what i wish i knew before my first peptide pin i wish someone had handed me this list before i opened my first vial. ✅ 1. Reconstitution is where most people mess up before they even start I watched three youtube videos and still got the math wrong. My first dose was half of what i thought it was. 👉 Bac water amount + vial mg + syringe units is a math problem. Get it wrong and your whole cycle is off 👉 Don't eyeball it. Don't guess. Don't trust a reddit comment with the calculation 👉 Use a calculator built for this. I use PepKit — it does the reconstitution math automatically based on your vial and syringe 👉 Search PepKit on the app store. Takes 30 seconds and you'll never miscalculate a dose again ✅ 2. The first pin is mostly mental Your hand will shake. You'll second guess the angle. You'll convince yourself you did it wrong. 👉 Ice the injection site for 30 seconds before. It numbs everything 👉 Pinch the skin, 90 degree angle, push slow. That's it 👉 The first time is the hardest. By pin five you won't even think about it ✅ 3. Where you pin actually matters I pinned the same spot for two weeks because nobody told me to rotate. By week three i had a knot the size of a marble. 👉 Rotate sites every single pin. Stomach, thighs, love handles 👉 Stay at least 2 inches from your belly button 👉 Same spot twice in a row builds scar tissue you will feel for months ✅ 4. Your sides are usually a dose problem, not a peptide problem I blamed the compound the first time i felt awful. It wasn't the peptide. It was me jumping doses too fast. 👉 If sides are unmanageable, drop your dose. Nobody talks about going backwards 👉 Stay at each titration level 2-3 weeks minimum before moving up 👉 The sweet spot is almost always lower than where people end up ✅ 5. Storage matters more than you think Heat kills peptides. I left a vial on my counter for a weekend and the whole thing was useless. 👉 Reconstituted vials live in the fridge. Always. No exceptions 👉 Lyophilized (powder) vials are stable at room temp but the fridge is safer 👉 Never freeze a reconstituted vial. It breaks the peptide structure ✅ 6. You'll forget which vial is which by week three Same color caps, same clear liquid, no labels. By cycle two you'll have no idea what's in what. 👉 Label every vial with the date you reconstituted it 👉 Log it in your tracker so you know how much you've used and when it expires 👉 An open reconstituted vial is good for 28-30 days. After that, toss it. save this before your first pin. you'll want it five minutes before you draw your first dose - @sara.pepkit