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rotten-queer · 2 years

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Subq T injections

My shot was pretty easy today, my very first practice injection was super easy but every shot since then has been a bit difficult.

Tips:

Most guys I've seen in videos say they shower right before to warm up that skin, I take it a bit farther and keep a heat pack on my belly for awhile. I always lay down when I do my shot and usually listen to a video or music.

Don't pull the syringe out just cuz it doesn't seem like it's going in!

Getting it through the skin is the tough part. If you've poked it in, just push harder until it pops through the skin layer. It'll hurt more the slower you're going, but it's definitely tough to stab yourself quickly with the fear there. If you can get the needle in quickly, definitely do cuz it saves u the pain of slowly pushing that needle through. You want to get through the skin as fast as possible.

I leave the needle in for a few seconds after injecting to avoid leaking, but it leaked a bit today regardless. This works for me usually tho.

It gets a bit easier over time, it doesn't take me hours anymore. I can get it done pretty fast now. Have someone help you if you have a safe person to do that

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justanotherqueerboy · 3 years

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Need help finding supplies for HRT?

idk if other folk that do HRT have had this problem but I could absolutely never get supplies like syringes and needles with any consistency from any pharmacy.

Sometimes they would give them to me at no cost, sometimes they'd cost an arm and a leg, and other times they would cost an arm and leg AND they wouldn't be the right sizes or amounts.

You are not supposed to use the same needle to draw from the vial as you inject with!!!!!! Doing that dulls the needle so it's not at its sharpest or most sterile when you go to inject. You're supposed to draw with a big honkin needle that you switch out for the smaller needle you inject with. But for some reason pharmacies never wanted to give me the right needles.

I do subcutaneous injections (not intramuscular), so I use a 1mL syringe with a 22 gauge needle to draw, and a 25 gauge needle to inject with.

It took me a YEAR AND A HALF of headaches dealing with pharmacies before I found a website that I could buy supplies from for incredibly cheap. and in bulk.

Here is my order from VitalityMedical:

1mL Syringe Luer Lok Tip

25 Gauge - Regular Wall 5/8 Inch - Blue

22 Gauge - Regular Bevel 1 inch - Black

(yours might be different, consult your doc if you aren't sure)

The last two links are the same because it's the same maker and style, you just have to choose the right size from the options.

I got 100 of each of these and the total price came out to $88.84

That's over two years worth of supplies for less then a hundred USD.

They also have sharps containers and alcohol swabs (100 count) for less than $5 each.

Now, they did mess up my order and sent me the wrong sized needle, but their customer support was really quick to respond and very helpful. They sent me the correct needles after I spoke to them for no additional cost.

I wish someone had told me about sites like this earlier on, and I figured there might be other folks out there who are having the same problem I was. If that's you, I hope this is helpful!

#trangender #trans resources #lgbtq resources

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transgenderteensurvivalguide · 4 years

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im 6 months on t and i had to miss my shot today because i couldn't get the needle into my leg? the tip of it goes in enough to break the skin and then it stops like there's something blocking it. its probably scar tissue but i already alternate legs and idk what else to do. i spent like 3 hours and went through all of my needles and i still couldn't push it into my leg. how do i get around this? i don't want to stop t and insurance doesnt cover gel

Lee says:

Unless you are very carefully injecting in exactly the same place each time (ie you’re doing your shot right on top of where you do it every week), after only 6 months on T you really shouldn’t have built up so much scar tissue that you can’t inject. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I’ve never heard of that happening so it definitely isn’t common.

I honestly have no idea what’s happening to you here, but assuming your needles are the same ones you’ve been using all this time, I see three possible issues here:

There’s something wrong with your leg (scar tissue or otherwise)

You have a psychological block that you’re not aware of, so you can’t make yourself push the needle in hard enough when you feel a normal amount of resistance

There’s something wrong with your injection technique

So that’s my theory. But I don’t know enough to narrow it down from there.

There are two types of testosterone injections:

Intramuscular (IM) injections. These have larger needles that go all the way into the muscle, and the injection site is usually the thigh.

Subcutaneous (Sub-Q) injections. These injections have smaller needles that only go into the fat, and the injection site is usually the stomach.

I’d suggest calling your doctor, explaining what happened, and asking to switch from intramuscular to subcutaneous injections- assuming you’re on IM shots right now. If you’re already on subcutaneous injections, that’s great; you should just start doing them somewhere other than your thigh.

While some endocrinologists still prefer IM injections because testosterone vials say “for intramuscular use only” (that’s what they were originally approved for), subcutaneous injections are safe and effective even if it’s an off-label use.

Here’s why I’d suggest asking to switch:

Sub-Q injections can be done in the belly fat, which is where I personally do mine, so you can avoid whatever mess is going on with your thighs altogether.

Subcutaneous injections have a smaller needle than intramuscular injections, so you’re going to be creating less scar tissue going forward (although, again, if you have this much scar tissue this early something else is going on here).

They also are less intimidating because of the shorter length, and because you don’t need to put them into muscle which can feel weird, so it might help if the issue is a mental block-kinda psychological thing.

You’d be re-learning how to do your injection technique now that you’re using a different length and gauge needle, and that might be a good opportunity to make sure everything is going right there.

You went through all your needles, which means you’re going to be going to the pharmacy and needing a refill before planned, which might make you run out of needles early, so you’ll have to contact your doctor anyway and you might as well ask them to change your prescription to get the smaller sub-Q needles while you’re at it.

I don’t think my solution here gets at the greater issue of why you’re not able to do your shot in your thigh, but that’s a mystery you can figure out later with the help of your doctor, ideally when you’re able to have an in-person appointment. Right now, you just need an alternative so you can take your testosterone, and this an alternative.

And as always, you should be talking to your doctor! They might be able to actually figure out what’s wrong and find an alternative solution for you. Call them, email them, send a message through the patient portal, show up if their office is open, do whatever you gotta do to reach them.

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