Sunday, March 11, 2007

Injections and Bruising

Experiencing bruising at your injection site?

I felt pretty lucky, I was already two weeks without any bruises. I was starting to show injection marks, but they were faint and non painful.

All of that ended on 3/6. I was giving myself my a.m. Lupron injection and for the first time hit a blood vessel. I knew it too...the needle was harder to push in and the immediate pain made me bite my lower lip. I aspirated the needle and sure enough, I brought blood into the syringe.

My hands started to shake and I attempted to inject the needle in the spot next to it. No luck.

After 3 attempts I was successful. By the time I showed my husband the injection site where I hit the blood vessel a bruise was already forming.

Two mornings later, I inject my Lupron and feel a burn and sting. I aspirate the needle and nothing, so I decide to inject quickly. Immediately following my removing of the needle I saw discoloration in my skin.

I asked my Dr. what to do to prevent this from happening again.

"After giving the injection, apply pressure to the injection site for 5 full minutes."

5 minutes seems like a long time, however, to prevent bruising like this, I recommend you do it!

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