I've been very good with giving myself my shot on time without worry for the last two months but after some complications with my last shot I can't help but panic about my upcoming shot day.
I'd love to hear your experiences/advice about shot anxiety whether it happened during your first dose or weeks, months, years after!
Dude I am with you! Here is my shot history:
-June 4th I started bi-weekly injections. A nurse would do it into my deltoid (outer upper arm). And it was easy.
-Two months later I was taught to self inject into my thigh. After 10 min of anxiety I was finally able to inject in front of the trainer and I was sent on my way.
-Two weeks later I had to give myself my first at home shot. I was actually visiting my family for my nephews birthday at the time, so I was staying at my parents house. I did my shot in front of my brother, because I figured I wouldn't want to look like a wuss in front of him. It took me some pumping up, but I managed to do it.
-A week later (I was switched to weekly because my dose was doubled but my system didn't like it all at once) I tried to give myself my own shot in my room and it was nearly impossible. I was so incredibly nervous. After an hour or so I finally stuck myself and it stung. When I pulled the needle out I POURED blood. It wasn't the worst that could of happened, but not a fun experience.
-A week later I refused to do my own shot. Luckily, my roommate was also a trans guy on weekly shots and was very helpful in taking over the task. For the next almost 3 months he would do my shot for my every week. Love that guy.
-Less than two weeks ago I moved into my parents basement in Utah to work for the winter in a resort town. Suddenly I had to do my own shot. I have a few recent topics that I started about what I was going through with shot anxiety if you click on my past posts. I filled my syringe on Friday, I didn't do my shot until Sunday. I was too insanely nervous. I spent a lot of time asking guys here about what to do, freaking out. I watched a lot of videos on YouTube. Look up Ryan Sallans Painless IM Technique. Best one I can suggest.
-What I ended up doing for my own shot is this; sat on the bed with my leg sort of half hanging off, so my muscle was at its most relaxed. I spread the skin apart with my fingers. Then I positioned my needle right above my skin where I wanted to go in, and slowly slid it in. It was the easiest shot I have ever given myself, I didn't have any pain. It's the weirdest thing, I'm EXCITED for my next shot. I'm practically counting down the days til I can do it again, because I finally feel in complete control of my own transition. I'm so happy about it. So, I'me around if you wanna swap nerve stories, because I definitely understand even though now I feel like I have it down.
I don't do my own shots, but I always feel a tinge of dread initially.
I get shot anxiety, I do my shots weekly. My first shot took an hour, the second a few minutes, then the anxiety came back for the third and fourth which took 30 minutes. Since then I do them in 15 usually. What worked for me at first was listening to music, but then I began to get anxiety whenever I heard the song I tended to listen to, so I stopped that. The next week, I woke up late and had to do my shot very quickly in order to get to class on time (and a tardy is an absence at my school) so I ended up doing it crazy quickly and I didn't get nearly as anxious- I don't mean that I went in quickly with the needle, I just mean that I did everything on autopilot then when I did the shot I just stuck it straight in. After that I decided that if I could stick myself like I did the week before, I'd eat a donut for breakfast and that worked. So now I just do not think about what I'm about to do, I just prepare everything and do it before I have a chance to think past proper technique, and that keeps my anxiety at bay just enough.