Does the Copaxone stinging ever go away ?

[newbie but goodie]

Best advice I've gotten

The best advice I ever got was from the SS advocate that called me. Since talking to her I:

-Changed all my settings to as deep as I can go (10, except for the not-so-fatty bits)
-Shot, then shower: it is immensely more comfortable and rainses off any drippage that burns like a psycho killer bee
-Lotion up all over, every day. It's like a mini massgae that keeps my parts more malleable and receptive to the dreaded needle
-Remove the needle slowly. I used to just whip that sucker out bc I couldn't really see it.
-Am more patient. I've been on C since Jan 12 and I can say that it has gotten significantly better.
-NEVER do my arms. They are too skinny (and I am not a skinny-minnie either). I work on a 6 day schedule: l leg, r leg, r hip, l hip, l stomach, r stomach. I have found that this works for me.
- Doing shots manually has been recommended to me and apparently it is MUCH easier than the auto-ject but I havent gotten the nerve to try it! You might consider giving it a try.

Good luck!!

[Rsqwyr]

Starting Copaxone

So this is all scaring me. I am thin (though don't seem to have much muscle mass left). Cannot see how I could inject back of arms (no fat and no one to help..how do you do this by yourself logistically). A little fat on back of hips but not sure how to reach and inject properly by myself (I am single and live alone). Front of thighs have no fat so that leaves my stomach (which always has fat...lol). Can I even do this?

[Mable]

Too skinny to shoot

I'm not exactly skinny, but I'm not fat either. I worried about having enough fat on my thighs and arms before I started. Two things helped:

1. When the nurse came over to help me with my first injection, I took her into my bedroom, closed the door, took down my pants and said, "Really? Is there enough fat there?"

She said there was!

2. I saw a neurologist on video recently explain that those injection charts that you get with Copaxone aren't exactly gospel. Unfortunately, they are the charts that were submitted to the FDA when the drug was approved and can't be modified by the drug manufacturer without a lot of headaches. So now I shoot in the fatter parts of my thigh (which not the top as shown in the graphics). It's more of an extension of my hip. More fat = more comfortable.

That said, PLEASE don't try this at home because you read it on a forum from a stranger (me). That would be stupid.

But you might want to check with your neuro or nurse and get their opinion on sticking yourself in your fatter "off-chart" places.

[woodstock]

So this is all scaring me. I am thin (though don't seem to have much muscle mass left). Cannot see how I could inject back of arms (no fat and no one to help..how do you do this by yourself logistically). A little fat on back of hips but not sure how to reach and inject properly by myself (I am single and live alone). Front of thighs have no fat so that leaves my stomach (which always has fat...lol). Can I even do this?

You can do this. I was probably the queen of needle phobia...would get light headed at the sight of the shot, let alone the needle. Started on Copaxone at the end of March and I now feel almost ready to start self-injecting and know that I could do that if I had to.

My hubby is around to help, but I can do it solo as I use the autoject. Last week I went away for a few days and did everything myself. If you have a friend or someone that can be with you to help for the first few shots, it is nice. But, you can learn how to do it all yourself.