What differences exist between the various types of administration?

There are several types of injection: intravenous, intramuscular, intradermal and subcutaneous injections. Here, at YuBoost, we use the first two techniques to administer vitamins, minerals (magnesium, zinc) and glutathione (natural antioxidant) to our patients. Whether you’re suffering from a deficiency as a result of intense or prolonged sporting activity, or you’ve just come back from a long trip, or you’ve undergone a medical intervention such as surgery or have had chemotherapy; each of these methods boasts its own specific characteristics that are worth knowing. Administration varies based on different criteria, such as the type of product to be injected and the rate of absorption desired.

Intravenous injections

Vitamins are, above all, provided by food and the digestive system. When you eat, your body digests and absorbs food via your digestive wall. This process, which can take several hours, enables your body to absorb between 40 and 50% of the vitamins and nutrients ingested. With intravenous (IV) injections, the technique most frequently used here at YuBoost, vitamins, minerals (magnesium, zinc) and antioxidants (glutathione) are administered directly into your bloodstream, without travelling through your digestive system. As such, they’re 100% absorbed by your body, which means they work quickly and effectively if ever you have a deficiency or if ever you’re suffering from chronic fatigue, or if you just wish to give your body a great vitamin or antioxidant boost that’s sometimes hard to get through food alone. Injections are performed in a peripheral vein, generally in your forearm, the crease of your elbow or back of your hand. Our therapy can be administered in your own home, in your workplace or in your hotel room.

Intramuscular injections

Intramuscular (IM) injections are used to administer nutrients directly into one of the following muscular tissues:

• the vastus lateralis muscle of the thigh;
• the rectus femoris muscle of the thigh;
• the gluteus medius (at hip level);
• the gluteus maximus (at buttock level);
• the deltoids (external shoulder muscles).

IM injections enable nutrients to be absorbed quickly as they’re administered in fatty tissue that’s highly-vascularized: these numerous blood vessels promote rapid diffusion through the bloodstream. This method is commonly used for injecting vaccines, vitamins, analgesics and sedatives. Here, at YuBoost, we propose this technique to patients who don’t wish to have an intravascular injection (lack of time, don’t want extra hydration, are afraid of intravenous injections), and we use it for our extra Boosts, for our patients who wish to stimulate their health with an extra bit of get-up-and-go.

Intradermal injections

Intradermal (ID) injections are used for allergy sensitivity tests and for triggering an intradermal reaction (screening for diseases such as tuberculosis, for example), i.e. to introduce a solution that’s likely to cause significant reactions in the patient. The product is injected in liquid form and in a very small amount into the dermis, the middle layer of skin. Injections are administered on the inside of the forearm or the outside of the arm, as these are areas with little pigmentation, which makes it easier for the healthcare professional to see any skin reaction.

Subcutaneous injections

Subcutaneous (SC) injections involve introducing a treatment into the hypodermis, i.e. the subcutaneous tissue above the muscles. These injections are recommended for the slow diffusion of products, as they’re administered in tissue that’s less vascularized than muscle tissue.  As such, they’re used to give patients painkillers (like morphine), antibiotics, anticoagulants, insulin as well as vaccines. Injections are generally administered on the outside of the thigh, although they can also be given on the inside of the arm, in the supraspinatus and infraspinatus areas of the shoulder blade or in the abdominal region. This type of administration is generally not very painful and can, in some cases, be carried out by the patient themselves: this is the case, for example, for some diabetics.