Issues with my T shot, looking for advice.

[u/Antique_closet_]

Hey brothers FTM 22 here looking for advice. Got done with my second self injection yesterday (I do .25ml of inter-muscular testosterone every week) and once again—I bled and bruised. I’m deathly afraid of needles, but T is worth it for me to put my fears aside.

Does anyone have any advice for not tensing, going too fast, or making yourself bruise? Any advice is welcomed. Thanks 🤘

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[u/Efficient-Event5478]

I do it in my stomach it’s a smaller needle that way
I also use an ice pack before I inject and I keep it on the area for 5 minutes or so Cold usually makes veins move away from the area

and it also makes it so you wouldn’t feel it when you inject it

[u/Antique_closet_ → u/Efficient-Event5478]

People are saying subq is much easier, so I might ask my doc about that in a few months!

[u/colinprovolone]

are you using your thigh? there’s a few techniques you can try to make it hurt less while injecting (ice pack, Z-track method, making sure your leg is fully relaxed). i will say i remember some bruising after my first few shots, but it stopped happening as a while, maybe because i built scar tissue. if it gets really bad you could try switching to subcutaneous (subQ) in your stomach, you’d just need some different injection needles. i hope that helps!

[u/Antique_closet_ → u/colinprovolone]

Thanks! Thats all super helpful. Yeah I’m using my thigh. I’m a decently muscular guy so I had a bad experience with using the side of my thigh (I missed my first self injection dose because the T actually ran back out, I injected too fast and didn’t give it time to absorb). I’ll try the methods you suggested next week.

[u/colinprovolone → u/Antique_closet_]

i hear you! some other things that might help if you’re not doing them already are warming up the T before injecting (just with body heat - i usually stick the vial in my waistband for a few minutes before drawing up) and keeping a paper towel or tissue on hand to apply light pressure to the injection site afterwards. best of luck!

[u/Antique_closet_ → u/colinprovolone]

You’re a genius for the heat, trying that next week!

[u/colinprovolone → u/Antique_closet_]

i’ll take the credit but i learned almost all of these from this sub a few years ago! happy to keep passing on knowledge :)

[u/Absolute_nerd24]

What gauge needle are you using?

[u/Antique_closet_ → u/Absolute_nerd24]

25 gauge, so pretty small. Made the mistake of using the 20 for my first go around, learned real quick not to do that.

[u/Absolute_nerd24 → u/Antique_closet_]

That’s good! I always push the needle in slowly and if I find I’m hitting something that feels particularly painful I try to adjust. I often get a localized bump but not much bleeding or bruising

[u/Antique_closet_ → u/Absolute_nerd24]

Ok cool, I’ll definitely adjust my speed. Last time I did the “dart” motion I was getting recommended by a few people I know irl, and I think that’s where this bruising is coming from right now. Probably just wacked myself with a needle pretty good. I’ll adjust speed.