I've been on depo-provera on and off for the past year or so (on and off because I couldn't afford to keep with it consistently) and have always believed it necessary to aspirate, i.e. pull back on the plunger to check for blood, before injecting the drug. A couple of weeks ago I had a "disaster", namely I saw blood and had to dispose of the medication. I can't afford to keep chucking away vials of DP which cost money.

I read on two PDFs today which were issued by two different US gov't departments, claiming that when you give injections into muscle, you actually don't need to aspirate. Has anyone else heard similarly? The document can be found here:

www.immunize.org/catg.d/p2020.pdf (http://www.immunize.org/catg.d/p2020.pdf)

www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/immun ... /admim.pdf (http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idep ... /admim.pdf)

As you can see the second is on the Minnesota state health department website.

I typically use the outer thigh muscle, as it's easier to do on my own as it's right in front of me when I look down, and I do it on my own. Obviously it would be a great help if I could do this without having to risk wasting any more money.

Imho I would say, even though it's costly, and such, that it's best to err on the side of safety and dispose of the medication if you pull back blood, muscle or not. I know it's not the popular option, and may not be available for you, but have you considered having a doctor perform the injections?

I would think that when you see this happen, go ahead and remove the needle, sterilize it (with alcohol swab) then re-inject. Let the needle sit for a few seconds before you do though. You want the alcohol to dry. You pulled sterile blood from your body, and you'll be injecting into sterile muscle tissue. The body should reabsorb the small amount of blood you see.

The reason you're aspirating is to prevent your intramuscular injection from becoming an IV (intravenous) injection. Put another way, you're making sure you inject into the muscle and not a vein/artery.

--LT

Even if you pull back blood, you can inject it safely. Nothing wrong happens, that´s when you inject in your butt.I am telling you this because my boyfriend is a nurse, so he know all of this stuff.

I've encountered that many times and I always just re-inject. -- no waste!

I have been to three different classes to learn injection techniques. These range from the tiny insulin syringes we diabetics use, sub-cutaneous and intra-muscular injections. Modern technique does not have one aspirating at all. That being said, tradition dies hard. In this case, it also makes injections more painful and encourages bruising in those prone to it.

Speed

If you aspirate blood when injecting into a large muscle you can just withdraw the needle slightly, then aspirate again. If you do not aspirate any more blood then just complete the injection. This is better than withdrawing the needle entirely and starting over. Everything will still be sterile.

When you aspirate and you haven't hit a vein what comes out (if anything)? Do you suck tissue cells into the syringe or some other body fluid?

I'm not fond of needles and have only taken hrt orally. So i'm completely oblivious.

Conscientious (imported) wrote: Sat Oct 02, 2010 2:09 am When you aspirate and you haven't hit a vein what comes out (if anything)? Do you suck tissue cells into the syringe or some other body fluid?

I'm not fond of needles and have only taken hrt orally. So i'm completely oblivious.

Nothing comes out when there's no blood pool in the way; the syringe just doesn't pull back. Once I did draw some air in when I did that. I don't know what was up with that.

That would so freak me out postatracura. Maybe it was a faulty syringe and the air came through the barrel or the plunger.