Who wants to come on the journey of a self administered IM Testosterone injection? Will do trigger warnings per tweet as needed. But basically all will have a needle TW. It’s not medical advice, just how I do it and may be an insight to others as to what I need to do to be me!?

First, I get my bits together: Alcohol wipe, medication (1ml amulet of Sustanon). Draw up needle (Pink 18G 1.5” needle) and also the injecting needle (21G 1.5” needle. I usually prefer a 1ml syringe for control, but have 2ml today. And then a plaster for after.

Then I wash my hands. But I can’t take a picture of me washing my hands

Not advisable, but I pour myself a drink...

The amulet is glass. So the break is important. I hold my thumb on the blue dot and snap very quickly so that it’s a clean break and no glass goes inside of the amulet and that I don’t cut myself. (The latter has happened a couple times!)

I set it down on the table so that I don’t knock it over whilst I’m preparing the rest! It is 2 weeks worth of meds for me after all!

I attach the draw up needle to the syringe. This should be a pink 18G needle but the pharmacy were all out this time so I’ll do with this one for now. The texture of the medication is heavy oil, so drawing up is slow and a larger needle to do that is quicker and easier.

I begin to draw the medication up into the syringe very slowly because the consistency is so thick.

I’m drawn up but I put the lid back on to push and flick all air out of the syringe (just encase the needle flies off whilst I’m flicking it!)

I’ve drawn up completely now, have switched to a new needle, gotten rid of all air bubbles, and pushed a drop or two out of the needle to lubricate it a little.

To find the right spot to inject, the upper outer quadrant of the glute muscle, I put my thumb on my hip bone and circle it with my baby finger, knowing I need to inject somewhere in the middle of that, where I can feel the muscle.

I identify the injection site and use an alcohol wipe to clean the area to reduce the chances of infection post injection.

Ok, real TW warning here. Next tweet will include actual penetration of needle to skin/muscle.

Because it’s an intramuscular injection, I go in at a 90 degree angle in order for it to hit the muscle. (Next tweet will also display needle/skin penetration)

I know when the needle hits the muscle because it has a strange and slightly painful “crunching” feeling. But then I begin to inject VERY SLOWLY! Over the course of a few minutes. Because the oil is very thick and I don’t want it to pool in my muscle and cause pain later.

Then I pull the needle out swiftly. I did forget to mention that I aspirated before I injected. Meaning that once the needle was in, I pulled back on the plunger slightly to make sure that no blood came back and I hadn’t hit a capillary.

Sometimes there is a tiny bit of blood and I don’t worry about that but this time, none.

However, I always think it best to put a plaster over it regardless. Just to minimise chances of infection.

And that’s the thread! Thank you for attending my Trans Talk!

None of this is official medical advice, just my experience of how I’ve done my own self taught testosterone shots every 2 weeks for the past 2 years!

Oh! I forgot to mention, I usually massage the injection site with the palm of my hand for about 2mins after. Just to try distribute the oil into the muscle quicker and evenly!