Question about Injection Technique

I am fairly new to self injecting and I have a few questions

Should I inject like a dart, or ease it into the muscle? (I am injecting into the quadriceps)

How do you check if you are in a vein, how hard do you need to pull back on the plunger to see the blood in the syringe?

How common is it to hit a nerve? And what should I do if it happens? I asked nurses and they say don’t worry about it, it will very likely never happen, but that is contrary to what I have read on discussion boards.

Have you read the protocol for injections sticky?

It does not address your specific questions but will be a good read.

The bottom line is to do whatever you find most comfortable doing. Getting the needle through the skin quickly will be best. Try to see and avoid veins as they have nerves and will create discomfort that radiates in an odd way that indicate that it is vein pain.

What syringe and what needle gauge and length?

These are my observations and experiences after seven months. Not recommendations or claims of the best techniques.

I insert the needle very slowly. If I hit a vein or a nerve I get a muscle spasm, pull it out, change the needle and start fresh. This never happens in my delts but is fairly common in my vastus lateralis. Probably four times in 7months. It bleeds like a mofo but no big deal. Seems to happen when I try the z method.

When I aspirate I see a tad of clear liquid and call it good. I forgot to aspirate once and went right into a vein. Felt crappy for ten minutes with no further noticeable complications.

Wow thanks for the fast responses guys.

I have read the stickies (they are what gave me the knowledge to get myself a injection script).

My needles are: “BD Needles 21G X 1”

I have been self injecting for 2 months and everything has been going fine except last week, when I injected I must have hit a vein because i felt a spasm of pain and blood started coming out of the site pretty quick. What I did was pull it out, clean up, and re-did the injection just fine.

After you inject, press on injection site for 10-15 seconds to allow small vessels to seal off. This prevents bleeds and bruises.

Many inject with 0.5ml #29 1/2" insulin needles. The T gets absorbed at any muscle depth or SC.