Hi, for some reason the past three times I've tried to give myself a shot I hit a nerve, and it's god awful dangerous because every time my hand automatically takes out the injection... I have lost a bit of weight, but I don't think that's it? Usually I divide my leg into 3 and from the top I'll put it on the line that divides the middle and outer half. Am I doing it in the wrong place? Honestly I'm getting a bit scared to do it now and I've only been on for 6 months. If I'm doing it in the wrong place where should I be doing it? My mum said she'll do it in my bum but that's dangerous too and I'd rather have control of the needle.
Thank you

Dear  cleverusername

Welcome to Susan's. I hope you enjoy your time here.

Why do you think you keep hitting a nerve.?


So you are able to get the very best from being here there are a couple of links we give to all our new members

Regards

Liz

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What kind of sensation are you experiencing?

There is a sharp pain involved sometimes in the initial point where the needle pierces the skin. Over time, this also might become more difficult to do as scar tissue accumulates in the area, and this also results in more pain.

If you have very thin legs, you may need a shorter needle. For intramuscular injections, an average size or heavier guy can use something up to 1.5" in length. If you're thin, I would request 1" needles. You could also consider switching to subcutaneous injections which don't require too much depth and use shorter needles.

For me, I divide the leg in half at the knee and in half mid-thigh. I keep to the outer side of the leg and I try to stay within 4-6 inches of the middle (so 2-3 inches out from the mid point of the thigh). Every now and then I will get some random pain once the needle is in. If I feel like it's getting worse as I press or if I'm encountering significant resistance, I just inject right there and then remove the needle.

Maybe once a quarter I will get some significant bleeding when I remove the needle. It's random, most likely from nicking a capillary. I've never had any issues aside from this. I'd suggest going back to the nurse or doctor who initially taught you to inject and having them show you again.

I'll state the obvious.... for some people shots just plain hurt no matter what. What is being injected can also hurt. Too much too fast can also hurt. If when a medical professional gave you the same shot in the same area and it went fine, then likely you aren't a pro.

When I was first starting to do shots I was having what sounds a lot like what you're going through. All the on-line guides, drawings and whatnot sort of said I was doing everything right but.....

Eventually I saw I was not 2 key points exactly right. The first thing I noticed was sometimes the needle seemed to dance or spin around. Certainly not right. One muscle contracting can make it move one way and back but not in the multiple directions I felt and even saw it doing. In essence I was just on the edge of the muscle that was the primary target, went through that one and hit another one. I was a bit too low and a bit too much towards the front of my thigh.

The guides always show a person standing up. Me, I am sitting down when I do a shot. All sorts of things in my legs shift around when I do. I try to do that muscle that starts sort of at the pelvis and ends near the front of the knee going about 1/4 of the way around your thigh. Tense that puppy up while standing to get the knack for it feeling for it and locate the target point. Keeping my finger there I sat down and tensed it up again to double and triple check. It sure was off from where I thought I was going before.

Oh, and RELAX, especially including that muscle and the leg in general. Easier said then done after having a shot or two that hurt like heck.

Most times now everything goes fine. When it sometimes hurts I kind of know I didn't get the angle going in just right or too tensed up or just plain bad luck. The worse these days is nicking that vein on the way in and having blood squirt out a few inches.