To not want to self administer the depo?

[TibetanTerrah]

I've been on the depo injection for years and love it (no periods!). Before covid I used to just go to the walk in centre when it was due, since covid I've had to make an appointment but no issue.

Last one the woman told me they were moving over to self injecting and showed me how. She wasn't the nicest and I'm not the most coordinated and worse under pressure, she said she'd never seen anyone do it as "cackhanded" as me!

I'm a bit squeamish but I did it, and she gave me three more to take home. I really don't want to do it at home though. If I fuck it up somehow I really don't want to end up pregnant. Why is something so important being left in the cackhanded paws of someone like me!?

I'm seriously considering booking my next appointment and bringing the three with me to give back. I dont have a great reason for not wanting to really but she didn't exactly inspire confidence, it's gross doing it yourself, and if I fuck it up I don't want the emotional fallout of a termination. AIBU?

You won’t fuck it up, but if you’re not feeling confident go and have another session, or ask the pharmacy for a spare needle and you can practice on a peach so you get used to the feeling etc.

Lots of people inject themselves, some multiple times a day, some a few times a year, you will get confident and comfortable doing it.

Is it just a standard injection or is there something specific/special about it? I've had to self-inject for a while after both my C-sections and you do very quickly get used to it. The injections are designed that you can't really do anything wrong - you just stick them in, really! Plus no worries about making an appointment or anything. Maybe give it a try - perhaps you can do the first one with a nurse observing to guide you?

I used to be a nurse so I have given many many injections ,it's all about technique and very simple once you have been trained to.give them.

Pharmacies have staff that do vaccinations so maybe they can assist or act as guide while self inject and hopefully be more confidence inspiring than that nurse and if she genuinely thought you could mess it up & there would be a risk then surely would book you in for another.

Just watching needles going in to skin makes me feel bit ill, so was bit freaked out when I had to do those anti-clotting ones into belly myself but it wasn't too bad after 1st and those buggers hurt more after than usual jabs. Getting rid of the used needles was more of a pain to sort out.

Maybe I could make an appointment and self administer there with a nurse to guide me, that's a good idea. I know people do it all the time, I have a relative with diabetes and she has no choice but to crack on! There's nothing really different about it @Hugasauras , it's about prepping the needle/snapping the thing/mixing the solution and her face was at me faffing with it, then pinching your thigh and stabbing yourself... probably the prep/mixing whatever that I'm most worried about screwing up I suppose.

Getting rid of the used needles was more of a pain to sort out.

@ScattyHattie oh shit, should I be doing something specific with them?

I was just talking to friends about this yesterday. I'm not scared of needles but can't bring myself to do it. Most of them agreed they'd be the same.

My DH needed to do a finger prick test during lockdown and I had to do it for him because he couldn't. So when I needed the injection I assumed he'd do it for me but he kept panicking. I ended up asking a friend to do it for me. She watched a couple of YouTube videos and just went for it. Wasn't bad at all.

They need to go in your sharps bin, when its full take it to a pharmacy that accepts them.

If your pharmacy won't take sharps boxes, your local council might have a collection service. I emailed my GP surgery and they emailed back the letter in an attachment to be forwarded to my local refuse collection department. It sounds complicated, but it was really quick and easy. I am on immunosuppressant injections. Once the sharps box is full, I seal it, sign and date the label on it and the council collection service pick it up. The hospital give me 4 boxes with each (3 month) prescription and I book a collection once I have 3 full boxes. I don't want to drag them out for one box.
I put everything except the cardboard outer packaging into the sharps box. My drugs are cytotoxic, so the whole lot has to be sealed up.

You do get used to it, although I was very hesitant at first.

I gave up for this reason after about 4 years being injected by a nurse, self administered my first years worth without issue, picked up a new batch and had continued issues. Despite following the injections and making sure everything was clean etc I was having a bad reaction to them and swelling. Not trying to scare you, you may well get on better with it than me!

I wasn't the biggest fan of needles but ended up having to inject myself twice a day with heparin. Honestly it's fine. They tell you there is no need to but I always found tapping it to get the air-bubble up to the top, then releasing it before you inject made things so much more pain free and also reduced any bruising / swelling.

I think you need to see it as just one of these things. If you got ill tomorrow could you really go down to the GP surgery 2 or 3 times a day, every day? You'd just grin and bear it.

If you really can't manage then why not get your DH / DP or even a relative / friend to help? I really didn't have a lot of fat and was injecting so much that I'd run out of unbruised places to inject, so I'd get my DP or DM to do my belly sometimes. At one point my DD who was 5 at the time had a go 😂 she was going through a phase of wanting to be a doctor 🤷🏻‍♀️.

I think this is probably a good thing and we need the NHS to be doing more of this if we want it to survive for another 50 years.

@Tha deep down I know you're absolutely right with everything you've said! I just have to get on with it I suppose.

@chilliesandspices I think I might be the same when it comes down to it. My brain will go, 'Why? Why do you wanna stab yourself with this sharp implement? It's gonna hurt you know...'

@Simonjt @endofthelinefinally I completely forgot she gave me a bin thing too, but I'm pretty sure she didn't say anything about disposing of the bin itself - certainly nothing about taking it to pharmacies or contacting councils!

@hazeydays14 did you stop the depo completely?

Maybe you are supposed to take it back to the surgery when you need a new Px. Whatever you do, don't put it in your ordinary bin!

Yes I did stop completely, I didn’t find another contraception that I got on with as well as depo unfortunately so now I don’t have any hormonal contraception which obviously isn’t ideal for a lot of people.

You can do it OP. I've worked in the NHS for 40 years and given countless people injections except myself. I just couldn't do it I'm so ridiculous about putting sharp things into myself.
Then I got sick and had to inject myself everyday, my son did the first week then said sorry mum tough love I can't be here everyday to do this and made me do it myself.
I can do it now no problem.
If you really hate that first sharp bit through the skin you can buy EMLA cream at the chemist without a prescription which will numb your skin. You just put in on half an hour before your injection. You don't need much.

www.chemist-4-u.com/emla-cream-5-5g?gclid=Cj0KCQjw852XBhC6ARIsAJsFPN3hZhKFAZqFVM9uWMJwbrYeg_3V7HKk3Zt_ynaJiftRZWgVpdECqLYaAs9jEALw_wcB

Pharmacies have enough to do without injecting people for them and I would refuse. I wouldn't be covered by insurance to inject you with a contraceptive. You either make another appointment with someone else and ask them to show you again or you switch to another contraceptive. The whole point of switching to patients administering themselves is to save appointments and make better use of a nurse's time. I don't like injecting myself either but have had to do it and just got on with it. If you are squeamish and really don't want to ask to be switched to another contraceptive.

I couldn't do an injection on myself.
I ended up not doing them at all after my c-section. It is irresponsible to leave someone to self-inject when they might be reluctant to do so.
But that's the NHS and that's the way it goes (downhill) .

I agree with you, I wouldn't go to a pharmacy and waste their time, I'm a big girl when it comes to D-Day I'll probably just grit my teeth and get on with it then worry for the next 12 weeks it's ineffective because I've made a mistake

Post partum pulmonary embolism used to be the leading cause of maternal death until we started using heparin injections. The risk after C/S is greatly increased. I am horrified you took such a risk. Did you tell your midwife you wouldn't be complying with the injections? I am sure surgery appointments would have been offered if they had known you weren't going to do them.

I give people injections in my job, but I still couldn’t cope with self administering the blood thinning injections after my c-sections!! It goes against my instincts.

So, I’m no help, sorry, but I can empathise.

When I worked in USA everyone had to self inject or get a family member to do it. Nobody was going to pay for a doctor's office visit and insurance wouldn't cover it. If you have diabetes or similar disease, you just have to do it.

It sounds like the nurse didn't make you feel confident about it at all, which wasn't helpful. Perhaps ask the surgery for another appointment with someone different. I'm sure with a bit of practice you'll be fine 🙂

Yes was another concern I had because a bit leaks out at the end, try not to stress about that aspect of it! It took over a year for my period to come back after self administering for 18 months so I must have been doing something right.. even with my dodgy reactions 😅

YANBU. I had it for a month and have now gone back to going to the nurse. It's a horrible injection. I have to self inject my RA meds and would be fine if they were like that but they're not at all