Injections previously painless, now painful. What's changed?!

[MummySharkDoodoododoo]

Right so I've always been a massive wimp when it comes to needles, can't even watch one on the TV 🤦 and my pain tolerance is like zero.

First injection back in May, I was super scared, took ages to work myself up over it, full blown panic. Finally did it and.... literally didn't feel it 🤣🤦🙈 Felt like a wally. Been doing them weekly, no issues. Generally in tummy - rotating which side/part, but occasionally in the flabby part of my upper arm.

Last two injections (last week and today). The needle has been painful and at times, hard to even get it in my skin. Then the actual injection stung a bit too (room temperature). Tried in tummy and arm, same issue both places.
Both times, I got an instant lump under the skin, almost like a bug bite. And today it bled for the first time too. Only a bit, not an issue just another observation of a change.

I can't understand what's suddenly changed? It's not the pen as last week was the last jab of my 5mg pen and today the first of my 7.5mg so different pens.

It's obviously very minor pain in the grand scheme of things, but when combined with my needle fear it's making me anxious about the injection. And most importantly, I'm concerned that whatever the reason for the change, will it affect the effectiveness of the jab?! I'm barely loosing weight as it is, one stone in over 3 months (5 to loose).
I can't really afford the jabs and I'm using credit to pay for them as I'm desperate to sort my health out. So I don't want to be wasting them by not injecting properly.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?! I've googled but not really helped much.
Thank you 😊

Make sure you aren't reinjecting the same spot.

It'll hurt more at certain points in your cycle (like leg waxing does)

Being hot in this weather will make you more bleedy because the smaller capillaries dilate

Make sure the needle is properly attached to the pen - do drops come out when you prime it? I had a nightmare jab session when I didn't attach it properly - the jab really hurt and the pen jammed.

This happened to me for a few weeks after previously been fine, the needles were the same brand, I was in the middle of the pen. Pen was kept out of the fridge so wasn't too cold. Never found out what it was but it did stop. I think it might have been 2 or 3 and then I have no issues again now. I made a post and a few people commented the same happened to them.

The time I had a lump after I'd removed the needle too soon after the dial hit 0. I count to 20 before removing now and never seen one again. Make sure you're injecting into fat too. It might be you're getting slimmer and there's less fat around!

Has anything changed? Different needle brand/gauge/length (providers can sometimes send different ones)? Difficulty even piercing the skin sounds like either a blunter needle or perhaps injecting into stretchmarks/lumpy skin.

Do you use swabs on your skin? They are not necessary, but if you do have they changed?

Or try a proper skin fold to see if it helps - https://medical.lilly.com/us/diseases/assets/vaultpdf/en/2214b8ed7a8c7ed918b211a5708242a0ed5238b4a7a33578beff06da18d5f748/tips-for-under-the-skin-injection

Tapping your skin a few times to confuse the nerves before injecting, or numbing with something frozen can help.

Check the sizes of the needles - I couldn't understand why some weeks I seemed to have a reaction and why the reactions I did have differed so much, and then I noticed that I have THREE different sizes of needles. I try to stick to the smaller ones now and have less issues.

Thanks all. I am using different areas each time and always aiming for the most fatty bit I can find that hasn't been injected into recently!

I will try the ice pack on the skin next week, not sure why I didn't think of that before!

It's Very interesting that other people have experienced the same thing. Maybe it is just a case of being the weather or time in my cycle etc.

I felt that the slimmer I got, the more painful injections were. By that, I mean my last 2 have ended up in a slight bruise but previously I had a year’s worth of injections without issue.