Hey guys,
I gave myself my first injection Monday night. I used the upper outer part of my quad.
Is it normal for it to hurt even a few days after? It's still hurting, and it's been two days.
Also, after I injected the T and pulled out the needle, I noticed that some of the T was coming out from where I given myself the shot. Normal?
And also what size needles do most of you guys use? I just bought like the twenty cent ones at a drug store and throw it away.
My first shot did --- then I got better at it --- less feeling like I have to stab it in.
I draw my T with an 18 gauge and inject with a 25
Congrats on starting!
It is normal to hurt even a few days after. Make sure you massage the T into your muscle after injection though.
The T was seeping out? I don't think that's happened to me... Make sure you're pushing a 1inch to 1 and a half inch needle all the way in
Yeah, I use 20 cent needles too... but they're 22 or 23 gauge needles with 1.5 inches length and I push it in allllll the way.
my friend told me about seepage but as im not on T i have no personal experience.
My first injection didn't hurt at all, even afterwards - but my GP gave me the shot and he's done thousands of IM injections. I've heard the T can leak out if, as has been said, you aren't deep enough, inject too quickly or don't massage it after. You may have injected too quickly which could also explain the pain. I use a 23-gauge, but my T comes in pre-filled syringes with a 21-gauge needle. Good thing I get to swap the needle.
Thanks for all the feedback guys. My needle was pretty long... not sure the exact measurement on that, but I put the whole thing in. I may have injected it too quickly though. I'll go slower this coming Monday for my second injection. And I'll try doing some massaging.
My legs are small and muscular, so I didn't know if maybe the size had something to do with the pain. Putting the shot in was just an initial shock pain, then it was fine. But the day after and even today, it feels like a bad bruise, but of course there is no bruise.
Anyone inject to the butt? What's the difference really?
My first injection caused some leg soreness.
This may be what you're experiencing since your leg muscles aren't used to having something stuck in them quite yet.
Most injections you get at the doctor are done intravenously and even the intramuscular injections are usually in the upper arm.
I don't experience soreness anymore from my injections anymore, because I'm injecting so often that my body has likely adjusted to it by now. I don't know if you're injecting weekly or not though, so I can't say if your experience will be similar to mine or not though.
Nonetheless, congrats on your first injection.
:]
Thanks Jason...
As of right now I'm on a very lose dose once a week for two weeks. Then it's up to a higher dose. I'll have an appointment to go back to the doc the 20th though so I'm not exactly sure what dose I'll be prescribed to go up to.
It's all so exciting and I can't wait to start noticing some changes, haha but I just would rather not have this pain every time I have to inject.
Edited for dosage.
I inject right above the butt, into the hips. It's a lot better for me. I can't stab myself in the thigh.
I find that most of the pain of a T injection is after the fact. If you do it correctly the injection shouldn't hurt too badly but I get muscle soreness the next few days.
I use the ventrogluteal site for my injections and I can't recommend it enough. It's pretty easy to access, there's no chance of hitting any important nerves or arteries, and I've found that it hurts the least and doesn't even bleed afterward. Look it up and you will find some pictures and diagrams to help you find the area.
I draw up with 18g and inject with a 22g 1 1/2" needle, inserted all the way. I push the plunger slowly, and leave the needle in for a few seconds afterward. Then I pull it out SLOWLY. I've never had any T leak back out so far. For the first couple of times I was sweating really bad during the whole process and just wanted the needle out of my leg but there really is nothing to worry about. Take your time.
I will definitely have to look that up! Thanks fellas.
Caleb edit your post, no dosages please.
It's definitely normal to have mild soreness. The more still you are able to hold the syringe the less the needle will move inside your leg so the less it will hurt. I've been injecting for 15 months and it's always a little sore for a day or two.
I draw with a 18 (someone gave them to me) or 23 (those come with my prescription) and inject with a 25g 5/8" (I buy those for 10 cents each at my local Wal-Mart) into my thigh. When I get the doctor to write me a new script I'm going to get him to write the script for 18g needle/syringe combo and 25g needles. A drop of T usually always leaks out, that is such a minimal amount it's not going to negatively affect your progress so don't sweat it.
Make sure you are using a sharps container to discard used needles/syringes in. This can be a red one you buy at the store or depending on your state you can use a detergent container with a screw on lid, that when full you duct tape shut and write DO NOT RECYCLE on with a sharpie.
I inject in the thigh. The nurse who taught me did say it would hurt worse if I got any more wiry and muscular. She recommended I switch to the butt when I get practiced enough to be comfortable doing it without needing to watch so closely. I haven't heard of anything seeping out but I'm sure it won't hurt anything.
And yeah like Andy said, please do buy a sharps container. My clinic said some people use pickle jars, and I know of a couple of needle drop off/exchange sites, but a biohazard box only costs a few dollars.
I've been getting injections for nearly three years, and it's been once a week for most of that time. I've had noticeable muscle soreness only a few times early on--once when the nurse did it and once when I clenched up because my then-partner came home unexpectedly just as I was injecting.
I shoot in the butt and have never injected into my thigh. I use a 22-gauge. A lot of guys like the 25-gauge, but I have trouble with one of my wrists and need a larger needle--I don't have as much trouble depressing the plunger. I rarely get any pain, just a poke. Once I guess I hit a nerve. Sometimes I really don't feel anything.
I suppose I'm more likely to nick a blood vessel with the larger needle, so I do get a bleeder every now and then, but I'm ready for it and don't mind it. I mop it up and stick a little Band-Aid on it.
When I was going to support groups, I heard a lot of guys say that the thigh hurts a lot afterward, and then I would find out that they didn't really have the muscle in a relaxed position. Quite a few would sit down on a chair with the knee bent, and that stretches the muscle and makes pain more likely.
Sorry about that Felix... need to brush up on my forum rules. No harm intended.
I def. put my last shot in a mcdonalds cup and through it away. I didn't even think about putting it in a safe container. Could I get in trouble for that?
And thanks for all the feedback guys... hopefully this will just be a pain since it's just me starting out, and things will hopefully start to get better as far as pain goes. I may try the other leg this time for my second injection, and if that gives me problems I may try going to the butt.
*raises hand*
I injected too quickly this morning and some leaked back out.
Syringe/needle disposal has different rules in different places, but it's something I'm a little uptight about after working in hospitals, seeing homeless people dig through trash, working in a recycling center (where partition of waste streams is super relevant), etc. Or maybe it's the kid thing. I know it would never happen, but the idea of my kid getting a needle through her hand is pretty scary.
Here's state by state. Decent info even for those not in the US.
http://www.safeneedledisposal.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=57 (http://www.safeneedledisposal.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=57)
Well, now I'm confused. My doc tells me it's better to inject faster and the T is more likely to leak if the needle is left in too long or you pull it out too slowly. But I always leaked and so she had me switch to a technique where I inject in the same amount of air as I do T. That compresses the T into the muscle and keeps it from dribbling out. I use an 18 gauge to draw and a 1.5 inch 22 gauge for injecting. I also have trouble depressing the plunger even at with a 22, I can't imagine using anything smaller.
Wow. I've always heard that injecting air is dangerous :/
Couldn't the air rush to the heart giving it an embolism?
Quote from: Malachite on February 02, 2012, 11:20:42 PM
Couldn't the air rush to the heart giving it an embolism?
You're thinking of intravenous injection.
Quote from: Felix on February 02, 2012, 11:31:28 PM
You're thinking of intravenous injection.
Oh yeah Thanks Felix I knew it was something of the sort lol ;)
Thanks for the link Felix... my state ask the use a 2L bottle with a sticker of do not recycle. I honestly would have never even thought about disposing the syringes/needles properly.
Yea I dunno about the whole putting air in with it.... but now I'm confused. Is it supposed to be slow and steady or quick and fast?
Slow and steady. I think that also depends on the needle gauge - for instance you would need to go slowly if using a 25-gauge. Depending on the product, sometimes the liquid can be extremely thick and make quick injecting difficult and painful. I've also heard that injecting too quickly can cause pressure and the needle can separate from the body of the syringe.
Good to know.
Ugh... Monday is taking forever to get here. I'm ready for shot number two. My girlfriend plays around with me saying oh you're so manly I can already see it. Haha... but in reality nothing as changed yet.
I feel like it's going to be harder for me to notice changes though, but I already have to shave my chin and lip from hair growth. It's a stubble after two days. So I dunno.. maybe my T levels were already higher than normal?
I have had 4 shots and besides some pimples I got nothing so far
Robert: Haha man you funny. But my face has seemed to clear up. Not that it was bad before, but I would have an occasional small break up, and that seems to be clearing up. Which of course is more likely due to the fact that I've been trying to wash my face more to keep it from being as oily when that does start.
Haha. I have it on good authority that I had a lot of new buttcrack hair within the first month. /sadface
Hahaha... yall cracking me up. I think my metabolism has changed... cause I've been pooping more. Lol since we're all sharing personal info here!
My girlfriend does my shots for me, and I have had seepage once or twice before, but my doctor told me it's not a huge deal. It hasn't been recently, it was more when my girlfriend first learned to give me the shot and she was a little hesitant to hurt me. :D
Sometimes I get itchy/a little sore in the injection site afterwards, but I have read that it is the testosterone depositing itself underneath the skin and if you massage around the area, the lump will disappear a lot quicker (without massaging, it usually disappears within a week for me. It's just hard not to itch :() Make sure once you remove the needle, you've got a cotton bud handy to press over the site. The only times I've had seepage are when I haven't had any cotton buds to use. I also have those neat little round bandaids that fit perfectly for an injection. :)
My prescription comes with 18g needles, and although they're a little more noticeable feeling wise upon entering the skin, actually INJECTING it hurts a lot less than it does with the 21g needles my doctor gave me to try to see what I prefer. The 21g is less noticeable when it enters but injecting is painful as f**k sometimes because of how much pressure needs to be put in comparison to the 18g.
Quote from: Morgan. on February 03, 2012, 07:25:29 PM
My girlfriend does my shots for me, and I have had seepage once or twice before, but my doctor told me it's not a huge deal. It hasn't been recently, it was more when my girlfriend first learned to give me the shot and she was a little hesitant to hurt me. :D
Sometimes I get itchy/a little sore in the injection site afterwards, but I have read that it is the testosterone depositing itself underneath the skin and if you massage around the area, the lump will disappear a lot quicker (without massaging, it usually disappears within a week for me. It's just hard not to itch :() Make sure once you remove the needle, you've got a cotton bud handy to press over the site. The only times I've had seepage are when I haven't had any cotton buds to use. I also have those neat little round bandaids that fit perfectly for an injection. :)
My prescription comes with 18g needles, and although they're a little more noticeable feeling wise upon entering the skin, actually INJECTING it hurts a lot less than it does with the 21g needles my doctor gave me to try to see what I prefer. The 21g is less noticeable when it enters but injecting is painful as f**k sometimes because of how much pressure needs to be put in comparison to the 18g.
Do you really honestly ever inject with 18g needles? Oh god I did that once by accident and it hurt like hell all week. Wow.
Regarding the bandaids, I'm glad to finally have a use for all those leftover little weird round ones. :)
Jeez dude. I just looked at my syringes... mine is a 23G. Which is pretty small right? I dunno why it was hurting so bad... it hurt pretty good for two or three days.
Quote from: Felix on February 04, 2012, 03:38:28 AM
Do you really honestly ever inject with 18g needles? Oh god I did that once by accident and it hurt like hell all week. Wow.
Regarding the bandaids, I'm glad to finally have a use for all those leftover little weird round ones. :)
Hahahah, the nurse who gave me my very first shot used the 18g that came with my T. :D It's not the most pleasant experience, but I get a lot of sharp pain if there's too much pressure when the testosterone is actually *BEING* injected and it gets quite uncomfortable afterwards and sometimes I get a bruise. :( I have a pretty high pain threshold, so the 18g is worth the lack of discomfort I would get from a 21g/23g. :)
Hell yeah, those bandaids are awesome!
Quote from: Caleb on February 01, 2012, 08:52:27 PM
Is it normal for it to hurt even a few days after? It's still hurting, and it's been two days.
Maybe it's normal for some people but I've never had that. You have to RELAX your leg completely while injecting to avoid this. If you flex or have strain on the muscle it will hurt a f***ton more. Injecting too quickly can also cause pain/discomfort.
Quote from: Caleb on February 01, 2012, 08:52:27 PM
Also, after I injected the T and pulled out the needle, I noticed that some of the T was coming out from where I given myself the shot. Normal?
Not if you do it correctly. By this I mean leave the needle in after injecting for 5-10 seconds to avoid the T coming back out.
Quote from: Caleb on February 01, 2012, 08:52:27 PM
And also what size needles do most of you guys use?
I use 20g to withdraw from the vial (anywhere from 18-20g is recommended for this) and I inject with 23 g, 1 inch. Never had any pain other than an initial prick.
If y'all are worried about leakage, use the Z-track method. I've never actually tried it myself, but I googled it quite easily.
Thanks for all the feedback fellas. Hopefully tomorrow my second injection will go a little smoother.
Quote from: Arch on February 04, 2012, 07:35:59 PM
If y'all are worried about leakage, use the Z-track method. I've never actually tried it myself, but I googled it quite easily.
Thank you Arch! Idk if this is mentioned elsewhere on this site, but I wasn't aware of it.
http://octcca.org/inject.htm (http://octcca.org/inject.htm) This is a good site to read.
Quote from: tvc15 on February 06, 2012, 03:21:49 PM
http://octcca.org/inject.htm (http://octcca.org/inject.htm) This is a good site to read.
I like this.
18-gauge is a bit large for my liking. My wife's a vet nurse and said that's the gauge they use with horses lol
Quote from: Kreuzfidel on February 02, 2012, 10:18:31 PM
Wow. I've always heard that injecting air is dangerous :/
You would have to inject a lot of air for it to matter.
How much air is needed to kill you? That's debatable and doubtless varies, but generally speaking, a lot. One journal article I saw boldly declared that 300 milliliters can be lethal — three-tenths of a liter! You'd need a bicycle pump to inject that. But much less will do the trick; it's said serious damage can result from as little as 20 milliliters, which still isn't a small amount. In 1949 New Hampshire physician Hermann Sander ended the life of a terminal cancer patient by injecting her with 40 milliliters of air — four syringes of 10 milliliters each. (He called it a mercy killing when arrested but on the stand improbably claimed that he thought the patient was already dead; at any rate he was acquitted.) But people have survived much larger amounts. French doctors reported in 2006 on an 82-year old man scheduled for a CAT scan who was supposed to get 90 milliliters of contrast solution but instead got 90 milliliters of empty syringe. Prompt treatment with pure oxygen saved him.
Despite the uncertainties, air embolism has served as a reasonably dependable method of execution. After public outcry stopped Nazi gassing of mental patients in 1941, psychiatric institutions were ordered to continue so-called mercy killings by less conspicuous means. A program described as "wild euthanasia" began at the Meseritz-Obrawalde hospital in 1942, with doctors selecting the victims and nurses doing the deed. While most of the murders were carried out with overdoses of sedatives, some patients were injected with air, which usually killed them within minutes. Though thousands of patients died, at trial years after the war 14 nurses claimed they were just following orders and were acquitted. Decades later Germany saw another rash of murders-by-embolism when a nurse confessed to injecting an estimated 60 to 130 milliliters of air into the veins of 15 seriously ill elderly patients. All died. So maybe not 100 percent lethal. But lethal enough.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2866/can-air-injected-into-the-bloodstream-really-kill-you (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2866/can-air-injected-into-the-bloodstream-really-kill-you)
Doesn't look like air is going to be a problem.
The second injection on Monday went really well. Last time I think I may have had my leg bent in a sitting position, so this time I had to laid out. The spot is a little sore, but nothing compared to how it was the first time. I still had my girlfriend do the injection, which she likes because she feels needed. I'm hoping to have the balls to do it myself next week.
I think I may try the butt next time too. Just to see which I like the best.
That's good news, Caleb! Kudos if you end up doing it yourself - braver than I am! And wouldn't you know after I went and bragged how mine didn't hurt, the one my wife gave me yesterday is sore as hell today! :p
Congrats, man!
So to answer your questions.
Yes, it's normal for it to hurt, even a few days after.
I take my shots on Sunday morning.
That night it's usually fine, but it starts getting sore around Monday afternoon to evening,
Tuesday is usually most sore and than it fades away from there.
And yes, having T leak out when you tug out the needle is normal too.
However if you see it leaking out while injecting, that means that you're not in deep enough, so I'd push in a bit more and try again.
Also, I tend to count about ten seconds out after I'm done injecting before I pull out the needle, it doesn't seem to leak as much when I do that.
I've used 24g and 22g. They both have their up-points. 24g is really thin, so it doesn't hurt as much during or after, but it takes FOREVER to draw the T into it, and FOREVER to push the plunger down while injecting. 22g is thicker, so the initial puncture hurts a little more, but drawing and injecting is faster.
Good luck and enjoy the T!
Quote from: Kreuzfidel on February 08, 2012, 08:48:44 AM
That's good news, Caleb! Kudos if you end up doing it yourself - braver than I am! And wouldn't you know after I went and bragged how mine didn't hurt, the one my wife gave me yesterday is sore as hell today! :p
Haha... it mus be our women that are messing us up!
And GentlemanRDP: Thanks for the feedback man. Glad to know I'm not the only one who seemed to have those problems. And as far as the T being so thick, you're right. It's frustrating getting the T out. I'm thinking about going and getting a bigger needle from the store and using it for the drawing out. It just takes too dang long!