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Advice on preventing bruising with blood thinning injections

Katiey-lee
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Hi,

My father has a grade 4 glioblastoma and is currently on palliative care and having palliative chemo. My mum and I are currently taking care of him.

recently he developed a blood clot in his leg and we are now having to give him blood thinning injections everyday. 4 out of the 5 times that he has had the injection, the injection caused a pretty nasty bruise. He is having the injections in his tummy, I am aware that some people do these injections in the thigh however we wasn't told that we could do it there.

I give him the injection in a different part of the stomach every time. I make sure to be at least 2 inches from the belly button. I make sure to pinch the skin and insert the needle at a 90° angle. I know that bruising is common with these injections but I can't help but feel maybe I am doing them wrong or could be doing something more to prevent these bruises.

Any advice or tips to help prevent these bruises would be much appreciated!

Thank You 

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    I recently had two lots of these injections pre op had to repeat due to cancellation on the day. The first l gave in the leg with out problems the second thought l would try the abdomen they bruised spectacularly ! I'm not sure if it  was due to first round of injections. 5 weeks before or not. I also find that giving it slowly and definitely not rubbing afterwards made it les painful l was having a big dose using two injections at a time.l have factor five Leiden or it's called sticky blood so have had loads of clexane over the years post surgery and clots. Last time they suspected a clot in my leg l had tablets instead maybe worth talking to the drs about them. 
    Take care

    Susie

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    Hi Katie-lee

    It sounds like you are doing a great job with your dad’s injections, and doing everything right. I have been on courses of these several times and have never been able to avoid bruising, so can’t advise on how to avoid it. I was told it was all very normal and to be expected. On one course, after I had a pulmonary embolism, I was able after a couple of months to switch to a tablet form which was much better. Up till then, my stomach was literally black and blue, but this did disappear fairly quickly after I stopped the injections. I could have done them in my thigh, but just did them in my stomach. 

    Maybe your dad might be able to take the tablets in time if you chat to his doctor? x

  • Offline in reply to Minska

    Hi Minska,

    Thank you so much for your reponce! I feel a lot better knowing that it's not something that I am doing wrong it's been a big worry of mine! As for the tablets, my dad had a meeting with the hospice people and we was told that in a couple of months tablets will be an option but until then I think we will just have to deal with the injections. The bruising doesn't seem to be hurting him it mainly just the look that's been concerning for us. 
    I'm sorry to hear about your pulmonary embolism! Thank you again and best of luck to you x

  • Offline in reply to Alfieisastar

    Hi susie,

    Thank you for your response. We have been told that tablets could be an option in a couple months so hopefully that will help! Thank you for the advice it's good to know that bruising is conman and not a result of doing anything wrong! I hope you are removing from your surgery well! Best of luck to you, thanks again! 

  • Offline in reply to Katiey-lee

    Hi Katie-lee

    I think the people giving the injections worry more than the person getting them, as the bruising can look so nasty. It just looks worse than it feels in my opinion. I think after my embolism I had 3 months on injections and 2 months on tablets. I’m glad it looks like this will be an option for your dad as it’s eadier on everyone. 

    I had to do the injections for a month each time after 2 surgeries so I’ve had a lot of bruises, but doing fine now thank you. All the best to you and your dad. x

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