Usage: prepping and injecting your pen properly
Good technique affects comfort, absorption and safety. Here are the basics, valid for every peptide.
Storage
Before mixing
- A pen that is not mixed yet keeps in the fridge for a few weeks, and in the freezer for the medium and long term, up to 24 months in its box: this is strongly recommended to keep it intact. The included water syringe stays in the fridge: never in the freezer.
- Out of the freezer, a pen goes back to the fridge for a few hours before being mixed: not on the counter, no hot water.
Once mixed
- Once mixed, keep your pen in the fridge at all times, never in the freezer, in its box: take it out just for the injection and put it back in the cold right away. Temperature swings and light degrade a peptide.
- A mixed pen keeps 3 to 9 weeks depending on the peptide: the table below gives each product's own. Past that, we do not recommend using it, even if some is left.
- If the liquid turns cloudy or changes colour, do not use it, even before that date. A mixed pen that has frozen is thrown away, even if it has thawed since.
| Duration | Products |
|---|---|
| 9weeks | GHK-Cu |
| 8weeks | BPC-157, Selank |
| 6.5weeks | MOTS-c |
| 6weeks | DSIP, Glutathione, Healing Blend, Ipamorelin, PT-141, Retatrutide, Semax |
| 5.5weeks | 5-Amino-1MQ, CJC-1295 (No DAC), CJC-1295 (No DAC) + Ipamorelin, Klow Blend, KPV, Melanotan II, NAD+, TB-500, Tesamorelin |
| 5weeks | Brain Blend |
| 4weeks | Glow Blend |
| 3.5weeks | Epithalon |
| 3weeks | SS-31 |
From the day it is mixed, if good practice has been followed: kept cold, in its box, with a new pen needle for every injection.
Left out of the cold
- Put it back in the cold as soon as possible, in its box. Not yet mixed, it is a powder: that is how it travels to you.
- A mixed pen left out of the cold for hours, let alone in a car in the sun, has been through what degrades a peptide: we do not recommend using it, even if it looks clear. Write to us with the product and the date you mixed it before injecting.
Used pen needles
- Each used pen needle and the empty water syringe go into a rigid, puncture-proof container, never in the trash or the recycling. Once it is full, bring it to a pharmacy or a municipal collection point.
Travelling, by car or by plane: travelling with your pens.
1. Prepping your pen
Your Peptiva peptides arrive as a powder, sealed inside the pen, with a bacteriostatic water syringe already measured for that pen.
The box also holds 12 needle tips and alcohol swabs.
Only mix a pen when you start it: the others wait as powder, in the refrigerator or the freezer.
Before its first dose, one step, done once
- 1Clean the tip of the pen, where the needle screws on, with an alcohol swab.
- 2Insert the water syringe into the centre of the rubber and push the plunger all the way, to empty all the water into the pen: the stopper inside the pen moves back to make room for the water, which is normal.
- 3Throw the empty syringe into a hard container.
- 4Gently roll the pen between your hands, without shaking it, until the liquid is clear.
- 5If the powder resists, let the pen rest for 10 minutes, then roll it again. Do not inject while any deposit remains: the dose would be wrong.
- 6Put it in the refrigerator.
Before each injection
- 1Screw on a fresh needle tip.
- 2Prime it: turn the dial to the smallest mark, point the needle up and press until a drop appears.
- 3The first time after mixing, repeat until it does.
- 4Then turn the dial to the number of units for your dose.
Important
The liquid should stay clear, with no visible particles.
If it is cloudy or discoloured, don't use the pen and write to us before injecting.
2. Subcutaneous injection technique
The vast majority of peptides are injected subcutaneously with the pen's fine needle (27 to 29 gauge).
Gauge measures how fine a needle is: the higher the number, the finer the needle. The injection goes just under the skin, with a needle a few millimetres long, like an insulin pen's.
- 1Pinch the skin lightly.
- 2Insert the needle at a 90° angle (or 45° for thinner areas).
- 3Press the injection button slowly all the way down, then count to 10 before withdrawing the needle.
- 4Then apply light pressure without rubbing.
3. Site rotation
Alternate between the belly (at least 5 cm from the navel) and the outer side of the thighs, the two areas in your protocol, to avoid irritation and preserve absorption.
- Avoid reusing the exact same spot for about 7 days.
- Within a given area, space each injection at least 2 to 3 cm from the last.
Reading the dial
A unit is one click of the dial. The pen holds 300 of them in all, over 3 ml. What one unit is worth depends on your pen's size: your protocol is what tells you which number to stop on, dose by dose.
The number of units to set, dose by dose, lives in your personal protocol: it reaches you by email and stays in My account. Open an account to receive it
How long a pen lasts
| Format | Time covered | Full cycle |
|---|---|---|
| BPC-157 20 mg | 6 weeks | 12 weeks |
| TB-500 20 mg | 4 weeks | 12 weeks |
| NAD+ 2 × 600 mg | 4.5 weeks | 8 weeks |
| Glow Blend 60 mg | 3.5 weeks | 12 weeks |
| Rétatrutide 9 mg | 5 weeks | no fixed cycle |
Basic rules
- Wash your hands and disinfect the site before every injection.
- Screw on a new needle tip for every injection, never reused.
- Log the date and site of each injection to rotate properly.
- If you have any doubt about how the product looks or about the technique, write to us before injecting.