Sudden soreness at the injection site

PineCone99

PineCone99

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I've been doing weekly shots for over 6 months now, and this has never happened before.

But for the last 2 weeks, the injection site has suddenly become sore. If I lightly run my hands over the spot the following day, it feels bruised — though there's no bruise and no rash. Just a small red dot where the needle went in, and it's tender.

What might be behind this? My routine hasn't changed at all: alcohol wipes, a new bottle of Hospira BAC, a fresh syringe, and so on.

Could I be injecting too deep? Or is there less fat now, so it isn't going into the fat layer? (I've always used the stomach area, rotating the spot each week.)

I am using a new kit, though I did have this one tested and it all came back good.

Any thoughts?
 
Maybe it's the skin sensitivity some people mention — allodynia. If the discomfort stays right at the spot, perhaps those nerves are simply a bit more reactive. In this case, I'd say going deeper is better?
 
KLOW was the only one that caused this for me when I injected into my stomach. These days I inject into my butt cheeks, and there is 0 pain.
 
Kitty Paws said:

KLOW was the only one that caused this for me when I injected into my stomach. These days I inject into my butt cheeks, and there is 0 pain.
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When you inject, do you pinch the skin?
 
BNLFL said:

When you inject, do you pinch the skin?
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I'm an advocate of injecting into the butt, and I skip pinching since my flexibility only goes so far 😂 I simply tap around blindly until I find a fleshier spot, then I go ahead with it
 
ladyj779 said:

I'm an advocate of injecting into the butt, and I skip pinching since my flexibility only goes so far 😂 I simply tap around blindly until I find a fleshier spot, then I go ahead with it
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That's the approach I had in mind for GHK-Cu and KPV. A shoulder replacement has left me with limited movement on my right side.
 
BNLFL said:

That's the approach I had in mind for GHK-Cu and KPV. A shoulder replacement has left me with limited movement on my right side.
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Roughly once per month, I end up bending a needle. On a couple of occasions I straightened it and kept going, but these days I empty it back into the vial and reach for a fresh syringe.
 
ladyj779 said:

Roughly once per month, I end up bending a needle. On a couple of occasions I straightened it and kept going, but these days I empty it back into the vial and reach for a fresh syringe.
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Backloading straight into the fresh syringe seems like the wiser approach.
 
Elgordoboy said:

Backloading straight into the fresh syringe seems like the wiser approach.
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That's true. However, I still haven't worked out a way to remove the stopper from the Easy Touch .5 insulin syringes 🤷 — that's the reason I didn't tell anyone to copy my approach; I simply described what I do.
 
ladyj779 said:

That's true. However, I still haven't worked out a way to remove the stopper from the Easy Touch .5 insulin syringes 🤷 — that's the reason I didn't tell anyone to copy my approach; I simply described what I do.
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I pull it out with a lot of force, haha — the tricky part is putting the plunger back in without spraying my stuff all over the place. I’m 50/50 on it
 
Elgordoboy said:

I pull it out with a lot of force, haha — the tricky part is putting the plunger back in without spraying my stuff all over the place. I’m 50/50 on it
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Honestly, that's a big part of the reason I'll simply stick with my current routine 😂
 
ladyj779 said:

Roughly once per month, I end up bending a needle. On a couple of occasions I straightened it and kept going, but these days I empty it back into the vial and reach for a fresh syringe.
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That makes sense. I've started doing the same.

Elgordoboy said:

Backloading straight into the fresh syringe seems like the wiser approach.
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What's your method for removing the air? I gave it a try recently and wound up returning it to the vial.

ladyj779 said:

That's true. However, I still haven't worked out a way to remove the stopper from the Easy Touch .5 insulin syringes 🤷 — that's the reason I didn't tell anyone to copy my approach; I simply described what I do.
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Honestly, they slide out without much trouble.
 
BNLFL said:

That makes sense. I've started doing the same.


What's your method for removing the air? I gave it a try recently and wound up returning it to the vial.


Honestly, they slide out without much trouble.
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That’s the step I’m still getting the hang of. When you put the plunger back in, angle it slightly so a little air can slip out; after the plunger is seated and forms the plug, flip the syringe upright so the liquid and the leftover air trade places, and then you can push the air out. It might need a bit of thumping.
 
Elgordoboy said:

That’s the step I’m still getting the hang of. When you put the plunger back in, angle it slightly so a little air can slip out; after the plunger is seated and forms the plug, flip the syringe upright so the liquid and the leftover air trade places, and then you can push the air out. It might need a bit of thumping.
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Right, but with a .3ml it wasn't functioning. Perhaps I'll give a .5 or 1ml a go. In the end I simply abandoned that one. It was only 17 units of GHK-Cu/KPV.
 
PineCone99 said:


I've taken my weekly shots over 6 months, and never encountered this before.

For the past 2 weeks, I'm suddenly getting soreness at the injection site. Like, if I gently brush my hands over the area the next day, it feels like it's bruised. There is no bruise. No rash. A tiny red mark where the needle went in. And it's sore.

What could be causing that? I'm doing the exact same process I've always done, alcohol wipes, the Hospira BAC is a new bottle, fresh syringe etc.

Is it possible I'm injecting too deep? Or that there's not as much fat left and I'm not getting it into the fat area? (I've always done around the stomach, varying the spot each week)

I am using a new kit, though I did have this one tested and it all came back good.

Any ideas?

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From what I know, I haven't come across this before, and it's strange that the pain appears only the following day and that nothing is visible. The only 2 usual explanations would be a localised injection site reaction or a bruise — yet a reaction ought to be red and perhaps itchy rather than sore, and a bruise shouldn't need a day to become sore and ought to be visible. Some peptides are irritating and do cause injection pain, but I haven't heard of that being delayed or of it appearing only after 6 months.

Do you still have any left over from the previous kit, so you could test it and determine for certain whether the new kit is involved? Testing doesn't guarantee the absence of a contaminant capable of causing a reaction, but that is not very likely.

It sounds a lot like an immune reaction, given that it is delayed, begins only a day later and started 6 months after the medication was begun — that fits an injection site reaction, though the absence of redness or swelling and the presence of pain do not. Theoretically there's no reason a delayed cell mediated immune reaction couldn't cause pain, but it would be unusual.

Is it quite painful or only a bit annoying? Without any visible reaction a serious issue is unlikely, so it mostly comes down to tolerating it or switching to tirz, but it's probably worth trying either some of the old kit or another new one to be sure it isn't the reta, and trying a bac water only injection to make certain that isn't the cause.
 
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