Hi there gamers! Let’s play a quirky little exercise called “spot the differences”! Trick question, because there are none!
If you want a call to action besides the obvious political ones, here would be my advice: start stockpiling now. Know how to use sterile techniques for your vials for 1-2 punctures extra, and then keep picking up your other prescriptions. If you’re on DiY, make sure you have extra on hand. If you have a provider, see if they’ll support prescribing you a bit extra now.
Stay safe, please. This extends well beyond the UK. The world is watching.
some aseptic tips:
Wash your hands with soap and water or use hand sanitizer before each injection and wear gloves. Clean the top of your vials with an alcohol pad by swabbing in a circular fashion, then let it dry for about 30 seconds.
Prep the injection site by using an alcohol pad or chlorhexidine and, again, cleaning in a circular fashion. Go from small circles to big circles, moving out from the injection site and let it dry for 30 seconds. Once clean, do not touch your injection site
For intramuscular injection, Use a 21-23 gauge hypodermic needle, pull the skin tight, and you want to insert the needle at a 90 degree angle to the injection site (like when you get a shot at the doctor’s office). Your injection sites for intramuscular are the sides of your shoulders and your thigh.
For Subcutaneous injection, use a 24-26 gauge hypodermic needle and pinch the skin about an inch (pinch an inch!). You’re not aiming to go into the muscle, so you’ll insert the needle at a 45 degree angle to the injection site. Your injection sites are your belly around the belly button region, and tops of your thighs. Those will probably be the easiest regions for you to self-administer.
Feel free to add more advice
Better written than any advice I could have given. Thank you so much. Also, this should all happen for any injection, just make damn sure its also happening if you’re using extra punctures.
A small bit of advice I can give (although tbf, this is mostly from animal work) is to ensure that the seal on the vial is intact, and stays intact. The ways I use to help keep the seal in better condition are 1, use a slightly smaller draw needle than needed (I use a 22g for draw, 26g for injection), and also take care not to overpuncture from a single spot on the vial.
Keep good track of how many punctures a single vial has been used for, and make sure to note the date of the first puncture.
Immediately switch to a different vial if you notice anything wrong with the vial or the seal. This can include contaminants or abnormal particles in the medication (including pieces of the seal), leakage of the seal, or holes.
This equally applies to prescribed medication, as well as DiY medication.
I AM NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, however. I am a transfemme that has an extremely limited orthogonal amount of experience from doing animal research in the past. Fair warning that I do tend to push some limits, and this is no exception. If you have the option of consulting with a medical professional, use that option, but do not hesitate to DiY when you need to.
