Help with heparin

[1babyplease]

Hi Ladies,

Can any of you offer me any practical advice on my heparin injections. The heparin frequently burns when I am injecting and some of the bruising has been quite bad.

Also, I have this irrational fear of injecting in my leg - so I am rotating spots on my tummy and keep running out of room. Is there any reason that leg injections would be better or worse than tummy?

Thanks for any advice you can give!

[Tabithalyn]

Having never done the "leg" region I can't help you there..
Having DONE heparin injections for more than a year now... I CAN help there...
1) is the alcohol swipe you are using totally DRY before you attempt the needle?? at this point I avoid the alcohol swipe altogether and don't have incidents of stinging very much at all;

2) some areas are going to sting more than others, do you try and pinch the skin with the injection and slowly release the skin and do the injection slowly.. I found doing th einjection slower helps take out any potential sting.

3) many women swear by icing before the needle or using witch hazel after the needle - that can take away the pain effect. I also use some ARnica Gel to help subside the bruising altho' it doesn't work miraculously it does seem to provide some reflief you just have to reapply frequently.

I hope these tips can help out... also I do circulate needle sites and one area I find less painful is immediately around the bellybutton cirucumference... believe it or not -you should be an inch or two away from the actual button but it seems to hurt less and also on the love-handle section of my sides....

best of luck hope your baby goal is coming soon!
Ally

[Danielle_PT]

I just stopped my heparin last week after being on it since last March. I started in my tummy, then moved to my thigh and then moved to my butt. That was the best for me since I didn't want my bruises on my growing belly.

I found that if I injected straight in vs. on an angle, it hurt a lot less. Injecting the heparin slowly also seemed to help.

It gets a lot easier. Hang in there!

[Blondie8]

I've always been a belly girl, our Docs don't recommend Heparin anywhere else.

What helps me is making sure the alcohol is completely dry as this is the burning sensation you're feeling. I also look at the slotted tip of the needle and place the need against the skin, if you do it backwards the tip can be very painful. When you're moving the needle inward (once you've punctured your skin) if you hit a nerve it will hurt, otherwise it shouldn't. If I hit a nerve find somewhere else to inject.

[1babyplease]

Thanks so much for all of your responses. I definitely haven't been allowing the alcohol to dry to that could be part of the problem there. Sometimes it hurts to just insert the needle - so all of the advice definitely helps!

Any success stories with heparin users? I've had 4 previous miscarriages but this is the first since I've started the heparin & aspirin. Can't help but be nervous...

Thanks again!

[Blondie8]

Any success stories with heparin users? I've had 4 previous miscarriages but this is the first since I've started the heparin & aspirin. Can't help but be nervous...

LOSS and LC MENTIONED~~~~~~~~~~

DS is pregnancy #5, after a second trimester loss and then three early losses (10-12 wks) before that. For DS's pregnancy there was a couple of "new" treatments, this after I completely changed my health care providers, researched alot, had far more extensive tests and had gone from "unexplained" to a couple of possible diagnoses to account for our history. Loosing our DD resulted in some painful lessons learned and some serious awakening of backbone on my part.

Anyhow, I digress. What was different about DS's pregnancy insofar as treatment was: taking BA, Heparin, having a cerclage inserted at 13 weeks and lots of bedrest. I don't know if/what any of these were the magic answer, though certainly Heparin covered my ACA's and APA's and without it onboard, I would have likely m/c'd again. In my mind, Heparin was critical to the success of luck #5, best of luck to you.