Giving myself my first Lovenox injection.

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marc_kowal

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Jan 4, 2012
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Location
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So today was the first day of me bridging for a procedure on Tuesday. So I figured since others may find this helpful, I would write about it.

First things first, wash the hands.

You need to give your self a shot in the stomach, about 2 inches from your belly button. You swab the area with an alcohol pad and then pinch the area, because you want the injection to go into your fat, not the muscle. Injecting into the muscle could cause bleeding into the muscle. Lucky for me I'm not as young as I once was and have some belly fat. 😀

So the syringes I have are pre-loaded with 100 mgs of Lovenox. Based on my weight, my doctor wants me to take 90 mgs. So, take the cap off, and squirt 10 mgs out. Nothing hard about that. With a shot that goes into your veins, you want to remove any air bubbles from the syringe, since this is going into your fat/tissue, you leave the air bubble in the syringe, as it helps deliver the Lovenox into your system.

So now it's time to give myself the shot. I figure this should be no problem, as I have no problems getting shots or giving blood. Hold the syringe in my left hand, pinch my belly with my right hand, look at my wife, look at my stomach, look at my wife again. Damn, this is harder than I thought. I really don't want to have my wife giving me these shots. Deep breath, look at my belly and jab the syringe in. Didn't even feel it go in. Inject the Lovenox and pull the needle out. No bleeding from the site.

Area had a little stinging and was a tiny bit sore for about an hour, then I didn't even notice it.

Take the syringe and put it into a "sharps container" that I bought from Amazon.

Did my second shot tonight with no problems.


I hope this helps anyone who wondered about what it's like giving your self a Lovenox shot. If you have any questions, let me know.


~Marc
 
I haven't had my valve surgery yet, but I read this with interest. It sounds like it got easier for you to carry out, after the first injection. Hope your upcoming procedure goes very smoothly, Marc.
 
I had to bridge with Lovenox for a cardiac catheterization a few months ago. A few comments:
Yes, it's good to put the spent cartridges into a sharps container - the same goes for lancets. However, the lovenox syringes that I got (and probably the standard for all injectors) have an automatic retracting mechanism that, after you remove the syringe and press the plunger even harder, draws the needle into the injection device. The risk of being stuck by one of these (or a self-retracting lancing device, for that matter) is pretty slow, UNLESS a person REALLY WANTS to get stuck. There's no exposed needle if you press the plunger hard enough.

WShen using Lovenox, try to use different areas on your abdomen. If you do multiple injections in nearly the same place, you'll wind up with bruising. (The bruises didn't hurt, but didn't look very good, either). I saw one video where the person doing the injections said that after you remove the needle, rubbing the area to distribute the Lovenox reduces bruising.

Who knows?

Lovenox DOES burn for a while (at least, it did for me); I wouldn't want to be using it for longer than necessary, but it DEFINITELY has a place in preventing clots while the INR is brought intentionally low.
 
Hi there. 45/f OnX aortic, 3 years. target INR range 1.5-2.5, daily warfarin dose 7.5-10mg/day w/81mg aspirin

spots on mammogram led to scheduling a biopsy (insert terror here)

I didn't want to bridge, didn't bridge for tooth extraction, not sure why I have to bridge for needle biopsy. OK, anyway....

Procedure scheduled for a Thursday afternoon.
Previous Friday was last dose of warfarin,
Sunday was last dose of aspirin.
Monday afternoon INR1.9,first enoxaparin/lovelnox shot, done by RN to show me. minimal bruising, BURN, general ill feeling for several hours.
Tuesday 3:00 am (when I leave for work) husband gave shot, bobbled the needle, look like I got kicked in the gut by a horse. General ill feeling all day.
Tuesday 3 pm I did my own. Prepped everything, pinched fat, rested needle on skin & coughed rather forcefully. Bzzzp, went right in. Applied pressure, ice pack, still general ill feeling, but only for a few hours.
Wednesday 3am, I bobbled a little and have a good sized bruise, like maybe I got kicked by a dog. Nurse never called about 3pm dose, so I didn't.
Wednesday 7pm - Large serving of asparagus for dinner - yum!
Thursday 1am - set my alarm for the wrong time and missed my last chance for a dose before procedure, per the RN from biopsy center. Also forget to set my alarm to get up for work, was 45 min late.
Thursday 2pm - INR .9 at biopsy center, no bleeding during/after procedure
Thursday 7 pm - resume aspirin & 10 mg warfarin.
Friday 3 am - shot, no problems - AVOIDING GREENS TEMPORARILY
Friday 1pm - INR 1.0 @ coumidin clinic
Friday 3 pm - shot, no problem, ice pack (& nap lol)
Friday 7pm - aspirin & 10 mg warfarin, 1 beer
Saturday 5am - shot, 7.5 mg warfarin
Saturday 5pm - shot, 7.5 mg warfarin, aspirin, 1 beer
Sunday 5 am prescribed - shot, 5mg warfarin
Sunday 5 pm prescribed 1 shot, 7.5 mg warfarin
Monday - 1pm - test INR

I'm looking forward to the day when I don't have to worry about bridging for a procedure. I was scared at first of being off warfarin for so long, but once I researched and understood how everything works, I'm cool with it. I just don't like it.

Btw, biopsy came back benign. Thank God!
 
Grats on the biopsy! Bridging went pretty much same for me and glad to read those "oops" happen to all.
 
When I had to bridge, I really wanted my wife to give me the shot. Shots don't bother me at all, but I didn't want to do it myself. She looked so nervous that I was more scared of her looking scared than I was of giving myself the shot so I did it. The first one did take a bit of self coaxing though.
 

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