New Heparin syringes

[TinkerBellesMum]

I've just used my first new one, they're rather odd, but easier to hold. What do other people make of them?

Oh I'M intrigued Tinkerbelles mum!I am nurse but out of practice at the mo for various reasons.How have they changed?

They're in a kind of sleeve with a giant plunger. Very odd looking things!

hi tinks mum,

tis jules here,

how are you and baby tink?

Hi, we're doing well thanks. I'm just having my pelvic floor kicked to death! It's like having a pulse there

One thing about the new design is they're more stable than the old ones so easier to inject - especially as I tend to go for the bum!

I've just remembered something that happened to me in hospital. It was after Tink had been born, I woke up one morning as I was aware of someone standing over me to see a MW with an unsheathed needle in her hand aimed at my arm! I very politely told her I do my own and they do not go in my arm!

Not sure why MW's (don't know about anyone else) insist on putting them in the arm, it's the worst place for them to go in. Legs, bum and high hip are the best. I can't believe anyone lets other people put them in anyway, it hurts more as you can tell before it goes in if it's in the wrong place and someone else can't.

Tink - are you on Clexane? I'm on Tinzaparin and the syringes haven't changed.

(Prefer the tummy myself!)

Clexane syringes now short and fat.
Prob same length but look shorter.

They go for your arm because it's the easiest bit to access when you have 14 patients to deal with and no farking time.

are they more like the sort of thing that insulin comes in now?
I put mine in my leg before and still have shadows of the bruises, months later. Actually my dp did mine, couldn't bear to do it myself at all, nearly fainted when the anti-clog nurse gave me the needle [shame]

My cousin was on it when she was pregnant and she injected in her tummy. Why there over anywhere else I don't know. I injected her to get over my fear of needles so it was quite useful! She had awful bruises on her tummy though.

Ramble, I don't think I've got enough on my tummy to do it, not that I'm skinny but there's far more fat elsewhere and I haven't yet found a site on my tummy that wouldn't hurt. I am on Clexane, what's the difference between Clexane and Tinzaparin?

lol Fabio, I can understand that, I wouldn't let anyone else do them for me though, I've gotten to the point where I don't like people doing injections for me that aren't Heparin! I used to have women commenting on me doing my own when I was an inpatient I told them it's easier and I wouldn't want it any other way. I think the barrel is the same size, it looks like it has a sleeve on it though, the plunger is longer.

thumbwitch I wish, I know people who are diabetic and have Hughes and they refill their insulin with Heparin, not sure how they do it. I used to get TBD to do it last time when I couldn't use my legs (they get bruised and painful very quickly) so he'd do it into my bum, but I've gotten better at it.

When I was in labour they went to give me a steroid injection, I said "don't use that leg I did my heparin there today, I like to swap over each time". Woke up from my GA to find they'd only used the one leg for everything and I was in agony!

CharCharGabor it goes best into fatty areas, a lot of pregnant women worry about it getting to the baby if they use their tummy but that's not possible, but what does happen is the fat is stretched thin over the tummy so it hurts more as time goes on. The less fat there is the more it bruises and hurts!

I got over my fear of needles fast when I had to self inject! I still faint when I have blood taken, but my blood stops flowing first so I think it's a "sticky blood" thing that the blood goes into a sort of shock and slows down.

Tink - I was on clexane for my first pregnancy, but had another dvt about 6 months postnatal. So this time around my doc has given me a really high dose of tinzaparin. Apparently, the clexanes effect peaks immediately after injecting, then wanes until the next inj. Tinzaparin stays in the system at a higher level for longer, thus giving protection over a longer period.

I am now an expert at the injections. This time round I have been on them daily since December, and haven't had a single bruise or 'dot of blood'.

I have hardly any tummy fat, but pinch a piece of skin tightly, and inject there. I have actually found a strip of skin at the bottom of my ribcage that appears to have no nerve endings! I literally cannot feel the needle going in at all. If someone else were doing it, I wouldn't know that I was being injected at all.

I am now 26wks, and doc will be increasing my dose soon and splitting it to once in the morning and once in the evening.

Oh right, thanks tbm! I still go funny having injections myself, but it's all just psychological. Blood tests are the worst but that's because they say I have bend veins so they have to keep putting the needle in! Glad I got over the fear of giving them as I want to train as a midwife.