Tymlos injection question

@alicevondall you flick with your finger to get air bubbles out and shoot 80mcg into the air, holding the pen upright. This needs to be done with every new pen.

@njx58 are you unable to see where you injected recently?

That is a lot of work. I know people who do this kind of thing with insulin, pump and CGM insertions- again over many years.

I just don't want people to worry too much about this with Tymlos or Forteo 🙂 But I am sure your system makes it easy for you!

I get a drop at the end also, after i have injected. Most of the time I don't even feel the needle but a couple of times, it has been painful. What am I doing wrong? I count to 10 after injecting. How do you track where you have injected before? What happens if you inject the same place twice? How long should you space it out before you hit it twice? I wonder if that is why I feel pain sometimes. Step 12 in the instructions says you will see a drop of liquid, but I don't understand if it is before or after the injection. HELP!

I have a weird system for tracking my injections. I found an "injection map" image online: basically, a picture of an abdomen with the shaded part representing where you can inject. I divided that into 12 areas: six on the left, six on the right, where each side has two rows of three. My map therefore looks like this (center part is a two-inch gap around the navel):

1 2 3 ------ 3 2 1
4 5 6 ------ 6 5 4

I use a notebook where the page is numbered 1 to 30, to represent 30 days. I printed out the abdomen image, with my six zones marked, and taped it inside the front cover for reference.

Day 1, I inject left side, zone 1, and I write L1 in the notebook.

Day 2, I inject right side zone 1, and write R1 in the notebook.

Day 3, left side zone 2, L2 in the notebook.

... and so on. After I reach R6, I go back to the beginning and repeat.

I know this seems OCD, but honestly, it's a breeze to open my notebook and see what's next.

When my pen finishes, I rip out the page, create a new page numbered 1-30, and just make a note of the last injection zone.

I bought lots of small circular bandaids which I put on after each injection. This marks the spot, so I’ll know where to inject the next day’s shot (and then put on a new bandaid. I make a row across, then start over. Better than marking myself with a pen!

P.S. I think it may make more sense to switch locations on your abdomen, alternating from left to right side of belly button, instead of injecting an inch or two from the previous injection site.

I bought lots of small circular bandaids which I put on after each injection. This marks the spot, so I’ll know where to inject the next day’s shot (and then put on a new bandaid. I make a row across, then start over. Better than marking myself with a pen!

That is what I do: alternate between left and right, and I have a couple of areas on each side so that it's not always the same place when I alternate.

I also find that it's easier to inject at a lower level than the navel, and towards the sides. There's a little more fat there, especially if you're sitting. I'm never directly to the left or right of the navel, even if it's more than two inches away. Lower+sides work better for me. There's some trial-and-error involved, so you find what works for you.

To the issue of the injection sites, I like the idea of marking each day's shot with a small bandaid; never considerd that. But when I was starting up, the Tymlos clinical educator told me not to be so obsessive about it. She suggested visualizing my belly in seven big areas ( not closer than 2" from the navel, and not above the level of it) and rotate from one to another area each day of the week. So, Monday is upper left, Tuesday is lower right, etc. I've seen a couple things online that say that as long as the sites are a finger's width apart, it's fine. If you only hit the area once a week, even you were to get the needle into the same spot it should be all healed from the last time.

I've been using Tymlos for seven months. My method is to insert the needle, hold down the button for a count of ten, release the button, then withdraw the needle. If you keep the button pressed when withdrawing, of course you're going to see a drop at the end of the needle.

I occasionally see bubbles, but usually I can tap them out. Note that it's easier to tap them out when the needle is uncovered -- after all, the air bubble needs to escape somehow!

The pen actually has extra doses (35? Just guessing), so if you waste a little, it's no big deal.