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Hello! I made a somewhat similar thread not too long ago about being excited for starting EC injections after 8 months of sublingual pills. Had my first Injection/lesson a few hours ago and it wasn't as scary as I thought, the process of setting up wasn't too complicated though the pain at injection did hurt though it was brief and no burning or pain when the fluid was being injected. About 10 minutes afterward up until an hour ago there was a very mild burning sensation in my thigh. Though as soon as I got home little over an hour ago WOW are my breasts aching. Before my breasts were sore but it really was only if I accidentally bumped my nipples, my breasts themselves didn't really have any soreness but now oh holy wow it's a deep strong aching with them yelling at me >_< Haha I guess that means the injection is working even though I didn't expect to see a difference this soon. Don't have to worry about Estrogen for a whole 2 weeks now and it feels so nice. 30 seconds of discomfort for 2 weeks of not having to do anything. Just figured I'd share my experience!

Congratulations on your first injection.  :)

The burning sensation you experienced at the injection site is not normal though.  I've done injections in my thigh many times and never felt that.  (I do injections in my butt these days, as I found them easier for me)

If the burning sensation happens again, you should talk to your doctor about it.

Thanks! It was only the first time so I just watched the nurse do everything, next time I'll ask to do everything but the actual injection (going to take a few sessions to get used to it before I can get comfortable injecting myself but I guess thats what the teaching is there for!) Maybe burning was the wrong word maybe stinging would be better. It was very mild and went away about an hour afterward. I have very low pain tolerance so maybe it's just my body reacting. Nurse felt around my thigh and the needle went straight down into the hard muscly part of the middle of my thigh and felt a little resistance from the needle when the 2nd half was going in compared to the first half. Only a very tiny amount of blood came out after the needle was removed  too so I think my first session went pretty well! But I'll pay attention and note if I feel any moderate pain or abnormal feelings after injection.

MMMmm, I miss injecting my E. lol..

Congratulations on having your first poke, it can be scary, for sure. I was such a baby, lol, I had to go have a nurse inject me at my endo's office for many months, finally the nurse was like "C'mon, Missy, you are wasting $25 every time you need a shot, lemme show you how to do it at home", ha!

I finally learned how, and it helped that I started losing enough weight and become more flexible, so I could reach around to my backside and hit the right spot. Before long I was doing it like a pro, and so will you, I am sure...

I prefer injecting, but my current insurance only pays for oral E. I'm gonna have my endo try again to find a loophole to get me back on shots again at my next visit. Did I mention I like injections better? Lol..

Missy

Quote from: DuchessBianca on January 23, 2017, 01:21:18 PM
Though as soon as I got home little over an hour ago WOW are my breasts aching.

I've been injecting for 8 months now and after my injections, I can definitely notice the girls waking up.  Weird how it works that fast.

Duchess, if you are shooting every other week, watch out for symptoms similar to PMS during the second week.  You might want to ask if 1/2 the dosage weekly would be better.

Also I numb the leg with an ice pack for a few minutes before inserting the two inch needle!  It helps.
I also learned that after the shot take a walk or do something that exercises where you shoot.  It helped me a lot.  I also have rollers to roll out muscles but that actually made the soreness worse.

Good luck and enjoy the ride.

Thanks MissGendered! Yeah for me the fear of the unknown is the scariest fear there is, when I don't know how something is going to feel, react etc... my nerves/anxiety skyrocket and probably make things worse then they should be. My doctors office is about 50 miles away in Boston so as much as I would love to just got there every 2 weeks for a prolonged time the travel and carsickness I get while going there make it not very viable long term. My doctor said that once I've confident and trained with injections he'll order needles so I just have the vial I bring top the office but I made note of the needles and such being using at the office and the injection syringe was 3ml (not my dosage) and the needle was 21g if I recall correctly. Is that good/bad when it comes to injection needles? Hurt a bit when it was going in but once it was in no real pain and removal wasn't bad either.

Quote from: Jane Emily on January 23, 2017, 04:02:56 PM
I've been injecting for 8 months now and after my injections, I can definitely notice the girls waking up.  Weird how it works that fast.

Yeah haha I tried to do my best looking at injection topic and seeing if there are any immediate reactions or changes one would notice and it seemed the large majority didn't really feel any different compared to their previous method until quite awhile afterwards. Also read that EC is much slower then EV and can take 4 days to reach peak levels vs 2 with EV so I certainly didn't expect to feel such a reaction so quickly haha

Quote from: Denise on January 23, 2017, 05:01:15 PM
Duchess, if you are shooting every other week, watch out for symptoms similar to PMS during the second week.  You might want to ask if 1/2 the dosage weekly would be better.

Also I numb the leg with an ice pack for a few minutes before inserting the two inch needle!  It helps.
I also learned that after the shot take a walk or do something that exercises where you shoot.  It helped me a lot.  I also have rollers to roll out muscles but that actually made the soreness worse.

Good luck and enjoy the ride.

Thanks! I know we can't discuss dosages so I have no real way of knowing how much my dosage is compared to others but I'll be sure to pay attention to how I feel especially the last few days before the next injection because if I read correctly EC seems to last about 11 days with elevated levels so if it gets too bad I'll just let my doctor know and discuss bumping up to once every 10 days injection. As a very last case scenario I do still have quite a bit of sublingual pills that if symptoms are really bad I'll just try and take the lowest possible dosage of that to relieve some of the symptoms until I get get to the doctors. Though of course only as a last result as I don't want to be putting myself at risk for harmless effect. I have some Emla cream my doctor prescribed me for laser hair removal I wonder if applying that to the injection site an hour before would work and not interfere with the actual injection. Something I'm going to ask my doctor! Funny enough it's only been 10 hours and it's sooo nice not having to worry about pills but because I'm so used to them it feels weird not taking estrogen so regularly and gets my mind wondering how injections can truly work and last for so long between doses, though I'm not going to argue with proven science Haha

Duchess,

The 21 ga needles are usual ones suggested, they are bigger, but the serum is kinda thick, so the bigger the needle, the faster the serum goes in, which suits nurses in a busy office better than our backsides, lol.

That is good for the nurses, but I prefer to use the smallest needle possible, so I ordered 31 ga needles in bulk, and warmed my vial in my pocket for about 15 minutes prior to drawing out the serum. It goes in slower than the big needle still, but most times I never felt anything, and going more slowly disrupts less tissue, too, which also cuts down on the sting..

My nurse suggested this procedure, and it really made a HUGE difference for me. Also, since I don't have much fat back there, the 1 1/4" 31 ga needles were perfect. All needle are NOT made equally well, so buy the highest quality ones you can find, and the points will not have any burrs on them, which makes them even less painful to use. I ordered mine from a company in Fl that specialized in diabetic supplies, I think the brand I used was BD Syringes. You may have to order the actual needle tips and syringes separately, and yes, they are the 3ml size. Google it, and compare prices...

Hope this helps..

Missy

Quote from: Denise on January 23, 2017, 05:01:15 PM
Also I numb the leg with an ice pack for a few minutes before inserting the two inch needle!

2-inch needle? Yikes! Mine is only a 21 ga one-inch needle. Thankfully.

Quote from: MissGendered on January 23, 2017, 08:56:12 PM
The 21 ga needles are usual ones suggested, they are bigger, but the serum is kinda thick, so the bigger the needle, the faster the serum goes in, which suits nurses in a busy office better than our backsides,

I just started with injections too. They gave me two needles to use a 22ga to get it out of the bottle and a 25 to inject with.
I'm doing it into my thigh. I don't have any pain during insertion or afterwards.  Actually, after my last injection, I kept expecting my leg to hurt but there was no pain there, but I kept getting "sympathy" pains in my upper arms where I usually get other shots.

For intramuscular injections, it appears the usual needle length is 1.25-1.5 inches. Longer and it could hit the bones. Needle length also depends on how much fat the person has in the region and the region where the substance is injected. This is my understanding but I'm not a nurse, nor a doctor. I inject my estradiol valerate every 5 days, with a 22 gauge (solution is thick, with sesame oil) 1.5 inch needle and draw from the vial with a 21 gauge 1.5 inch needle. Drawing with a larger needle (18 gauge) resulted in leakage from my vial. I inject in the upper outer quadrant of my buttocks, alternating left and right every 5 days.

I use 22 gauge for withdrawal and injection.  It's probably 2" long.  I insert on a 45 degree angle in the front left thigh every 7 days.  Before injecting I numb the region with a reusable ice block.

The first time it was sore for days. Then I started to roll with a muscle roller.  That didn't help.  Now I go for a walk or hop on a bike to get the blood flowing through the muscle.  No pain at all.

The burning sensation isn't normal. I agree with what everyone has said. I have been injecting over two years now and have never experienced that. Hugs
Mariah