Warning
Do not reuse any injection supplies. That includes syringes, needles, alcohol pads and band-aids. You run the risk of infection since these items are no longer sterile.
Do not discard any sharps recklessly. Store your syringes and needles in hard plastic containers or a sharps purposed container. Once these containers become full, wrap tape over the silhouette to prevent leakage then discard. Those who’ve been punctured by a needle-stick injury will have to visit the emergency room.
Here is more information on how to discard your supplies.
Picking Between Methods
Before injecting, you must know and choose between these two types of injection methods, subcutaneous and intramuscular.
Intramuscular (IM) injection is the introduction of a substance into a muscle, thus the muscular part of the word. Intramuscular injections are typically achieved with longer and wider needles. Length ranging between 1" & 1.6" and gauge (inner diameter) ranging between 19 - 25 G.
Subcutaneous (SubQ) injection is the introduction of a substance into the hypodermis. About a centimeter underneath the skin. Whereas IM injections rely on inch long needles to reach the muscle, SubQ can be performed with small 0.5" insulin syringes.
The injection process between both are roughly the same. The main differences being in the actual syringes themselves.
Intramuscular
You may be wondering, why would I pick intramuscular injections if the needles are significantly bigger? Wouldn’t that just be more painful? Why not just do SubQ?
Well, I’ve been doing IM since I was in middle school. So I’m quite bias, however I’ve done both SubQ and IM and from my experience helping people with DIY; Intramuscular is better.
However, don’t just let my opinion sway you. Here’s a few cons and pros I’ve provided for both methods to aid your decision-making.
IM Pros
- Reduced depot pain
- Reduced itchiness
- Reduced oil leakage
- Reduced post-injection swelling
IM Cons
- Scarier to inject
- Increased deadspace
- May have to use 2 needles
Subcutaneous
SubQ Pros
- Easier to inject
- Decreased deadspace
SubQ Cons
- Increased long-term pain & discomfort