My wife is starting to go through invetro fertilization and a lot of the process has me giving her different injectable medications.
So far we have gone through a week of SubQ shots given in her stomach area and they are going smooth (the needle is only about 3/4").
However, starting Friday I need to start giving her InterMuscular shots near her back-hip area with a 2 1/2" needle.
One of the steps is to insert the needle then draw back the plunger and look for blood to make sure I didn’t hit an artery.
My question is- if I don’t hit an artery (correct method) and pull back on the plunger, what will I be pulling back into the syringe if it’s not blood? Some type of clear body fluid? Or will there just be some type of vaccuum suction that doesn’t allow the plunger to be pulled back that far?
IIRC, when my wife was getting the injections for in-vitro, when I pulled back, there generally was nothing - no fluid at all (this was correct). BTW, you don’t pull all the way back, just a little bit.
Apparently, it’s unusual to get blood coming back. We went through the whole in-vitro regiment three times, and during all those dozens of injections only once did I pull back and get any blood.
When we used the smaller needles, we were instructed to inject into the fatty part of the arm, unless she had to do it herself, in which case it was to be injected into the fatty part of her upper leg.
Nothing should come back through, because of the vacuum. Once you’ve inserted the needle at a 90 degree angle, pull back on the plunger SLIGHTLY. This is called asperating. If it does not pull back and no blood comes through, you’re good to inject. If it pulls back and/or blood comes through then you are not in the muscle. Remove the needle and try again. There isn’t much chance of hitting an artery. You might hit a vein but even that shouldn’t happen if you’re inserting the needle where the doc told you to.
BTW, although asperating is good practice, I’ve never hit a vein when giving a shot. But I always pull back before injecting because “you’re supposed to”. The only time I’ve ever been able to actually pull back on the plunger is when I go in between the ribs. 