Craig & Jonathan's Injection Scare Stories and Lessons Learned - Re-added March 2013

Experiences that could help you avoid problems ! (From 2004) Submit your story! admin@thetransitionalmale.com

Craig's scare:

I had been self-injecting T for over 2 years with no problem. I'm diligent about cleaning and disinfecting the site, alternated between left and right thigh.

One evening, 48 hours after an injection, I got a dull pain in that muscle, not unusual. But over the next 3-4 hours it rapidly got worse. I convinced myself nothing could be wrong until I went out to grab food and could barely get myself across the street. I mean this was excruciating and I have a high tolerance for pain.

I called a local health hotline. The nurse there told me it wasn't an infection because a) I had no fever and b) it wasn't red or itchy. In fact my leg looked totally normal.

So I took some painkillers and tried to sleep, but woke up an hour later in unbearable pain. My thigh muscle was rock-hard to the touch and I couldn't straighten or bend it. So I got myself to a hospital.

After 8 hours of waiting and explaining my situation a dozen times, an ultrasound showed that the muscle was severely inflamed and there was the beginning of an abscess. The diagnosis was "Fat Necrosis" which I had never heard of so I asked a ton of questions and now I will try to explain it.

When you inject repeatedly in the same place over time, the fat cells that are just under the skin die. These dead fat cells can cause a muscular infection. So two weeks was not enough time to recover especially if, by force of habit, I was injecting in exactly the same spot. Lucky for me a course of antibiotics stopped the abscess. I now alternate between four muscles but I honestly have no idea how easy or uncommon it is to get what I had.

My point is that surface bacteria is not the only danger and we can't always rely on doctors to know what the possibilities are so if this happens to you don't wait too long and tell them what you heard.

Jonathan's Scare

Nick,



Thanks for posting this info on your site....as always I learn things each time I read things on here. This was particularly timely however. I gave myself a shot last Weds as always. I alternate legs & shoot into the outer thigh muscles. Occasionally I'll have a small sore "knot" but it goes away in a day or so & it helps to massage it also. This past week there was a small knot so I massaged it as usual. It didn't help & in fact got larger & began to be warm to the touch. I didn't think much about it until it got very sore & started itching deep under the skin. Nothing made the knot get any smaller. I just happened to be reading your site the other night & saw these injection stories. I called my Dr. today & he saw me right away. He gave me a script for an antibiotic & said that it felt as if there was a hematoma that had formed. He said use heat if I want but that the antibiotic should clear it up. He wanted to have me on the meds because sometimes a hematoma can develop into something worse.



I'll start shooting into my hip or butt as well as my thighs from now on. The Dr. also said sometimes you can shoot into the muscle TOO deeply & maybe that's what happened. He wasn't sure but I look forward to the knot & the itch being gone!



Thanks again as always my friend.



Jonathan

Have an injection story? Send it to me! admin@thetransitionalmale.com

Site Index