Grow some balls? LMAO!
Lalapple, I have shot anxiety too and I don't consider myself a wimp by any means. My hands shake and I can't wait to get the darn thing over with each week. I have problems finding enough fat too. My stomach area has room for about 4 shots and that's it. My thighs have room for about 3 shots each. This week I found some fat in a tiny "love handle" on my side just above the hip. While pulling the needle cap off this past Friday, it was so hard to pull off that when I finally let loose, there was sort of a rebound action and I stuck the darn needle in my finger!! I'm not a klutz either. I took shot No. 19 and it was no easier than shot No. 1. Oh...and I have it much easier than you because I only have one shot to do per week.
Glad I could give you two a chuckle =)
On a serious note, as far as finding enough space on your stomach to inject, what's the problem? The needle is only a few micron's thick - there are almost an infinite number of places to stick it. I have hardly any fat on my stomach (yay me, eyeroll) but I make sure I pinch AND KEEP HOLDING IT PINCHED while I inject, so that the needle doesn't penetrate into the muscle. I ALWAYS wipe with alcohol pads before AND after and I wash my hands before every time.
So far absolutely NO irritation or soreness from any of the six shots I've done.
Maybe I'm a bit too concerned about whether I'm injecting into fat or not. I'm 5'6" and I weight 118. I've been very active all my life with bicycling, cross country skiing, swimming, canoing, etc. I just don't have that many areas that pinch well but I'm finding them.
I have read that for anyone that has reactions at the injection site, it is suggested to try taking benadryl 1/2 hour prior to the shot to help avoid a reaction.
No matter how much fat you have, there is always subcutaneous fat (the moderately thin layer under the skin) and if you keep the skin pinched the whole time, so that it stands away from your body by about an inch, then you should be good. As for reactions....I'm not sure as I don't get them.
Meakea – My understanding is a little more like Granite's. I was told that given the length of the needles, it's virtually impossible to hit muscle. The point is not that you need to find a fatty part of your body. It's that the injection goes into subcutaneous fat. I assume (I may be wrong) that you could stick it in your arm if it weren't so awkward. You guys are making me feel huge – I'm 6', 170lbs. But honestly Mekea, you've got enough subcutaneous fat for the injection without worrying.
Technique wise: I bunch up the skin on my abdomen, insert the needle and then let the skin fall back before I start the injection. That lets me keep both hands on the syringe. Like I said, I was told there's virtually no chance of hitting muscle so I don't worry about keeping the skin bunched up like Granite does.
I don't have much fat on my tummy and A LOT of veins I can see. I just did shot 20 and noticed a vein right AFTER I injected over it. I am scared everytime because of the veins!! I don't even know what would happen if I hit a vein and the prefilled syringes are too hard for me to pull back with one hand while pinching with the other but I figure I got 52 shots to go so I hope I figure it out soon.