Injecting at home help

[j80jpw]

My wife is just out of hospital following appendicitis and the removal of the troublesome appendix. As a consequence she also has a blood clot in a vein near her stomach which is to be treated with 3 months of daily anticoagulant dalteparin injections in to her tummy area. She isn't good with needles so I will be doing them while she looks away.

I did the first one tonight which was easy enough, it's a very tiny seringe and needle but the places in her tummy where she had the last 3 in hospital are leaving very sore bruises around the size of a 1p coin. Can anyone advise if there is a way to give these injections to try and and reduce the amount of bruising or is this just an inevitable consequence. She is quite slim so this may be unavoidable and part of the issue but it will also make it more difficult finding an area of her tummy that isn't sore?

The hospital did give a brief demo of Injecting using a banana but not much advice besides that.

[Winky151]

My wife is on warfarin & when in hospital (& a few days after) has to stop & inject with heparin instead (which she does herself). She finds the best way is to grab a fold of skin on her tummy between thumb & forefinger & put the needle in, wait, then inject slowly, wait, then extract. Doing it this way & herself (even when in hospital) is both pain & bruising free.

HTH

[j80jpw]

Thanks Winky, we're doing the pinching bit but not the waiting between stages which makes sense, will give this a try tomorrow!

[Matt100HP]

Winky151 said:

My wife is on warfarin & when in hospital (& a few days after) has to stop & inject with heparin instead (which she does herself). She finds the best way is to grab a fold of skin on her tummy between thumb & forefinger & put the needle in, wait, then inject slowly, wait, then extract. Doing it this way & herself (even when in hospital) is both pain & bruising free.

HTH

That's pretty much the technique my mum was using to inject an anticoagulant (I'm not sure which one) after she had an operation last year. From what she said it seemed to work well for her too.

[zeDuffMan]

Speaking as a diabetic, although she may not like it, she may find doing the injections herself helps with the soreness as you get a better feel for the most sensitive areas before putting the needle in. I'll pinch a bit of flesh and put the needle on the skin, if its sore then I'll move elsewhere. The sensitive areas seem to move around a bit so you don't end up in the same place all the time.

YMMV of course.

[hornetrider]

As a lay person I'm surprised you have to do this yourself. Would have thought you may have some community nurse assistance.

[j80jpw]

Its not difficult in all honesty, waiting in for a nurse to turn up would be a nightmare so I'm glad they allow you to do it yourself. it's just the bruising that's the issue. Im hoping she will be doing it herself soon once she gets used to it a little, especially if she realises it reduces the soreness/bruising.

She says it stings quite a bit for a few mins after too, is this common?

[AdamIndy]

Winky151 said:

My wife is on warfarin & when in hospital (& a few days after) has to stop & inject with heparin instead (which she does herself). She finds the best way is to grab a fold of skin on her tummy between thumb & forefinger & put the needle in, wait, then inject slowly, wait, then extract. Doing it this way & herself (even when in hospital) is both pain & bruising free.

HTH

This is way to do it. It really is pain free. Granted, it still isn't fun.

I used to have to inject myself with methatraxate, there is no nice way to do it but this is the least painful.

I was told by the specialist(rheumatology) I can inject myself in the thigh as well if my stomach got sore which had the same effect, not sure if your OH could do the same?

[Z4monster]

I think slowly injecting the fluid is the best advice. If you force the fluid in to the skin then you are rupturing the surrounding flesh with the pressure.
My dentist always takes a long time when he does injections and I never have any gum pain after he's finished.

My dad was diabetic with injections many years ago. Same principle applied and tried to vary the injection sites daily so one area didn't get too many jabs.

[j80jpw]

We slowed the process down a lot this evening, particularly with the fluid going in bit, I think I rushed it last night to get it over with and it left another small bruise. Will have to see what the latest attempt looks like tomorrow.

Thanks all for the advice

[Turn7]

Ive been through that - daily jabs of Heperin I think it was...

Got the other half to do it as I found it easier.

It was slow to inject and felt like liquid lead being injected.

After 3 consecutive DVT's, one of which nearly killed me by getting into my lungs, Im now on Warfarin for life.

[sawman]

hornetrider said:

As a lay person I'm surprised you have to do this yourself. Would have thought you may have some community nurse assistance.

it is quite a simple task and most folks manage it quite well.

just for an illustration of why its best to self treat - Imagine how many patients are discharged from hospital every day who might need this treatment after surgery or having had a clot, the injection should be administered at the same time every day for seeks at a time for added complexity. Now think about how many nurses it might take for provide this service for 200 patients every day, who may be spread over a whole county.

if someone could not do it (maybe due to disability, or infirmity), and had no one at home to do it for them, a district nurse would be dispatched

[popeyewhite]

Best if she does the injection herself, as others have said, into a pinch of skin. Plenty of demonstrations on Youtube for you both to check your technique.

[williredale]

I came out of hospital yesterday and have four weeks or so of the same injections. The nurses on the ward made me watch them do it and then they made me do it myself on my last day.
Pick a different spot each day. They had me alternate sides of my belly button and told me not to touch the spot after it had been done for a while.

[j80jpw]

I'm pleased to report that last nights injection only left a tiny bruise, it seems the slower the better. Even slower tonight so we'll see what tomorrow's is like.
I think she will do herself in time, she has always been terrible with needles though, couldnt even watch in hospital when they were doing it without going pale and feeling queasy. These injections are so tiny compared to the cannula needles and the ones used for the blood tests in hospital so I'm hoping she get used to them.

[mybrainhurts]

I read the thread title as Injecting a home help.

I was worried...

[Winky151]

The nurses would always inject quickly which caused bruising & as was said above caused a stinging sensation hence why she injects herself even in hospital.

[jackh707]

Just rotate sites regularly, you can use anywhere with adequate subcutaneous fat. Chubby thighs, fat behind the arms etc. As long as you can give it a good pinch and it's a proper roll of fat.

Ask a type 1 diabetic, they do it for life.