The result of therapy largely depends on the thoroughness of the instructions of the attending physician. Many drugs are most effective and safe in the form of an injection, and therefore patients are forced to visit the treatment room in the clinic throughout the course of treatment. What can be inconvenient due to reduced well-being or a busy schedule.
The way out of this situation is to learn how to inject yourself. Having figured out how to properly inject yourself into your thigh intramuscularly, and having gained practical skills, you can follow the doctor's instructions on your own at any convenient time. Our article will help you with this. Let's figure out how to make an intramuscular injection in the thigh yourself.
Preparing for the procedure
Preparation for the injection is an important part of the procedure. All necessary items must be within maximum availability, and all hygiene requirements must be strictly observed.
Before you inject yourself in the thigh, you need to prepare:
- an antiseptic bottle or alcohol-soaked disposable wipes;
- cotton wool or cotton pads;
- sterile syringe;
- file for opening the ampoule;
- ampoules with the drug.
Injection should be at room temperature. Therefore, if the drug was stored in the refrigerator, the ampoule must be warmed up by holding it in your hand.
The last stage of preparation is washing hands with soap and then subsequent treatment with an antiseptic. An alcohol solution has the maximum efficiency, which kills almost all known bacteria. But you can also use a water-based hand spray.
Preparing the syringe
After processing the hands, you need to take a file and make incisions on the narrowest part of the ampoule or on a special mark. After that, the ampoule is wrapped in cotton wool and the glass is broken with a sharp movement.
The package with the syringe is torn, the protective cap is removed from the needle, the drug is drawn into the syringe. Then the protective cap is put on the needle, and air is released from the syringe cavity. It is necessary to put on a cap in order not to splash the medicine around the room.
The choice of syringe is important. Regardless of the volume of fluid injected, the volume of the syringe should not be less than 5 ml. The fact is that its size correlates with the length of the game. Therefore, 2 ml syringes are only suitable for subcutaneous injection.
Breedingdrugs
Some drugs require pre-dilution. The manufacturer can produce the drug in the form of two ampoules: one will contain the drug in the form of a tablet or powder, the other will contain a liquid for diluting the drug. In this case, it is necessary to prepare the drug as follows:
- file and break both ampoules;
- draw dilution solution into syringe;
- fill the medicine ampoule with the solution;
- after the powder or tablet dissolves, fill the syringe with medicine.
In a similar way, the solution of the drug is mixed with an anesthetic, which eliminates pain before and after the injection. But in this case, it is important to take into account the risk of an allergic reaction to the anesthetic component.
After that, you can start the injection, but before that you need to figure out how to properly inject yourself in the thigh.
Where to inject
Intramuscular injection is most often performed in the gluteal region. For this, the buttock is visually divided into four equal parts, and the injection is placed in the upper outer corner. This method is used in any medical institution where manipulations are performed by patients not independently.
When it comes to self-injection, it's better to inject into the thigh. This method is convenient in that a person gives himself an injection in the most comfortable position and gets the opportunity to control the course of the process, for example, the angle of insertion of the needle into the body. It remains only to learn how to inject yourself in the thigh.
Technique
After the preparatory stage is over and the medicine is drawn into the syringe, you need to decide on the point where to put the injection. It is allowed to make an intramuscular injection in the thigh from the outside of the leg, in the vastus lateralis muscle, which is located along the entire length of the side of the leg to the kneecap.
The needle is inserted with a confident quick movement strictly at a right angle to the surface of the leg. It must be entered for ¾ of the length completely and only then slowly inject the drug. Recommendations for the rate of administration of the drug are usually indicated in the instructions for the drug. A good indicator that the drug was administered too quickly is if the person feels worse, such as feeling weak or dizzy.
After emptying the syringe, it is necessary to pull out the needle in one motion, while pressing the injection site with a cotton swab soaked in alcohol or other antiseptic solution.
Pain on injection
Even if a person knows well how to inject himself in the thigh, he may experience pain. And the measures to be taken to deal with pain depend on the cause of its occurrence:
- It is recommended to use imported syringes that have thinner needles. An injection with such a syringe will be almost imperceptible.
- Injections with some drugs are quite painful no matter how well the technique is applied. In this case, you can dilute the drug with a solution of "Lidocaine", howeverit is important to remember that anesthetics can cause an acute allergic reaction, so it is not advisable to use them at home.
- Often the pain is due to the wrong angle of insertion or removal of the needle from the body. In both cases, the angle should be exactly 90 degrees.
- Immediately after the injection, it is recommended to firmly press a cotton swab or an alcohol-soaked napkin to the needle insertion site. After the blood stops, you need to gently massage the thigh, which will improve the absorption of the drug into the bloodstream.
- Often the pain occurs towards the end of the course of treatment, when injections are repeatedly placed in the same place. To avoid this, you need to alternate the injection site, and when hematomas appear, use means to get rid of them. For example, heparin ointment.
Therefore, before injecting yourself in the thigh, you need to carefully read the instructions for the drug and once again remember the basic rules for injecting yourself.
Fear of injection
The main problem that people face before injecting themselves in the thigh is the psychological discomfort before inserting a needle into their body. This entails the following problems:
- if a person cannot relax, his muscular system is tense, it will be more difficult to insert a needle, most likely, a person will experience pain;
- with strong tension and fear, it will be difficult for a person to coordinate their actionsenough to insert the needle at the most correct (right) angle.
There is only one way to get rid of the fear of injecting yourself in the thigh: try to relax the muscle into which the injection is made as much as possible and insert the needle with a confident movement. After the first successful experience, the excitement before the procedure will noticeably decrease, and the next time the fear of the injection will not arise.
Injection position
In order for the muscle to be relaxed, and the injection does not cause pain, you need to take a comfortable position for the injection. Sitting and standing positions are the most convenient for making an injection in the thigh muscle.
Standing up, you need to transfer the weight to the other leg so that the thigh muscles in which the injection is being given are relaxed. The same should be done when giving yourself an injection while sitting.
Common mistakes
Despite the fact that the instructions on how to inject yourself in the thigh are extremely simple and understandable, people often make the same mistakes, not paying attention to the recommendations and instructions.
- It is strictly forbidden to use the same needle several times, touch its surface before inserting into the body.
- Alternate injection site to avoid bruising.
- When working with a new drug that has not been used before, it is better to put the first injection of the course in the treatment room. In the event that intolerance to the components of the drug occurs,the he alth worker will be able to quickly take the necessary action. In practice, this rarely happens, but the gravity of this situation should not be underestimated.
- You can not spontaneously change drugs to analogues, vary the dosage or degree of dilution of the drug. Any changes to the original doctor's recommendations can only be made by the doctor himself during an in-person consultation.
In conclusion, it should be said about the disposal of the syringe and ampoule after the injection. A protective cap should be put on the needle, and a broken ampoule should be wrapped with paper, for example, a syringe package. This way you can protect yourself and other people from the risk of injury from glass or the point of a medical needle.
waiting in line at the treatment room and adjusting your schedule to the nurse's hours.
