copaxone newbie

[missyb]

Hi all,

This evening I took my first injection of copaxone with the nurse...went fine, but stung like a giant bee for about 10 minutes! Yikes..
I was on betaseron for 5 years then went into the gilenya trial for 4 years. My insurance just changed and they wouldn't give me the gilenya w/o going on copaxone. I'll never understand insurance companies!

Well, here I am...giving the copaxone a whirl, even though I never wanted to give myself a shot, ever again. At least it isn't another interferon, which made me sick for five solid years. Anyway, The nurse had lots of good things to say...I know she is paid to make it all sound good, but tonight, I was buying. She says that the medicine works by crossing the blood-brain barrier and goes to the sites of active lesions and helps them heal...to stop a current relapse, but won't change any kind of damage. I've been having tongue problems, so this will be like an experiment for me. Let's see if this helps! I'm open to it.

Just wanted to introduce myself here with other copaxone users...

Melissa

[lorib]

Welcome Melissa! I used to be on Betaseron too. I've developed antibodies to it so no more interferons for me. Hopefully Copaxone will be nice to you and work with your body! My neuro tells me there is or will be a copaxone that is an injection 3 days a week so that would be better than the every day shots!

In my experience with copaxone the shots sometimes sting, I get itchy welts the next day in some spots, but it keeps my MS at bay which is what matters!! Good luck and post if you have any questions!!

[nagem78]

hi

I am using Copaxone as well, 45+ days so far.

I totally agree about the bee sting, I call my autoinjector the Yellow Jacket. 20min of burn/sting and then I am good.

I get the welts, lumps and bumps, slight bruising the next day. Basic stuff I think.

I use Benedryl gel after the injection to help with the itching.

Good luck!

[MarkLavelle]

Hang in there, folks! I just finished my first year of Copaxone and I'm happy to report that since about 6 months in it doesn't sting at all - some days...

[Sara Angela]

You might want to rty...

One thing, Jen taught me was to push down on the injection site, ice for 5 min and benadryl cream after. I haven't had stinging or welps either!

My theory is with pushing down that disperses Copaxone and doesn't let irritation to happen.

Sara

[newbie but goodie]

Pressing down lightly is helpful- I think the Copaxone leaks out a bit (especially with the autoject) and it burns! I get in the shower to wash the stuff odd immediately and it seems to help.

[Kickboxer2]

It gets better!

Hello All,

I started Copaxone Oct 1 and had the usual reactions, had some ups and downs but all and all, the last two weeks have been really good! Reactions are minimal now and I threw away the yellow jacket! I am so thankful for all of your comments and help. Had a wonderful dr office, who helped us ( beyond shared solutions) and really trained us on manual injections. We have really learned that trial and error and knowing your own body is key. keep really good records, what works on your arms might not on your hips! Good luck to everyone, and again, thanks for the opportunity to learn from your expertise!

[MyGirlsMom]

Using the Yelloe Jacket

I have been manually injecting for the past three years, but I broke my left shoulder the other week ago. Thus, one day a week I am giving myself a Copaxone vacation on left arm days (yeah!), but had to pull out the Autoject yesterday because my DH can't seem to find it in him to do my left hip injection. It was all he could do to use the Autoject, but I am glad I saved it (and the instructions even though I never thought I would forget how to use the darn thing). So, tuck it away somewhere..just in case. :-)

PS - in a prior post I was venting about my broken bone, pain, etc....a blessing...one day of Copaxone injection vacation!....I'll take it!! :-)

[scolavito]

I am new also to Copaxone. Have been taking injections since 1/5/13. No real problems with the sites, a little sting, but that goes away quickly. I have been using a warm compress on site prior to injection, or taking a warm shower before hand, which has helped.

[lisa1014]

I have been on C for a little over a year. It does get easier! I do not do the warm compress or ice I find it didn't make enough of a difference to make it worth the effort!

[woodstock]

I've been on Copaxone since last March. I experienced the stinging, pain, swelling (like a burn), and itching for the first few months. It has gotten so much better. Part of it was adjusting the depth of the autoject (deeper worked so much better for me). The other part is that I switched to taking the shots in the mornings right after a hot shower, making sure that I am fully hydrated each day, and doing all but the thigh shots in front of the mirror and documenting them to be sure I am rotating sites at least 2 inches away from the last week's shot and hitting the right spot. The thigh shots I do sitting with my legs laying out in bed. I always put pressure with a cotton ball afterward and it works. If it stings too much (on occasion), I'll throw on a band aid for awhile so my clothes don't rub the spot.

The warm packs before and cold packs afterward seemed to help at first, but then I found that they didn't seem to make much of a difference.

For those who shower afterward, I was told not to do that. You may want to check on that.

[Look2theStars]

If you don't want that burning, sting, red swelling, then inject manually, and then just use an ice pack after.. 2+ years and no issues

Good luck!

[Mamabug]

Looks like we have 2 similar threads going about Copaxone.

Will repeat what I said on the other thread about manual vs auto-inject injections, because Look2theStars' method does not work for everyone.

Regarding manual injections vs the auto-injector. You'll get advice both ways, but, we're all different.


For me, manual injections helped with side effects when I was on Betaseron, so that's what I did when I tried Copaxone. I had so many problems with Copaxone side effects that I tried everything, including:

• mutliple phone calls to Shared Solutions, who gave lots of injection techniques
• getting re-trained by a Shared Solutions nurse (who confirmed that I'd been doing everything correctly),
• etc.

One of the nurse's tips was to try the auto-injector. Different methods work for different people. One advantage she saw with the auto-injector is consistency with the depth. Once you have it set on the auto-injector, you inject at the same depth every time.

The auto-injector works best for me.

~ Faith