A practical guide
How to inject.
Step-by-step technique for the medications you give yourself at home. A refresher you can pull up the moment before. This is not a substitute for your clinic's training or instructions.
Read your clinic's instructions first. Doses, mixing steps, and timing vary per medication and per protocol. This page covers the general technique. The specifics (which vial, how many units, what time) come from your nurse.
Before you start, give yourself five minutes
The actual injection takes thirty seconds. The setup is what makes it feel calm. Do the setup first, even if you're running late.
- Wash your hands with soap and warm water
- Find a clean, flat surface with good light
- Take the medication out of the fridge if applicable and let it come closer to room temperature. Cold medication hurts more going in.
- Gather everything you need before you mix or draw: medication vial, syringe, needles (drawing and injecting are sometimes different), alcohol swabs, gauze, sharps container
- Read the dose your clinic prescribed for tonight, out loud if it helps
- If you feel rushed, sit down and breathe for thirty seconds. Nothing on this list is more important than not making a mistake.
The two kinds of shot
Stim cycles use subcutaneous injections. Progesterone in oil and some triggers are intramuscular. Tabs below switch between them; pick the one you're about to do.
Most stim medications are subcutaneous — injected into the layer of fat just under the skin. Short, thin needles. Common subq meds: Gonal-F, Follistim, Menopur, Cetrotide, Ganirelix, Lupron, Ovidrel, low-dose hCG triggers.
Where to inject
Two main spots. Most people prefer the belly because it's easier to see and reach.
The injection, step by step
Steps
Video, coming soon
We're working on professional demos for subcutaneous and intramusculartechnique. Until then, the videos your clinic gave you at injection training are the most reliable for your specific medications. If you can't find them, ask the nurse line, every clinic has them.
After the shot, what is normal
- A small bruise, redness, or a tiny bump under the skin
- Mild stinging for a minute or two
- A drop of blood at the puncture site
- Soreness or a hard knot at PIO sites for a few days (this is why you rotate and heat)
- Feeling shaky or emotional after the shot
When to call your clinic
Most reactions are normal. Call if you see any of this:
- Severe pain that gets worse over hours, not better
- A rash, hives, or swelling that spreads beyond the injection site
- Fever over 100.4°F (38°C)
- The injection site gets red, hot, hard, and increasingly tender over a day or two (signs of infection)
- Trouble breathing, throat tightness, or feeling lightheaded right after the shot (call urgent care or 911, not the clinic)
Things that happen, what to do
I missed a dose
Call the clinic's nurse line right away, even if it's after hours. Most have a pager or on-call service. Do not just skip it or double up the next dose without instruction.
I think I hit a vein
For subq shots, a tiny bit of bleeding is just a capillary, not a vein. Hold gauze on the spot, the medication is still absorbed. For IM shots, see the pull-back step above.
The medication leaked out
If you see liquid come back out at the injection site, hold gauze on the spot and note it. Small amounts usually aren't an issue. Tell the clinic at the next monitoring appointment so they can adjust if needed.
I mixed Menopur wrong
If you only added one diluent vial when you should have added two, or vice versa, call the nurse line. Don't inject if you're unsure.
My medication got too warm or too cold
Most stim meds need refrigeration. Brief room temperature is usually fine. If a vial sat out overnight or got frozen, call the clinic or pharmacy before using it.
The very short version
- Wash hands. Gather everything before you start.
- Let the medication warm up. Cold meds hurt more.
- Pinch, dart-grip, ninety degrees, all the way in.
- Push the plunger steadily. Pull straight out the same way you went in.
- Rotate sites. Press, don't rub.
- Sharps container the second the shot is done.
- When in doubt, call the nurse line. They want the call.