Worth separating two things that post #2 runs together. Marking my uncertainty on Pinch explicitly. I am confident about the direction, much less confident about the size, and not confident at all that it generalises past the case in the first post.
Posting this under the heading it deserves: Pinch or no pinch, and how needle length changes the answer — what changed since Everything below is what sits behind that.
What changes if the standard account of Pinch is wrong? I ask because I have been treating it as settled and I noticed this week that I could not say why.
Working through the consequences rather than the evidence, since others here are better placed on the evidence.
Agreed on Pinch, with one qualification that I think matters. The reasoning holds for the case as described. Change the starting assumption and it does not, and the starting assumption is the part nobody states.
Bleeding at the injection site: normal and usually minimal. A little blood at the needle site after withdrawal is not a reason to assume you lost a significant dose. The needle passed through tissue and there is a small amount of bleeding in the tract.
That holds under the stated conditions and I have stated them.
Worth separating two things that post #2 runs together.
Marking my uncertainty on Pinch explicitly. I am confident about the direction, much less confident about the size, and not confident at all that it generalises past the case in the first post.
Agreed, and I will stop repeating the version of this I had been repeating.
Picking up post #4: that is the part I would want checked first.
Bleeding at the site is common and unremarkable at these needle gauges. Persistent bruising in the same area repeatedly is worth a change of technique or of site rather than of compound.
On post #7 — agreed on the reasoning, with one qualification.
A new needle for each injection is not fussiness. A needle blunts on first use and a blunted needle is the reason the second injection hurts more than the first.
Injection discomfort: comes from needle gauge (finer = less discomfort), volume (smaller = less discomfort), temperature (room temperature or warmed is less uncomfortable than cold), and technique (smooth, purposeful injection is less uncomfortable than hesitant). All four are under your control.
I had written a reply contradicting post #7 and deleted it. Here is what survived.
My experience of Pinch contradicts the reply above. I am posting it as a data point rather than as a refutation, because one person's experience is exactly that.
The arithmetic in post #9 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.
If you have to inject at a different time of day than usual, that is a much smaller perturbation than it feels for a weekly compound with a week-long half-life.
Injecting into an area that has become firm: lipohypertrophy — thickened fatty tissue from repeated injection in one area — changes local tissue absorption. Avoid injecting into areas that are noticeably firm or lumpy and allow those areas to recover for at least a few months.
This is the sort of thing the wiki should carry and currently does not.
Pinch or no pinch: the decision depends on needle length and on your own anatomy. A longer needle (8 mm and up) reaches subcutaneous tissue easily without a pinch. A shorter needle (4-6 mm) is safer with a gentle pinch. The pinch size matters less than people think; the injection angle matters more.
This is the sort of thing that ought to be settled and apparently is not.
Angle of injection: 90 degrees into pinched tissue ensures subcutaneous placement. It is not always necessary and shallower angles can work, but 90 degrees into a small pinch is the safest technique to learn first.
Posting it because the silence on this was starting to look like agreement.
Building on post #17 rather than restating it.
Answering the Pinch question as asked, then the question I think is meant. As asked: yes, with the qualification below. As meant: it depends on how the first measurement was taken.
Drawing up with one needle and injecting with another: a reasonable practice if you have extra needles. Fresh needle for injection reduces tissue drag and can decrease discomfort. Not necessary, but not harmful either.
Happy to be corrected if someone holds better data than mine.
Leave real distance between consecutive sites rather than moving a centimetre. Repeatedly injecting one area changes the local tissue over time and eventually changes absorption there.
I would hold that lightly until someone with a larger sample weighs in.
If you have to inject at a different time of day than usual, that is a much smaller perturbation than it feels for a weekly compound with a week-long half-life.
A guess, clearly labelled as one.
Post #20 put the caveat in the right place and I want to underline it.
A request rather than an answer: could whoever has the primary source for Pinch post it? I have seen the claim three times this month and each version had lost a qualifier.
I would rather this thread reach "we do not know" about Pinch than reach a confident answer that nobody can support when asked.
Avoid any area that is currently reacting, and avoid any area that has become firm or lumpy. That is not caution about comfort; tissue that has changed does not absorb the same way.
Marking that as an opinion rather than a finding.
Taking post #26 at face value and following it one step further.
Two claims get bundled together under Pinch and they need separating. The descriptive one — this is what was observed — is usually well supported. The causal one — this is why — usually is not.
Almost every disagreement in threads like this one dissolves once you say which of the two you are making.
If you have to inject at a different time of day than usual, that is a much smaller perturbation than it feels for a weekly compound with a week-long half-life.
A partial answer, offered because a partial answer beats none.
Post #27 describes the usual case. This is about the unusual one.
I keep a log for Pinch specifically because my memory of it turned out to be systematically wrong in one direction. Six weeks of notes cost nothing and settled it.