pill form....  I never had injection nor did my Endo suggest them.
Wow, your reaction to the injection sounds scary.  I am so glad that you were in the presence of the Nurse while you had those serious issues.   

Are you planning to go ahead with future injections?  Does the Nurse think that is prudent?   And how do you feel about future injections?

YES, indeed, please keep us updated with what is decided about all of this.

I am so glad that you are OK now.
Thanks for posting about this.
Hugs, and well wishes,
Danielle

[missmacyrose]

I am definitely going to continue with them. The nurse didn't seem incredibly bothered. She was mildly concerned but she said that sometimes with any medication like that there can be a reaction when its first injected, especially first time. She also said that it's probably because I didn't really eat beforehand.  My blood pressure returned to normal within 10 minutes so I don't see a big problem with it. For me I'll take some lightheadedness in exchange for a more effective treatment. It's only been about 2 hours at this point but I already am feeling pretty good. I'm excited to see the difference over the next 2 weeks until my next injection.

[2.B.Dana]

While I didn't have the exact symptoms you experienced I did have a certain "oddness" that occurred for probably the first three shots. Each one much less than the previous one. I am now on a shot every 4 days and other than the initial feeling of knowing something is going in me I feel nothing out of the ordinary. Within a few shots it becomes quite a common thing and you just go about life.

I do remember wondering in the beginning if all of the shots went like the first one how long would I want to take them. Those reactions ceased quite quickly and the rest is history as they say.

[Jill E]

So I am currently writing this post from the nurse clinic where roughly 10 minutes ago I received my first injection after being on oral Estrogen for over 9 months. I am super happy to be on injections now but am curious about some things. Immediately after the injection I got really, really lightheaded. My vision started to blur and I had to lay down. The nurse also said my face was really pale. My blood pressure went super low. I laid down and drank some water and within 10 minutes I felt fine and my BP went back to normal, but I was wondering if this is something anyone else has experienced? I also wonder if it is because I had only eaten a small bowl of cereal a couple hours before. I am very excited to be on injections now and I will update this post with how I feel and any changes, because obviously I won't be feeling anything this shortly after.

I've been on injections for years. I started on patches, moved to IM, then to pills (bc of national shortage of the IM meds), am now back on IM injections. Injections are BY FAR my favorite. I do get light headed on occasion, but it's because I'm holding my breath without thinking or am feeling anxious.

I would recommend making sure you've eaten prior, are hydrated, and are remembering to relax and breathe. Eating and being hydrated don't make much of a difference in my experience, but it might be part of why you experienced that (everyone's different).

Will you be administering your shots on your own going forward or will you have a nurse to do it?


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[missmacyrose]

Will you be administering your shots on your own going forward or will you have a nurse to do it?


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The nurse told me I would have to ask my Endo if he would prescribe me a bottle to take home and self administer however she stated that it was unlikely he would say yes. Apparently Kaiser Permanenete is pretty strict about self administration. She said that she has seen a couple patients be allowed to but I guess it is a rare occurrence. I'm still going to ask him but I'm also a little iffy because I liked being at the nurses office when I got lightheaded because it was kind of scary.

[2.B.Dana]

If you are on a 14 day shot cycle I would highly recommend keeping a journal of how you are feeling each day. By day 10 or so you may be feeling in want of estrogen. It could effect your mood, attitude etc. If you track it over time you have data to share with the dr for getting a dose every 7 days etc.  When I was on a 7 day cycle I was noticing a change as day 5 slid into 6. Afternoon of 6 into 7 was emotionally challenging. Going to a 4 day cycle eliminated that.

[Jill E]

If you are on a 14 day shot cycle I would highly recommend keeping a journal of how you are feeling each day. By day 10 or so you may be feeling in want of estrogen. It could effect your mood, attitude etc. If you track it over time you have data to share with the dr for getting a dose every 7 days etc.  When I was on a 7 day cycle I was noticing a change as day 5 slid into 6. Afternoon of 6 into 7 was emotionally challenging. Going to a 4 day cycle eliminated that.

I completely agree. Journaling is a great way to go!! I went through the same thing. I started on a 7 day cycle, and noticed I was having mood swings by the end of day 6. I asked to move to a lower concentration of the medication and increase my shots to twice a week (which has worked great). It cool hearing others have experienced the same thing. I'm hypersensitive to medications and and chemicals in general, so I figured I was probably an off case.

The nurse told me I would have to ask my Endo if he would prescribe me a bottle to take home and self administer however she stated that it was unlikely he would say yes. Apparently Kaiser Permanenete is pretty strict about self administration. She said that she has seen a couple patients be allowed to but I guess it is a rare occurrence. I'm still going to ask him but I'm also a little iffy because I liked being at the nurses office when I got lightheaded because it was kind of scary.

Doing them yourself isn't so bad. My endo had me practice in front of her with saline. I was super nervous and iffy about doing it myself, but anymore it's not so bad. A tip if you do end up getting to do it on your own: I've found that after you draw the shot with the larger gage needle, you can swap it out for a smaller one (which helps - I usually don't really feel it). You'd need to talk to your pharmacist about which gages would be appropriate based on the type of carrier oil in the vial though.



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[missmacyrose]

Assuming my Endo allows me to take my medication home and self administer, I'll just do some math and inject myself on a shorter cycle so that I don't have those intense lows. On a related note, how long after your first injection (upon switching from a different method) did you really start to notice a change in how you felt? It's been less than 48 hours and I can say I don't really feel any different yet than I did on pills, except that maybe I am slightly less irritable towards the later part of the day which happened on pills because my levels were already falling.

[Jill E]

Assuming my Endo allows me to take my medication home and self administer, I'll just do some math and inject myself on a shorter cycle so that I don't have those intense lows. On a related note, how long after your first injection (upon switching from a different method) did you really start to notice a change in how you felt? It's been less than 48 hours and I can say I don't really feel any different yet than I did on pills, except that maybe I am slightly less irritable towards the later part of the day which happened on pills because my levels were already falling.

Feel free to message me if you have questions. As if mentioned previously, I'm extremely sensitive to meds. I was doing IM and then had to move to pills. On pills I was having daily mood swings, I wasn't able to concentrate, I was lethargic most of the time, and was usually pretty irritable. After going back on IM it was noticeable same / next day. I'm asking my partner while I'm typing this and she said the difference was night and day. Your experiences may differ and it might be bc your levels aren't quite where they should be. It took a while to find the appropriate dosage for me the first time around


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[missmacyrose]

Update:

Endo said he sees no problem letting me administer at home! This will be much more convenient and also I will be able to do weekly instead of bi-weekly. Very excited for this to be happening!

Side note- my boobs are already starting to become way more sensitive in that now-too-familiar "growing pains" way. Definitely expecting to see an increase in size beginning to happen soon!

[Jill E]

Update:

Endo said he sees no problem letting me administer at home! This will be much more convenient and also I will be able to do weekly instead of bi-weekly. Very excited for this to be happening!

Side note- my boobs are already starting to become way more sensitive in that now-too-familiar "growing pains" way. Definitely expecting to see an increase in size beginning to happen soon!

That's great!! I wish mine would do that a bit more, lol.

I'm glad to hear about the shots. It's nice that they're letting you move to weekly; you'll probably see less effects toward the end of your shot period.


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[missmacyrose]

So Endo scheduled me for a learning appt. with the nurse next week to be taught how to self inject when its time for my next injection. He wrote me a prescription for a dose of Delestrogen that is half what he gave me last week so that I can do weekly instead of biweekly. He also is giving me a prescription for syringes and 2 needle sizes (20 and 23 gauge) for drawing up and injecting. I didnt know that they actually did syringes and needles by prescription, I thought you just walked into the pharmacy and bought them separately, so that was very interesting to me. I have Kaiser Permanente, does anyone happen to know about the quality of the syringes the give there? I just want to make sure I'm getting the best possible product.

[2.B.Dana]

Have they said where they will be teaching you to administer the shot? Most likely the thigh. This is the area they seem to teach but the mfg states the buttocks. I watched youtube videos to learn how to do it there. I had multiple nurses say I couldn't do it there myself but it happens quite easily. The thigh allows the estrogen into the bloodstream too fast and it is used up quickly. I explained it all to my training nurse and she said it made sense but she had to teach me the thigh. What I did when I got home was my business. The rx for syringes is just for you to have supplies to inject. I have that as well but buy my own as I use 20 & 25's where the VA only issues 22 gauge and that is used for draw and inject. You can order online quite inexpensively.

[missmacyrose]

The first time I got my injection last week, the nurse actually injected it into the area of my hip directly above and to the side of my buttcheek. On my paperwork it states it was administered in the "right ventrogluteal."

[2.B.Dana]

Good for you, I know the area well  Hopefully they have you self administer there as well.

[missmacyrose]

Good for you, I know the area well  Hopefully they have you self administer there as well.

I hope so! I'm sure they will. My injection/training is this coming Friday so I will keep you all updated as I go. I received a large biweekly injection for my first time, before asking my doctor to self administer weekly. So I'm excited to move to once a week for self administration. My doctor has been very helpful and cooperative throughout and didnt give me any resistance towards self administration or weekly administration, despite the nurse who injected me making it sound like it would be a hard sell.

[missmacyrose]

Okay so injection number 2 today! I am being taught how to self inject so that I can inject myself in the future. So going forward I am totally self injecting! However one small thing confused me. Now I know that we are not allowed to discuss specific dosages on this forum so I will leave this as a general statement. I am switching to weekly instead of bi-weekly. My first injection was a 2 week injection, this one for one week. So I assumed the dosage would be half. However they actually injected my with a quarter of the previous dosage. Is this a standard practice? Is it because of the specific was Estrogen is absorbed? I was very confused as to why this happened. Anyone know about that?

[Dena]

I am confuse about that much of a reduction as well however all is not lost. Verify that your estradiol levels will be check with the next blood draw and if your levels are low, your dosage should be bumped. There is no longer a standard dosage and final dosages are reached by checking levels.

[missmacyrose]

Update- Injection number 3 yesterday! Self injected for the first time. It was an odd sensation since I've always been fine getting shots but never been the one to put the needle in myself. It was easy enough though and I definitely don't see it being an issue going forward. My Endo emailed me and told me that since we switched to weekly, he put me on what is apparently the typical "starting dose" and said he would slowly taper it up every 3-4 weeks. I guess they start with the smallest dose to avoid overdose or anything like that. Wasnt aware that was even a possibility but I will go with his advice and hopefully he will raise it soon. I do feel significantly better the past month since being on injections and I definitely notice changes already beginning to happen more quickly. Very happy with the progress so far! I celebrated 10 months on HRT on the 26th of May, hard to believe it's been nearly a year!!!