Injection review and a couple questions

[JohnSmith]

First off I have to say the injections are great, absolute home run, and can say that anyone on the fence should give it a try. Saying this as a young guy as well. Not ideal for spontaneity compared to pills of course, but honestly not far off as it takes a few mins.

I've done 5 injections so far, alprostadil, and gone down from the 20 units prescribed to 6 units. I'm a little surprised at how much more potent my reaction is when at home vs the doctor's office. I'm wondering if my dr didn't get past the tunica before.. I'm going to go down a couple more units trying to get the minimal effective dose. So far I only need it for an hour and it's right at bedtime typically so I really don't want to stay up worrying about it going down. I haven't been unable to get it down after, but it's much easier with the 6 units than 20 of course.

When I did 13 units it was actually a couple hours early, but still stayed up long enough, so 3 hours total. That's great but makes me a little concerned of getting it coming back during sleep and not going down, I don't sleep more than 6 hours so I assume that I would never be at risk for a problem from that however. Hoping 4 units is the right spot.

However I have just a couple questions:
[list=]I am using 31 gauge 8mm needles (just switched from 100units to 30 unit syringes). Going in hurts minimally, but then when I get to the tough tunica and push it through (basically the max depth of the needle with pushing it as much as I can) it certainly hurts a fair bit more, sometimes I get an involuntary twitch too. A little pain for lots of gain, but is pain when penetrating the tunica common? I've been able to tell it's deep enough as there is no resistance in the plunger after that point, also great response so I assume I am not going to far.

What's the range on injection sites you are using? Currently I am just doing 2 & 10 o'clock, 1 inch from the base. I was wondering how far up the shaft and if I could also go from 2 to 4 (perpendicular to the skin each time) to spread it out. My main concern is that I am just able to get enough depth with 8mm at 2 o'clock so not sure if the other sites would have greater depth requirements.

If I preload a syringe how long can I leave that at room temp for later use? Should I keep it in the fridge?[/list]

[bldoink]

...... Hoping 4 units is the right spot.

If 4 units is the right spot then you need a weaker mix. A 4 unit dose is susceptible to what would otherwise be minor errors. IMHO you need a mix about half as strong.

However I have just a couple questions:

.... Going in hurts minimally, but then when I get to the tough tunica and push it through.... it certainly hurts a fair bit more, sometimes I get an involuntary twitch too.....but is pain when penetrating the tunica common?.....

I think you're more likely to experience a little pain piercing the tunica than elsewhere. However it shouldn't hurt much. I experience similar pain if I inject too low. One inch is too low for me.

What's the range on injection sites you are using? Currently I am just doing 2 & 10 o'clock, 1 inch from the base. I was wondering how far up the shaft and if I could also go from 2 to 4 .... My main concern is that I am just able to get enough depth with 8mm at 2 o'clock so not sure if the other sites would have greater depth requirements.

I don't do one inch. There seems to be more nerves and tendon or something that low that causes more resistance and pain. I go more mid shaft but I do try to move up and down as much as possible to spread the jabs around. I use from 2 to 4 and 8 to 10. Just make sure you aim toward the centerline from wherever you start. If you start at 4, for instance, it's easy to misdirect your aim. The needle length should be fine. Just indent your skin farther with the plastic nub of the syringe. However, a lot of guys like the 1/2" needles. I like the 5/16" but whatever works for you.

If I preload a syringe how long can I leave that at room temp for later use? Should I keep it in the fridge?

I would think several hours would be fine. Just make sure you use it that day. I wouldn't leave it baking in the sun.

Good luck.

[once a writer]

A little pain for lots of gain, but is pain when penetrating the tunica common?

I have been doing injections for over seven years and am approaching a total of 1,000 jabs. Even though many who post here describe the injection process as painless, I have always had pain when puncturing the tunica.

No complaint. I like the results just fine.

[Martin6469]

I need both needle lengths (8mm and 12.7mm) because my corpora are at different depths depending on what side and where along the length. It's taken me quite a while to get familiar with my physiology! There are so many variables in injecting, that I keep a spreadsheet.

I've used pre-loaded syringes kept at room temperature for a couple days with no discernible drop in effectiveness.

[JohnSmith]

Thanks for the advice everyone, really appreciate the advice.

Had my first 'missed' injection yesterday. I've ran out of the 31G 5/16" BD 1ml needles, and have switched to the only ones the pharmacy had, which are the same but 0.3ml. While the needle length is the same these ones seem to have a bit different plastic nub that makes depressing it a bit harder, as I think with the 5/16" I can just barely get the depth anyway.

Either way I couldn't get it deep enough on the left, so switched to the right and did get it in. Worked a bit, for like 20mins then fully dissipated. I've ordered 30G 1/2" which should let me get the right depth but I'll have to use these for the next week.