3rd shot- anxiety attack

[lmr28]

Just did shot #3.  (2nd one at home, on my own)  Having a panic attack (again!) that I did it wrong.  Does anyone else NOT pull bacl on the needle before injecting?  My nurse did not have me do it at the hospital, nor did I do it last week at home.  Tonight I am again worrying that I did it wrong.  Wrong angle, or something wrong.  I know it sounds crazy.  The meds went in.  Nothing any different.  (I did freak a little last week after, as well, but not as badly)
Just need some reaasurance that this is not rocket science and it can't be screwed up that easily??? (for those who do not know me- yes, I have anxiety disorder, and yes, I'm on meds for that...  just doesn't help right now...)

[Bill1954]

Hi Darla,

Between interferon and insulin, I give myself 100’s of sub Q injections every year. Try leaving the needle in the injection site for a good 10-count after emptying the syringe; that will allow the fatty tissue to absorb most of the medication. As I mentioned above, it’s hard to screw this procedure up; if it goes under the skin and *stays* there, you’ll be fine :o).

Bill

[nygirl7]

I never ever pulled back on the syringe.  I just took that needle and jammed it into my leg and pushed down.  I couldn't really do anything else or I'd get all caught up in my head and freak out.  It worked out just fine.  SVR over a year.

Don't worry too much about technique.  Just get the meds in!

[fuzzy1dar]

I'm glad to here it's not necessary to pull back on the plunger....that's the biggest problem I have when giving my injection.  I guess allot of people had someone show them how to do the first one.....I wish someone would have shown me...maybe I wouldn't be so nervoius doing it now!  I'm going on #9 this friday.  Last week after I injected and when I pulled the needle out allot of the meds came out of the injection site...this freaked me out!  I find when I'm really tired or stressed it doesn't turn out so well, so I try to relax and take it easy before my shot.

Best wishes to you all!
Darla

[Trish77]

I'm sorry, I didn't consider that it might be a Redi-pen in use.  I'm using an ordinary syringe and preparing my own injection and answered from that perspective!

Trish

[cruelworld]

there is a tacit point here thats not being brought out.
from everything ive researched, the need to pull back on the plunger for these shots
has been determined unnecessary. i assume there are situations
where it is necesssary but not for these subcutaneous shots.
older techniques requiered it but new info has determined
an easier way.
like bill and r glass said, pegintron (redipen syringe) has dropped that step
because they have determined that it isnt a big deal.
why fight all that when you dont need to?

[R Glass]

I thought we all use the Redi-Pen. If so, I agree with Bill1954. You almost have to go out of your way to mess it up. Other than one shipment that the needles were a little harder to screw on than usual, I have never had any problems.

[medicmommy]

You'll be okay! The reason for pulling back is to make sure you aren't injecting into a blood vessel..It wouldn't kill you if you were, but the med is supposed to be absorbed slowly into you system (over 10+ minutes) rather than seconds...There's too small amount of fluid to cause any huge problems, just that the med may not be as effective if injected into a vein...Also, unless you are skin-and-bones thin, the needles are so short, it would be very difficult (unless you did it on purpose) to hit anything major...Even if you accidentally injected the air bubble in the syringe into yourself, no big deal...it will dissipate...They have made these things "brain fog proof "! Somewhere in the recent past, there were some poor souls who did the Peg/Copeg trials, and worked out the worst of the injection issues on themselves! Bless them! The hardest part now, is just gearing up to poke it in!  Hang in there! Let us know how you are doing!(((((((((((((((((((((((((HUGZ))))))))))))))))

[Bill1954]

I don’t know if this helps any, but it’s not possible to ‘pull back’ on pen delivery devices, such as PEG-Intron’s ready pen, or any of the currently available insulin pen devices. It’s really difficult to mess these injections up—as long as it gets under your skin and stays there, you’re good to go :o).

Take care—

Bill

[Trish77]

If you would be LESS worried if you pulled back on the plunger and saw no blood, you might want to pull back on the needle if for nothing else, simply to reassure yourself that you have a good injection site. You don't have to pull back much either.  I make sure the needle tip is all the way in and I push it against my abdomen then grab the barrel of the needle and hold it gently into my abdomen so that I can pull back on the plunger handle slightly, just enough to see there is no blood in the needle.  No blood in the needle, you're good.  Plunge away worry free.  Hold the needle in for a wee bit after you've injected.  Have an alcohol swab ready and wipe the injection site right after you remove the needle.  You're all good.

I'm very sure you're fine for tonight.  Very sure.  I would take deep breaths and relax. You're doing very well.  Hang in there.

Trish

[Xenigma]

Lot's of people don't pull back, the first few times it's hard to do.
I always pull back but it's really no biggie if you don't.

I switch hands to pull back....
I always shoot the peg in my tummy (Procrit in thigh)
I pinch an inch with my left hand (fingers) insert needle with my right hand, I then let go of my pinch and grab the syringe with left hand and
pull back on the plunger with my right hand, if no blood ( so far I have never had blood, just white fat or something enter the syringe-29th shot to date) I shoot slow and steady, when plunger is all the way down I wait about 5 seconds before removing the needle.  Sometimes you get a little drip and other times you don't when removing the needle.  I wipe with alcohol
where I did the shoot and that's it.  

One other thing I do is before I remove the air from the syringe, I pull back on the plunger first to get it moving so it's loose and not hard to push, then I tap air to top and push plunger to remove air.  I always shoot the little extra peg, I never remove peg to the 180mcg mark...I use Pegasys.

One time I had a bad leak, my 11th week, I guess the needle wasn't on tight enough, always make sure it is tight by pushing on the orange safety device (not the needle cover)  That's a pain to get off in the begining too.

Don't freak!!  You'll get it.  I know it's nervewracking but you'll get more comfortable as time goes on...
enigma

[GingerB]

Irma, I have felt the same way as you.  (I use the pegasys syringes and this week will be shot 11 for me).  My nurse told me to pull back slightly on the plunger, but my doctor told me not to.  Pulling back is probably the technically proper way to do it, but I tied and I could not easily pull back on the plunger, so I do not pull back, and I have heard from others that they do not.   The angle to inject is between 45 and 90 degrees...I pinch the skin, and aim for 45 degrees because I am on the thin side.  I had a couple of mishaps I will share with you, so that you can avoid them.  One time, the solution starting to come out from where I attach the needle to the syringe...so now I am careful to just make sure that the needle is on snug enough.  Another time I noticed that the needle point was bent (slanted at an angle), so now I look at the needle just to make sure that it straight.  For me, injection night is not the easiest thing to do, but I just psyche myself, and tell myself it will be ok,  and try do it without worrying about it.   Good luck.  GIngerB.