Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Okay just did my first shot and I'm stressing out a little. The person who did my shot had me look away and the shot ended up like in the middle of my thigh on top on my leg instead of closer to the outside of my leg. I'm worried is that alright? It was definitely in muscle I'm just worried about it not being quite the right placement

I wouldn't worry about it. One of the doctors where I live suggests that you inject on the top of the thigh. As long as you made it into the muscle and didn't inject in a vein you'll be fine.  :)

Thanks man :) Sorry I just stressed because I'm a needle-phobe so my anxiety from getting the shot moved on to where I got the shot. That is great to hear :)

No problem. Stuff like that is understandably scary.   ;)

Actually I was warned very heavily that the biggest arteries are located near the top/middle of your thigh, and that you should only inject at 10 o'clock on your left and 2 o'clock on your right (so not quite the side of your thigh, but between the side and the top). As long as they checked for blood by pulling up on the plunger slightly (About .1ml) then you're fine, but don't inject there next time, it's just not a good idea. And I'm sure it hurts more, especially if you have to pull out and try again because you hit a vein or artery...

Why on earth did they have you look away? That's confusing. But I digress, you'll be fine. Just make sure they do it right next time, if you're not doing it yourself :P

you will be fine

Thanks :) Yeah I seem to be doing alright so I figure it's all good. They had me look away because I pulled back every time the needle got anywhere near my leg. My fear of needles is all psychological so when I was looking at it, it freaked me out but when I looked away I panicked less. I looked up charts of exactly where the needle goes for next time and I'm gonna show them next time around.

You're good where it landed. Enjoy the T effects.

Huh... that's odd, that's where my doctor told me to always do the injection. On the top of your leg, halfway between knee and hipbone. My dad, also a doctor, seemed fine with that placement, he's done T injections for cis-guys before.

Didn't hurt at all the first time on my left leg, hurt on my right the day after that shot, but I think it's because I injected faster the second time.

Thanks John :)

Nikolai: Really? Truthfully I wish I could just do it there because it's not as sensitive as the other spots to me. The pharmacist had never even heard of people injecting in the thigh oddly enough. I think it's hard to be sure because everyone has different opinions. I've had a bunch of different people tell me not to aspirate because the needle won't draw blood if you're in a vein anyways so it isn't a good way to find out if your in a vein I guess?  Yeah, my leg doesn't hurt today so I'm happy.

Did anyone else have trouble drawing up the T? I used a 23 gauge

Always aspirate for intramuscular injections. You even aspirate when you're giving horses injections. Standard medical/veterinary procedure.

I used a 23 gauge too, and yes - it takes ages for the T to drip into the syringe. Typically hospitals will use 18 gauge to draw it, so they don't waste time, and then switch to a slightly higher gauge for injections (20?). (smaller gauge = wider needle) My prescribing doctor recommended a 25 gauge, I guess since I'm a teen and he didn't want me be scared of a big needle while self injecting... my dad overruled it, said a higher gauge would just be more difficult to work with.

Typically in hospital situations testosterone is injected in the buttocks, probably why the pharmacist was confused. Obviously, for self injections, you have to switch locations.

Thanks man, that makes sense. I'll aspirate next time. Yeah, I tried to get them to give me smaller gauge needles for my injections but they refused to give me 1 needle to draw up and 1 needle to inject. So I ended up with 1 needle per dose. That's good news that it takes a while, means we weren't doing it wrong.

Congrats on starting T!