Get Health Access | Injections 101: Behind the 3 Common Types of Injection | Injections: They seem terrifying at first.
Knowing how to inject medicine seems like knowledge only medical professionals should know. When in reality, there’s plenty of medication that can be injected in the comfort of your own home. An example of this is injecting insulin for diabetes.
No matter what medication it is, it’s important to know about the types of injections. It’s helpful information that could in handy in the future.
Below is plenty of information on the 3 common types of injections. Make sure to keep reading.
1. Subcutaneous Injections
In short, a subcutaneous injection is a medication injection under the skin.
You can’t see it from the outside, but there’s some tissue between your skin and muscles. The injection will go into that tissue. It’s a shallow injection, and the medicine is distributed fairly slowly.
You’ve most likely seen things like hormones and bacteriostatic water for injection. These things are typically given by subcutaneous injections. This type of injection is good for medicines that can be distributed in smaller doses.
Typical injection sites include the thigh, stomach, or arm. If you’re consistently injecting medicine this way, it’s best to switch up the injection site every day or so.
2. Intramuscular Injections
Just like it sounds, an intramuscular injection involves a medicine injection deep into a muscle.
Most vaccines are delivered through this method because it allows the medicine to quickly spread in the body. People with rheumatoid arthritis also commonly use this injection type for their medicine.
When a medication irritates the vein or a vein is too hard to find, you’ll typically give this injection type a try. It’s also good for large doses because a muscle can hold a large volume of medicine.
3. Intravenous Injection
More than likely, you’ve heard about people receiving an IV. You may have even received one yourself. An IV is an intravenous injection because the medicine goes into the vein.
Because injected medicine into a vein can be risky, you’ll most likely never perform this sort of injection at home by yourself. It’s typically administered by medical professionals.
Doctors use this type of injection a lot because the medicine goes directly into the bloodstream, providing relief almost immediately. They also have a great amount of control over the dose of an IV. Medicine can be quickly or slowly over a long period of time.
Some medication would be dissolved too easily by the enzymes of your stomach if taken orally so an intravenous injection is a great way to avoid this issue.
The More You Know: 3 Basic Types of Injections
While there are a handful of types of injections, above are 3 of the most common. It’s important information to know in the case you, or someone you love, has to administer medicine one day through injection.
Subcutaneous injections are injections in the layer of tissue between your skin and muscles. Intravenous injections administer medicine directly in your bloodstream, and intramuscular injections are great for large volumes of medicine.
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