I have low testosterone, and have to get an injection every two weeks. I go to my endocrinologist’s office and one of the nurses gives me the shot in my rear hip area, around the height of my belt. Sometimes I can’t make it there for various reasons, and can go three weeks or longer between shots.
It would make my life easier if I could give myself the shots. Some people do, and they do it into one of their thigh muscles. The problem is that it has to go into a deep muscle, so you have to use a long needle. I have no trouble doing my insulin injections, because that needle is tiny, but the big testosterone needle is very intimidating, and I’m not sure if I can bring myself to do it.
I tell myself that people do this all the time, and I’ll be saving time and money and gas by doing it myself. And I tell myself that it’s no big deal when someone else is doing it, but I’m still feeling anxiety when I think about doing it myself. And I tell myself that I’m feeling normal anxiety, but it’ll be ok after I start doing it. But it doesn’t work. I’m still shlepping to the doctor’s office like a little sissy.
I’d ask the nurse to let you do it in the office first. Couple reasons: having an audience may make you buck up your courage, and the first time is always the hardest. More importantly, s/he can observe your technique, correct any errors and offer pointers.
As you undoubtedly already know from insulin injections, the key is to aim *past *the skin and move swiftly and surely. Visualize the cells parting like the Red Sea to allow the needle to flow in. IME, intramuscular injections don’t really hurt all that much worse than subcutaneous injections, they just look scarier.
Could your significant other give you the shot? Injections are really simple to learn how to do. It is a little harder for some people to learn how to give themselves a shot. What is your fear? Are you afraid you will hit a bone or a large blood vessel with the longer needle or are you afraid it will hurt a great deal more, just based on the size of the needle?
All this might be a moot point however, since testosterone is also available in a transdermal form (absorbed through the skin) and a buccal form (absorbed through the inside of one’s cheeks). to quote all those drug commercials on TV, talk to your doctor.
It’s not necessarily moot - depending on the OP’s insurance plan, testosterone injections administered at the doctor’s office are probably significantly cheaper than the home-administered prescription formats. Androgel retails for over $10 per packet - 30 packets at drugstore.com will set you back $340 - but the in-office injection probably has a co-pay of just $20-30.
It also depends on the OP’s insurance if they’ll cover injectable testosterone and syringes for self-injection at home. Some carriers will cover it and some won’t, so that may make it a moot point if the OP’s insurance won’t even allow it.
I have administered testosterone injections before - frankly, compared to insulin, it’s not terribly “beginner-friendly” like insulin. Insulin needles are what - 28 gage and a half-inch long? Testosterone needs something much larger - 22 gage and 2" long, or thereabouts. And the stuff needs a bit of muscle to push as it’s in an oil suspension. You could use a larger bore needle, but the tradeoff is that it will be easier to inject, but the bigger needle will hurt more. A smaller needle will hurt less (if it hurts at all) but the time it will take to shove the stuff through the small needle will become uncomfortable to the patient. ie: “Aren’t you done yet??” and the person giving the injection will have a sore thumb by the time it’s done.
Not trying to scare anyone, but it’s only fair that the OP has an idea of what they’re in for.
I feel your pain, panache. The only (available) migraine medicine that consistently works for me is an intramuscular injection. When a headache strikes and my wife is around, no problem; she can give me the shot. But if not, I have to give myself the shot in the thigh, with a needle that is over an inch long. It has gotten easier over time, but it still isn’t something I look forward to. Just remember to relax the thigh muscle; you have a tendency to tense up.
It took me about three months to get good at it. Two trips to the nurse to have her walk me through it. The first time I did it myself it took 45 minutes and I was covered with sweat. Now I am done the whole thing in 10 minutes.
(Here’s a tip, give the vial one strong whip-like motion with your forearm to get all the stuff to settle in the bottom.)
Another vote for teaching your SO to give you the injections. I don’t think I could ever give myself an intramuscular injection, but I don’t have any problems injecting my wife. She had to get them in the same place you are getting them–I had a nurse draw on her with a sharpie so I knew where I could safely inject her.
gotpasswords, although oil-based intramuscular injections are no joke (especially self-administered!) it’s pretty easy for a third-party to learn to do it.
My wife has given herself a shot in the tush for the last ten years for her MS. Long needle and it has to go into muscle. I doubt you will ever get over the anxiety, she still has it but she does it every Thursday. I am just there to massage her tush and slap the bandage on afterwards. Most of the time it is fine, but once in awhile it will hurt and I feel for her but she does it again the next week.
So I would see if you can get past the fear and do it. Come on man–you can do it! Good luck.
Thanks, guys, for all the suggestions and encouragement. I think my greatest fear is the possibility of hitting a major nerve, or hitting the bone and breaking off part of the needle. Even my tiny insulin injections can hurt like hell if I hit a nerve, and that’s not a 2" needle.
It would be nice if my partner could help, but he’s even worse with this sort of thing than I am. I think his hands would be shaking, which is not a good thing.
When I go to get my shot this week, I’ll ask the nurse to show me how to do it myself. I feel comfortable about doing it with her present, and if that works I’ll be more likely to do it at home. Otherwise, I’ll be looking into the possibility of using a transdermal patch. I’ll have to check with my insurance company for that.
This is an awfully timely thread for me, since I have just been prescribed weekly Avonex injections for my recent MS diagnosis.
Ugh, I know it’s necessary, and I am not really afraid of pain or needles at all - I’m covered in tattoos and have several piercings, and just spend a week in the hospital getting friendly with all sorts of needles! But I sat there, ready to go - syringe poised, leg clean, bandaid ready - and I just. couldn’t. do. it.
There’s a bit of a psychological block for me, and when I step back I can see it logically. I know it’s the most effective and the cheapest way to get the medicine I need. I know it is very likely to make my life SO much better in the long run. But as soon as I jam that needle in my leg, it’s all real. I think that has a lot to do with it. I sadly don’t have anyone here that I can teach to do this for me, either.
I’ll get it next week, I wasted the first dose by accident when my hands started shaking and I dropped the syringe. Caught it - with my fist around it - $800 meds all over the floor. /facepalm Needle had been exposed much too long by that point anyhow.
I’ve done it. It still squicks me out to have to put it into my muscle. Under the skin - piece of cake. But intramuscular shots squick me out. It doesn’t really hurt, and it is just a mental block. I can’t tell you how to get past the mental block, I just forced myself to do it each time.
No advice, just my sympathies. I don’t care about getting shots, and I give all kinds of shots to animals, but I think that having to give myself a viscous IM shot might take some getting used to. My pain threshold is OK but I’m not even that good at ripping Band-Aids off myself.
