The best sites for giving yourself the injection are where you have a layer of fat between the skin and muscle. Some good places include your thigh and stomach. Do not inject near your bellybutton or waistline. If you are very thin, you should avoid the stomach area. Make sure that you do not inject into the same location each time. You should change your injection site in a regular pattern with each injection. Some people find it helpful to keep a record of where you injected the medicine so you do not have to remember.
Clean the area to be injected with the alcohol swab. With one hand, pinch a 2-inch fold of loose skin. With your other hand, pick up the syringe and hold it like a pencil. The bevel of the needle should be facing up and insert the needle about ΒΌ inch into the pinched skin at a 45-90 degree angle. Insert it with a quick dart-like motion. You most likely will not feel this or it may feel like a small pinch. After the needle is in, remove the hand that is pinching the skin and use it to hold the barrel of the syringe. Then slowly pull back on the plunger. If blood comes back into the syringe, you are in a small blood vessel. Do not inject the medicine if blood is in the syringe. Remove the syringe, cover the needle with the protective sleeve and discard the needle in the proper container. Then follow the steps to prepare another injection from the beginning. If there is no blood present, slowly inject the medicine until the plunger is all the way down the syringe barrel.
Hold the alcohol swab near the needle and quickly remove the needle from the skin. Press the alcohol swab over the skin for a couple of seconds. Do not massage the area. If there is bleeding, cover it with a bandage.
When you are finished, pull the safety sleeve over the needle until you hear a click and the green stripe on the safety sleeve covers the red stripe on the needle. Throw away the syringe into the container provided by your healthcare provider.