Urgent! Am I going to die?? Didn’t prime properly.

[Possiges]

First time injecting and messed up. Badly. I did the two clicks to prime and didn’t see liquid. Did two clicks again. Not liquid. I assumed then that the amount of liquid must be so small it’s not visible.

So proceeded to inject and pressed the dial - it moved a bit and then got stuck. I assumed I wasn’t doing it right so pressed really REALLY hard and still nothing happened and the dial wouldn’t move.

Removed the needle and then liquid squirted. So clearly this was the priming happening that I didn’t do right before.

Did it again in a different injection site and it worked perfectly.

But now I’m terrified I’ve injected an air embolism into myself and I’m going to die!!!!

Someone please help!!! Should I call 111?!?!

You’re fine, the needles aren’t deep enough for that. Dont panic.

There's no air in the pens for you to have injected into yourself

Air embolism occurs when significant volumes of air are injected into a blood vessel. A tiny amount subcutaneously will not cause any issues.

You're injecting subcutaneously, air embolisms only happen when air is injected directly into a blood vessel. The pens also don't have air in them. You'll be completely fine.

Injecting into fat is really safe, that's why we are allowed to do it at home with no
medical training! It's not like an injection into a vein that a nurse will do

Could I have accidentally hit a vein???

Did it piss with blood afterwards? If not, then no. Even if it did the amount of sir required to create an air embolism is huge. Like 5ml. You will be fine.

No, as the others have said, you can't hit a vein. They are far far too small in the areas where you inject, and couldn't possibly be hit by the needle. Plus, there is no air in the pen, so no air to inject. If air embolisms were a risk, then no one would be allowed to do subcutaneous injections at home.

If this happens again, change the needle if no liquid appears. Priming is to check that the pen needle is attached correctly, so liquid can flow. Check the paper instructions, it says if you don't see a drop of liquid after trying to prime twice, you should change the needle and try again.

There's no air to inject, where did you inject yourself

Also, assuming I do survive - could I have wasted a big part of my first dose as there was a powerful squirt when I pulled it out

Sorry. I didn’t mean for that last bit to sound so rude. I’m potentially hours from death so this is no time for innuendos!

OP I honestly don’t think it’s wise you self inject a medication when you have no idea about basics.

Do you think they’d let non medical people inject themselves if there was a risk they could die?

Just chill. Try again next week and don’t worry about it.

Stomach. Plenty of fat there.

You have wasted a little amount, you are not the first or last person to do this when they start, are you normally very anxious

If you’re that worried that you’re ’hours from death’ OP why haven’t you dialled 999? 🙄

Well, yes some of the dose was squirted out when you took the needle out of your body. But you can't do much about that now. Just do next week's dose as normal and carry on from there.

When you say you "did it again", do you mean just inserting the needle and continuing to press the plunger?

Sorry if I am asking a stupid question but did you twist the dial and then press the end of the pen?

Can I strongly recommend reading the paper instructions again, and then having them in front of you and checking each step next time.

I actually had a YouTube video in front of me at the same time and was following it step by step…

there was a large trickle of blood when I took the needle out….

You’ll be absolutely fine. I hope you’ve been reassured.

Youtube videos are great, but you should also be following the paper instructions from the manufacturer as well. You would probably have avoided this issue if you had followed the paper instructions, as you would have realised you needed to change the needle and try priming again.

It is possible to put the needle on a little wonkily, or to bend the internal part of the needle when attaching it to the pen, which means either it doesn't work at all or that the flow of medication is compromised. If the pen is stiff or jammed, it can mean that the liquid is not flowing through the needle, and you need to stop pushing the plunger down. All that does is increase the pressure inside the pen, resulting in the spurting that you experienced when the pressure was released.

Based on how hard it seems to be for medical staff to find a vein in an actual veiny part of a body it would be somewhat of a miracle if you managed to accidentally find one in a non-veiny part of your body. There also isn’t any air in the pen so I feel comfortable saying that your risk of an air embolism is incredibly incredibly incredibly small.

in terms of wastage, you prime the pen to make sure that the liquid is right up to the tip of the hollow needle before injecting to make sure you get the full dose, but the amount that the hollow needle holds (or doesn’t if it isn’t primed) is teeny tiny. So at worst you’ve received a very minimally smaller dose than you should have but the likelihood of that being enough to make any difference is small.

I am reassured. Thank you ladies. I did read the pharmacy instructions and watched the video multiple times. So I’m not sure how I messed up.

Don’t be down hearted OP. I couldn’t figure out the pen either so DH does mine every week. Fingers crossed you don’t die!

Did you turn the dial all the way to "1" as well 2 clicks to prime? If not, that's your problem.