Self injection jitters.

[GQjoey]

I've been doing my own shot since last summer. Done roughly 10 self injections. Sometimes with no hesitation at all, other times it took me 10-15 minutes to get there. Last night - was horrible. I sat there for a solid 30 minutes going "One, twoooo, STOP!" Could NOT bring myself to stab/poke down at three. I decided to put the needle down, walk away, and came back 20 minutes later, tried again for another 20-30 minutes, and could not for the life of me, do it. I know it's a complete mind fk, but now I'm sitting here stil needing to do this.
I'm gonna eat some breakfast, take a shower, and give it another go - but I left my T in the needle, with the cap on lastnight. Just wondering if this is ok/safe? Or if anyone has any tips on how to get the fk over it..

[Elijah3291]

I can't answer your first question about leaving the T in the needle.

but, I have had 3 shots so far, my first by my doctor, and the other two myself.  In my opinion doing the 1, 2, 3, go; always makes me more nervous regardless if it is a shot, or jumping off something, whatever.  The countdown just makes you think about it, and the anticipation makes you nervous.  Just take your mind off of it.  for example.. "Oh, it seems I have a needle in my hand, I need to stick it in my leg.. (stab) ah ok, done"

[GQjoey]

Yeah - I tried putting my mind into addict mode, and think of it as a heroine fix, didn't work. (No offense) Even tried telling myself it's better than putting it in my eyeball. Everytime I went to stab, my hand and my brain were never on the same page. I've never had this much trouble before. Maybe I'll try without the count down.

Anyone know about the safeness of keeping it in the needle over night? I'm gonna hold off on attempting round 3 until I get some input. I'm assuming it's fine, just want to make sure.

[Randi]

Hi GQJoey, This is a familiar scenario. You can't seem to relax, huh? Try just inserting it when you are relaxed and pull/stretch the skin in the area of insertion apart slightly then just put the tip of the needle on your skin. While breathing out put slight pressure on the needle until it starts to go in the skin. You will find tissues that give resistance so don't fret over it. Go slow-stop- and get a breath-staying relaxed is crucial and it doesn't matter if it takes a couple of minutes or a few seconds. then breathing out, resume slight pressure inserting the needle. I can't stay relaxed while breathing in so I always stop then. Try this slow approach and see if it works for you. If you find you can't get relaxed you should find someone else to do it for you. Hope this helps.
Randi

[insideontheoutside]

Makes me shiver just thinking about jabbing a needle into myself. Can't do it. Won't do it. But that's just me. I know, not helpful at all but hey, good luck with that!

[GQjoey]

Randi - when first reading your post, I said "She's crazy!". After another 30 minutes that day trying to stab myself, I took your advice, and it worked PERFECTLY! Used it again tonight, it's quite a fkin trip watching the needle sloooooooowly disappear inside your leg, but it was completely painless! Thank you so much.

[Cruelladeville]

I changed needle gauge size for this reason....

And though its more tricky to load a smaller finer syringe.... tis easier and less scarring as a result...

I use BD (becton dickinson) there lub'd as well, hardly feel em..... (simples)

[Alessandro]

I work with needles in my job (I'm a PhD student studying greenhouse gases - I have to take gas samples using a syringe and inject them into evacuated vials) often in poor conditions so have had several needlestick accidents. 

With that and with having a lot of tattoos I don't think I'll have a problem with self injection.  Though I dunno if it's done in the UK, I think most people go to the local nurse (?) 

I'll tell you what's worse than sticking a needle in yourself - sticking a needle deep by complete accident then getting 2M KCl in the wound.  That's a new level of pain   

[Squirrel698]

Two weeks ago when I gave myself an injection I had to try two times.  Due to all my recent muscle growth in my thighs when I didn't use the right angle the needle actually bent and didn't pierce the skin..  It was like whoa, what the hell. 

My endo told me to numb the area before sticking myself with some ice to help with the pain.  I don't think that helped much so I'm going to stop doing that.

Pretty much it comes down to knowing what I want and how I am going to get there.  Self injections are part of the journey so I just do it without thinking about it to much.

[Randi]

Hi GQjoey, Glad I could help. 
Randi

[Tj.wright07]

i do mine in my butt i can never do it my leg i get all scared and it hurts when i try. any advice ?

[Lee]

Is there someone around you who would be willing to do them for you?

[GQjoey]

i do mine in my butt i can never do it my leg i get all scared and it hurts when i try. any advice ?

before I started self injecting, I was getting mine in the butt as well. Virtually painless. My first 3-4 shots were in my upper thigh (where I self inject now), and the last one I had, I don't know it he hit a nerve or I just tensed up, but it hurt, and it turned me off completely to my leg for the next year.
Unless you're super flexible with good aim, it's hard to do self butt injections (lol). I took Randi's advice myself, and the last 2 shots I did SLOWLY. Completely concentrating on my breathing, I just slowly push down on the needle til it disappears. Sounds a lot more intense than it really is.

[Kilo]

Haha I was taught to self inject in my butt; I used to pick a spot, take aim and throw it in like a dart like my doctor suggested but once on T my skin started to thicken massively and the dart throwing ceased as it would only hit my skin, hurt like hell, bleed and not go into the tissue at all so I basically have to do the same which is slowly push it in. But maybe some techniques I use may help you out in addition to other advice you've received. Heating up the skin prior to injection seems to soften it and ease up the muscles so they're not so tense and I will usually slap/hit (for lack of a better sounding word) the area I'm going to inject sometimes and that deadens the nerve endings enough for me not to feel it quite as much. But if anything I've definitely found that the cold is my enemy when it comes to injections, the warmer the better! I wish you luck man and I hope all your shots go as well as your last couple!

[Lee11]

Changing the needle guage works and, depending which testosterone ester you are using, an insulin needle is the very best, you can use it in the delt and feel absolutely nothing

[Nikolai_S]

Good advice on this thread. My only experience with me giving injections was when I vaccinated a horse, so mainly my concern then was not getting stomped to death. But from getting way too many shots for going abroad, from various doctors, I agree that it's absolutely best to go slowly. The slower, the less it hurts. It also helps to tap the area you're going to inject first, that way the nerves react less to sensations immediately after.