So I’m on my third dose of enbrel, still taking mtx, and I was wondering if anyone had tips to make the enbrel shot less painful.
A little background:
I’m still on mtx so I give myself that shot in the stomach as that’s where it’s less painful and really at this point pretty much painless. Since we’re supposed to rotate sites I’m doing the enbrel in my thigh.
I’m taking it out of the fridge beforehand so it’s not frigid, but still hurts like a mother…
I try not to have my thigh muscles flexed as well but…
Enbrel does seem to be working, at least on my skin so far so I have hope that it’ll start working in the joints soon. Few side effects, some headaches, but they’re getting better.
I wish I had a solution for you. I inject in to my thigh. I've been using Enbrel for over a year, and it is still painful. The good news is that it only hurts when the medication is actually going in, and then it's done. Very stingy is the way that I describe it.
Thanks! And yeah super stingy! If it’s gonna sting I suppose I’ll deal, lol. It’s not too bad if it works
Stoney said:
I wish I had a solution for you. I inject in to my thigh. I’ve been using Enbrel for over a year, and it is still painful. The good news is that it only hurts when the medication is actually going in, and then it’s done. Very stingy is the way that I describe it.
I've always found the auto-injector pens much more painful than a pre-filled syringe. I also take it out the fridge anything up to around an hour before injection .... then about five minutes before I'm ready I tuck it under my armpit to bring it closer to body temperature and this definitely helps to reduce the sting.
Maybe if you're comfortable with the idea of a syringe you could ask your doc to change you over so you can see if it's any easier for you. Let us know how you get on if you do swap.
That's really interesting Jules. My next batch will be the pre-filled syringes. I was going to try them out for a different reason, but it will be interesting to see if I feel the same, that it's less painful.
Jules said:
I've always found the auto-injector pens much more painful than a pre-filled syringe. I also take it out the fridge anything up to around an hour before injection .... then about five minutes before I'm ready I tuck it under my armpit to bring it closer to body temperature and this definitely helps to reduce the sting.
Maybe if you're comfortable with the idea of a syringe you could ask your doc to change you over so you can see if it's any easier for you. Let us know how you get on if you do swap.
Yep, warm them under your armpit, then for the syringes pinch your chosen bit of skin, test with the needle for super-sensitivity and move if necessary, then go in at a 45 degree angle and slowly depress the plunger .... if you feel it start to sting you can pause a few seconds before continuing. My preferred location is my thighs but the last couple of months I've had to use my stomach (which previously I've hated) but so long as it's 'armpit warmed' I can't feel a thing :)
Will be interesting to know how you get on, Stoney.
I found that placing an ice pack on my thigh just moments before injecting helped greatly, I didn't feel it going in or when it done. Slap a bandaid on, keep ice back on for another 20 seconds. Done. Hope it helps. I had great success with Enbrel, four years, cleared PPP and all of my arthritis issues. :) But then, it quit. :(
Well that’s ASB interesting idea. I’ll have to try it next time!
Sorry it stopped working on you, I hear that’s a common trend. Hopefully you’ve found something new that works or will soon.
lankyloo said:
I found that placing an ice pack on my thigh just moments before injecting helped greatly, I didn't feel it going in or when it done. Slap a bandaid on, keep ice back on for another 20 seconds. Done. Hope it helps. I had great success with Enbrel, four years, cleared PPP and all of my arthritis issues. :) But then, it quit. :(
Yikes! Why the thigh? It's actually okay to use any of that squishy stuff around the midsection....more than enough real estate to keep from injecting in the exact same spot each week. I find the thigh really painful, no matter what I am injecting. As long as you are rotating sites each week and not injecting within an inch of the last site, you're not going to have irritation or scar tissue formation at the injection sites. Check with your nurse for the a-okay, of course.
Ditto to the warming before injection. I sit mine on the counter for 30 minutes. Also make sure the alcohol is dry before you stick.
I would go ahead and do it in my stomach but I’m terrible at aiming the needle, though I suppose the pen doesn’t need “aimed” in quite the same way. I think I’ll try the ice pack this week. Gave myself quite the bruise with my last shot (sometimes I just hit a blood vessel…). If that doesn’t help I might try the stomach really hoping this stuff kicks in sooner rather than later. It’s been non stop rain here and I’m tired of the pain and swelling.
I gave my first several injections (auto injector) in my thigh and it bled a little every time. For me, it doesn't seem like there's enough fat in my thigh, so I switched to my stomach fat and there's no pain or bleeding. My daughter is a hospital nurse and she told me the stomach is the only place they give injections of this type.
Well, the doc decided I was reacting too much to the Enbrel (with the welty baseball size bruises) and since it didn't seem to be helping my joints we're on to trying Humira (and I got a script for Tramadol, which is both a relief and depressing as this is my first narcotic pain medication). Hopefully the Humira works better and doesn't leave giant bruises on me - though it looks like the injections are given slightly different than I'm used to (by pinching the skin/fat layer and injecting into that). :P
Bruises? The bruises are from the autoinjector, not the Enbrel. I hear you that it's not working for you, and that's a perfectly legitimate reason to change. I just switched to pre-filled syringes of Enbrel and it's a huge difference in terms of comfort and bruising.
Hopefully Humira will work for you. There's been a lot of talk about narcotic pain medication. If this looks like it might be ongoing due to permanent damage, you may want to consider seeing a pain specialist to work with.
It could be the pen, but the bruises do also seem to be a reaction to the Enbrel itself - I give myself the shot, by the next day the site is hot, red, extremely sensitive, and welted up, this welt spreads till it's about the diameter of a baseball over the next couple of days, welt eventually goes down, several days later redness turns to ginormous bruise.
I won't be taking tramadol regularly, only when I need it (most of the time what little pain I have is actually really manageable - it's those few days, recently more often than I'd prefer thanks to our spring/summer rains, where I'm so bad I have to lie down because every other position hurts, where I'll be using it). I'm not a fan of narcotics to begin with, and really only filled the prescription because my last bad day was so recent that it's still strong in my memory. If it appears to become a more "regular" thing, then I will definitely check out a pain specialist.
Ah, that description totally sounds like an injection site reaction. I get a small reaction, and the medication works, so we just continue on with it. But yours is much more severe.
I have tramadol around but rarely use it. I'm not a fan of narcotics either.
SubliminalFlicker said:
It could be the pen, but the bruises do also seem to be a reaction to the Enbrel itself - I give myself the shot, by the next day the site is hot, red, extremely sensitive, and welted up, this welt spreads till it's about the diameter of a baseball over the next couple of days, welt eventually goes down, several days later redness turns to ginormous bruise.
I won't be taking tramadol regularly, only when I need it (most of the time what little pain I have is actually really manageable - it's those few days, recently more often than I'd prefer thanks to our spring/summer rains, where I'm so bad I have to lie down because every other position hurts, where I'll be using it). I'm not a fan of narcotics to begin with, and really only filled the prescription because my last bad day was so recent that it's still strong in my memory. If it appears to become a more "regular" thing, then I will definitely check out a pain specialist.
Your injection site reaction sounds just like mine was in the beginning. Mine, in fact, were the area of my hand. BUUUUUT it didn’t morph into a huge bruise. That’s the part that doesn’t sound good to me. I hope the Humira works well for you.
Oddly enough, the first two shots I did I had nothing, nadda, no reaction whatsoever. Then I was dumb and said "Hey, looks like I'm not having any kind of reaction to this stuff"; then I was punished for tempting fate ;)
really hoping this stuff kicks in sooner rather than later. It’s been non stop rain here and I’m tired of the pain and swelling.