I’ve been pinning Test-E in my quads for the past month and it has not been the prettiest. Test-C never seemed to give me an issue, but I was getting knots from the Test-E. I eventually talked to a medic who suggested holding the syringe in my hand for a couple of minutes to let it warm up a little and between that and slowing down the injections, things seem to be going smoother.
One of the things that got me wondering though was a conversation I had with the nurse at the TRT clinic. She told me that knots were pretty common in the quads and I should switch to the glutes. I tried to explain to her that I do not possess the range of motion necessary to complete such a task. When she persisted, I basically had to explain that I have to go up the middle to wipe as I’m a rather large mammal and going around the side is but a memory. That’s where I’m at. I’m just curious if some of you are able to hit your own glutes or if you have to get a buddy to help you out. Surely I’m not the only one. And yes I was laughing when I had to explain this to a nurse that I’m sure weighs all of 130 lbs soaking wet.
I did my first shot in my glutes. I can reach round no problem but it’s difficult to keep the needle steady so it was wobbling about all over the place. Had pretty bad PIP from that shot
I’ve never tried this but often thought it should work…if you were to sit down on a hard surface, this would put your right hand right next to an ideal pin location which wouldn’t really require much twisting, etc.
When you do the quad, did you have your leg extended or at an angle, bent at the knee?
Reason I ask is because I did two IM shots into the quad with my knee bent and they were painful. When I extended my leg, my quad relaxed more and there was no pain or knot.
I do Sub Q usually but have been using IM to increase E2. Have successfully shot shoulder, pec and quads, no pain bleeding or knots. Injecting moderately slow.
Good point @anon10035199. The most comfortable quad shots I ever did I had to sit on the floor with my back up against the wall so my leg was as relaxed as possible.
I find that extending my leg actually contracts my quad and is more painful. I sit on the edge of my bed and just relax my quad completely. Slow in, aspirate, inject, and fast out. Never had any issues since day one. I guess everybody is different.
What do you mean about the knots? After the injection?
I used to get the Mrs to do glute shots. These days I do it myself into quads or shoulders with 1" 27g. Only injecting .2ml at a time which helps. I used to struggle with quads as it was quite painful and would spasm every time. What works best for me is warming up the muscle, I have a shower and do some light warm up exercises and stretching, hold the syringe in my hand to warm it up. I used to have leg straight out relaxed but I find it much better to have it bent at a right angle relaxed. I inject slowly, aspirate, then plunge slowly, hold it in for a a little while then slowly pull it out. Almost never have issues doing it this way.
When I do pin myself, I’ve found this spot to work really well. No pain, not too many nerves, and no bleeding. Plus I can do it standing up and the location is better for dispersion.
Remember that you are injecting oil and test into a tightly packed and very dense muscle mass. When you start pushing the plunger, the pressure is creating a pocket in your muscle for the oil and test to go into. It’s not absorbing immediately.
Keeping this in mind, it makes sense that there are four main things that cause pip.
Injecting too quickly. This forces the muscle fibers apart violently and can cause micro tears.
Injecting too much volume. The more fluid you pump in, the bigger the cavity that’s created by the fluid and is held in place until it absorbs into the muscle. I inject 50mg E3.5D, but I got my doc to prescribe a 200mg/ml concentration so I just have to inject .25ml at a time. This makes a huge difference.
Tensing the muscle / not fully relaxing. This creates more resistance to the pocket being created and therefore will cause soreness. This also will cause pain by the insertion of the needle due to the needle having to force muscle fibers apart instead of gently gliding between them.
Improper angle. Think of the fibers in your muscle as running in a straight line through the muscle straight up and down your thigh (or from crotch to knee). The needle needs to go in perfectly perpendicular to those fibers in order to find a path between them. If you go in at an angle, then you’re going to pierce into the fibers. Think of a rope. If you grab two ends of the rope, stretch it tight and then twist it counter clockwise until all the strands are no longer twisted, but run parallel to each other. That’s your muscle fibers. Now imagine if you put a screwdriver through that rope, you would want to be at a 90 degree angle and go between the strands. It would be hard to go in at a 45 degree angle because you would have to force the screwdriver through multiple strands, instead of easily passing between them.
Hope I’m explaining this in a way that makes sense?
I inject in my glutes. Place your thumb on your hip bone and reach your middle finger around to your glute horizontally. This is a pretty ideal place to inject. I usually hit it at like a 45 angle between my side and my rear. Makes for an easier shot. Took some getting used to but works well for me. Pull the skin to the side before injecting and release it after pulling the needle out and it should help seal it off to minimize any bleeding or leakage.
