You have a fair point that i hadnt thought of, BUT, if we did get that to work safely, that would actually probably be cooler! unlikely but i like to fantasize about the what ifs…
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But for the X series… lol.
Ah, the reason my partner can’t have any birth control. She’s already at risk of clots due to a genetic mutation.
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Oh yeah, the patch is a combo ethinylestradiol/norelgestromin (synthetic estrogen + a nerfed progesterone that suppresses your body’s real one.) High doses of both, especially when the patch is first applied, so that it can actually retain enough blood level for a whole week to be effective. Also they’re calibrated to a weight range of about 120-200lbs, so if you’re at the low end or under that, you’re being overdosed a bit and tend to have more side effects, and if you’re over that, it doesn’t freaking work.
Estrogens are known for making people a bit queasy, especially if you happen to be at the low end of the weight calibration and just have a massive dose being loaded on you relative to your system. I used the patch for 10 years and always had a day at the beginning where I felt carsick all day. And sometimes it would get stuck to my clothes, and I had to remember to swap it, and it looked stupid, and and and… (here’s where I can take a left turn into a whole bunch of things I want to say about how poorly medical academia has done at actually studying how medicine works for real live women and other XX folks…)
The implants are etonogestrel, a NON-nerfed progesterone. Because of this it also tends to cause some side effects that are a little like early pregnancy, but lower incidence of nausea for sure. I haven’t noticed much in the way of side effects at all (though people vary a TON on this because hormone response is incredibly polymorphic in humans!! as are the baseline levels circulating in you as an individual patient.)
(But, real talk, I’d also be a bit surprised if your wife doesn’t already know about this? We do talk to our doctors and read stuff. 
)
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Like it kind of makes me lol that people in 2020 are like HOLY SHIT THAT’S SO METAL YOU HAVE TECHNOLOGY??? UNDER YOUR SKIN??? and meanwhile people who have uteruses and periods and want to change how that all works have been getting biotechnical hormone-changing implants and becoming real live cyborgs since (checks internet) 1983
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The autoinjector still has a visualizable needle, though – speaking as a person who has not placed an implant in anybody this is a genuine question, but since you can see and manipulate the needle much as you would a standard injector, what would make it harder? Just having the clunky brick on the back?
I watched the placement of mine, using this device, and my doctor absolutely palpated the whole area, located veins visually, and moved the needle with much the same technique as the person who placed my xEM.
(The button that the doctor slides at the end does not push the implant forward. It holds the implant still, and retracts the needle back. (ETA: integrated sharps disposal!) I agree that if it were automatically launching something into your meat, it would be pretty crazy-dangerous.)
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No, i just thought of an even better fantasy auto-injector: what about the one tony uses here? (first 30 secs)
yea it’s not entirely safe but it would be cool if it were…
also fun note, later in the movie (i think after a crash or something) tony can be seen picking one of his ‘micro repeaters’ out of his arm and it looks a lot like an x series…
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Yeah, I wonder if an auto-injector like that would work well for the x-series installs. Advantage I see is that with the syringe itself being angled already it lowers the change of failure. Idk it’s early and I haven’t had coffee yet. lol