Sub Q injection help

[Dasein88]

I’m curious if people have any advice as far as how to do a sub Q injection that limits pain. I do injections in the abdomen area. Maybe I’m being kind of a baby, but I try to avoid sticking the needle in an area where it’s clear I’m hitting a nerve. Sometimes I find I am struggling for several minutes to find an area that doesn’t feel painful. For whatever reason, it doesn’t seem to penetrate the skin easily a lot of the time. I am using a 29 gauge.

 

[Cataceous]

I’m curious if people have any advice as far as how to do a sub Q injection that limits pain. I do injections in the abdomen area. Maybe I’m being kind of a baby, but I try to avoid sticking the needle in an area where it’s clear I’m hitting a nerve. Sometimes I find I am struggling for several minutes to find an area that doesn’t feel painful. For whatever reason, it doesn’t seem to penetrate the skin easily a lot of the time. I am using a 29 gauge.

You partly answered the question: Sometimes you do have to probe for a less sensitive spot. If there's a pattern to it I have not found it, even with more than 10k injections over the last few years. Most of the time there's a better spot even within the area that's been swabbed. But occasionally I need to start over. Sometimes it seems as though certain larger areas become sensitized and I need to leave them alone for a while. If nothing else helps then there are cold sprays or lidocaine sprays that can desensitize an area.

The penetration problem might be resolved by pinching the skin with your other hand, forcing the site to be firm so that the needle penetrates more readily instead of just pressing down the whole area. I do this routinely. It may also help to use smaller needles, depending on the injection sizes. I swear by 31 gauge needles.