Self injecting and air bubbles!!!

[bizbiz]

I am doing my first roung of IUI this cycle and have to self inject the FSH. The injections that I am giving are intra-muscular and I am doing them in my stomach. I have noticed that there is an air bubble in the injection pen. I have tried flicking it and then injecting it out (not in my stomach), but it doesnt want to come out. Is this harmful? I know you can get an embolism if you inject an air bubble into an artery (or is it vein?), but I just want to know if anything will happen if I inject an air bubble into a muscle. Will it just dissolve? Did anyone else have air bubbles?

[toula23]

First of all IM injections shouldn't be in your stomache, the bast places are your deltoid (upper arm), and your gluteals (your buttocks) and your outer thigh, you maybe thinking of subcutaneaous, you will need to check which you are doing. If it is a subcut it only goes into the fatty layer of the skin, which is not deep enough to hit a blood vessel. Also it takes ALOT of air directly into your vein the cause death so you really don't need to worry! IF you are giving a IM before you press down on the plunger, draw up alittle, if any blood comes up, you are near a blood vessel and should choose another spot, but i think you are using a subcut and so dont need to worry.

[Wendy80]

Hey there... you should be fine.  I'm not sure what kind of FSH injections you are using, but I'm using the Follistim pen and when we were instructed on how to use it, they did explain that you will sometimes see an air bubble and that all you need to do is gently tap/flick the pen to try and release it (in the pen form, you can tell when the bubbles gone when an itty-bitty drop of fluid appears at the tip of the needle).  Even so, you're not injecting it into your veins so it won't kill you (don't worry though, I'm paranoid about it too... I flick the hell out of my pen until I get that damn bubble out!).  =)

And again, depending on which FSH injections you're using, you should be able to do them either in your thigh or your stomach (that's what my doc recommended).  However, the stomach does seem to hurt less than the thigh (also easier to get to).  

Good luck to you!

[diva_lorri]

definately be careful. it can be lethal to inject into your veins or artery. my friends brother suicided this way.
all the best.
lorri

[WHITTFRED]

Why are you taking IM injections in your stomach.  The proper place is the hip.  Sub-Q injections are giving in the stomach.  You may want to double check this with your doctor.

[bizbiz]

Thanks, I was starting to get really paranoid about this little air bubble bobbling around in the injection fluid!

[BabyBlue07]

I think its just cause you pain if the bubbles get into your systems or muscles.  that's why the nurse always tried to get the bubbles out before give a shot.  

I found this article. hope this help:


******************

Subject: How bad is it to inject air bubbles into a muscle along with the medicine?
Date: Sat Mar 11 11:10:33 2000
Posted by Devin McCrea
Grade level: undergrad School: Tyler Junior College
City: Tyler State/Province: Texas Country: U.S.
Area of science: Medicine
ID: 952794633.Me
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message:


I know that injecting air into the blood stream can cause serious problems
but it doesn't seem like any harm would be done if any air gets in a
muscle.

*************************

Re: How bad is it to inject air bubbles into a muscle along with the medicine?
Date: Sun Mar 19 19:00:24 2000
Posted By: William M. Rich, MD faculty,Univ. Med. Ctr
Area of science: Medicine
ID: 952794633.Me
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message:


Devin,

The reason that injecting air into the blood stream is a problem is that
the bubbles will travel to the capillaries in the lung and plug them up.
This is called an air embolism. If gas exchange in the capillaries in the
lungs is so impeded that the there is insufficient oxygen in the arterial
blood then the tissues of the body will not function properly. This can be
fatal. It also takes more than just a few small bubbles to cause a
problem. Blood clots that travel to the lungs can also be fatal. This is
also the reason for "bends" in divers. The nitrogen from the air is forced
into solution in the blood under pressure and at decompression bubbles out
of the blood.

Injecting air into the muscle or fat would not find its way into the blood
stream very easily and would not cause problems with pulmonary embolism.
If a lot of air was injected into muscle or fat it would dissect into the
tissue and form a pocket until it was absorbed into the tissue. The
dissection may cause some discomfort and broken blood vessels, but that
would be the most that would happen.