Weekly routine
Injection day
A weekly routine and an eight-week rotation tracker. Print it and stick it inside a cupboard door, near wherever you keep your pen.
Before
- Same day each week. Pick one and defend it; a fixed day makes side effects predictable.
- Take the pen out of the fridge a little ahead if your leaflet suggests it. Cold injections sting more.
- Check the liquid is clear and the expiry date has not passed.
- Check the dose showing on the pen is the dose you meant.
- Pick a site you did not use last week. Clean skin, dry it fully.
During
- Pinch or stretch the skin as your leaflet describes.
- Press and hold for the full count your leaflet gives. Coming off early is the most common cause of a partial dose.
- Wait for the click, the window, or whatever your pen uses to confirm it has finished.
After
- Needle straight into a sharps bin. Never the household bin.
- Write down the date and the site. In a week you will not remember which side you used.
- Drink something. Hydration blunts the roughest part of the next 48 hours.
- Plan the next two days a little lighter on food. Day one and two are usually the hardest.
Rotation, eight weeks
Rotating sites protects the tissue under your skin. Injecting into the same patch repeatedly can cause lumpy, thickened areas which are not just cosmetic: absorption from them is unreliable, which can make your dose behave differently week to week. Stay at least a couple of centimetres from your last spot, and avoid the area right around your navel, moles, scars or anywhere bruised or sore.
| Week | Site | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Left abdomen | |
| 2 | Right abdomen | |
| 3 | Left thigh | |
| 4 | Right thigh | |
| 5 | Left abdomen, a different spot | |
| 6 | Right abdomen, a different spot | |
| 7 | Left upper arm, if someone can help | |
| 8 | Right upper arm, if someone can help |
Abdomen, thigh and upper arm are the usual approved sites for these medicines, but check which ones your own leaflet lists. Upper arm is difficult to do well on yourself.
The mistakes worth knowing about
- Letting go too soon. If you release before the pen has finished, some of the dose ends up on your skin. If you see a wet patch, do not re-inject to make up for it. Note what happened and ask your prescriber.
- Same spot, every week. Comfortable, and exactly how you get lumps that absorb badly.
- Missing a dose and improvising. There are rules for a missed dose, they differ between medicines, and they are in your leaflet. Never double up to catch up.
- Injecting into a lump or a bruise. Absorption there is anyone's guess.
- Forgetting which side. The reason to write it down. A rotation you cannot remember is not a rotation.
Worth a call
- A site that is hot, spreading red, increasingly painful or leaking anything: that is a possible infection, not a normal reaction.
- Lumps or dents in the skin that are building up where you inject.
- Severe abdominal pain that does not ease, with or without vomiting.
- Any allergic-type reaction: widespread rash, swelling of the face or throat, difficulty breathing. That is emergency care, not a phone call.
A small bruise, a pinprick of blood, or mild itching that settles within a day is common and usually nothing to worry about.
A free guide from Sated · satedglp1.com/guides
General information, not medical advice, and no substitute for the team who prescribed your medication. Always follow the patient information leaflet that came with your pen and the instructions you were given. Last reviewed August 2026.