First time flying solo

[deludel]

Last night was my first time flying solo (nurse was there the day before) ..

That b*tch hurt! When the nurse was there, I did my stomach and it stung like a yucky bee sting for 15min. Last night, I did my thigh ... OMG it hurt. It felt like what I imagine a snake bite feels like .. I imagined venom traveling through me because I could feel the medicine traveling left/right around the top of my thigh and it hurt, bad. I had ice on it .. I started to feel like the ice was making it worse, so I would take the ice off and NOPE it hurt more, so I put the ice on.

It hurt bad for 15min or so, then hurt not so bad for another 15min. I could see a red line to the left/right of the injection site where the medicine traveled.

I cannot let myself think of "every night" .. one day at a time .. but it sucked

I feel uncomfortable with identifying the injection sites. I have all the materials -- they are as good as they can get, I am impressed with them (I am a corporate trainer FYI) ... but I feel so responsible to "get it right" .. where i inject in my thigh, arm, hip, etc ... there are 8 places on my thigh, and (lol) my thigh is rather large, so I feel overwhelmed getting it right. I know the nurse will come back out .. it's just a lot.

I am using the Autoject ... I heard from a couple people that manually injecting is not so bad, because you can put the medicine in slowly and there's not that shock to your system .. but I have not learned the manual way yet (I do not have a fear of needles, but am anxious about doing it wrong). Curious if anyone has done both methods and finds this to be true?

[Alicious]

Ive done both, because I could not reach hip or arm manually. Manual injecting lets you go more slowly and while it still burns, it was gentler and you could control it.

You can reach your stomach pretty easily, so if you go manual, I'd start there. Maybe have the nurse come back out and give you more training on it? It's easy peasy once you know what you are doing.

Congrats on doing a solo injection!!!

[ElliotB]

It is very important to get the injection depth correct - too deep and you will be in pain (injecting into the muscle) - too shallow and you will have a welt.

Keep in mind that your skin thickness varies throughout your body, including in the same general areas of the body. I have been 'tweaking' my injection depths for the past month (been using Copaxone for about 5 months), making slight adjustments to the depths I was recommended to use, and I am getting great results (was doing well before, just doing even better now).

Be patient, it only gets easier! Good luck!

[sam]

Ive done both, because I could not reach hip or arm manually. Manual injecting lets you go more slowly and while it still burns, it was gentler and you could control it.

You can reach your stomach pretty easily, so if you go manual, I'd start there. Maybe have the nurse come back out and give you more training on it? It's easy peasy once you know what you are doing.

Congrats on doing a solo injection!!!

I did it on my own for 10 years, didn't like auto inject. Good luck

[abeautifullife]

I'm on Rebif, so a different kind of injection, but I find that my thighs always hurt the most. I guess the muscle is closer to the surface of the skin? I don't know, but I always groan over thigh injection nights.

One thing that helps me with the sting is to think of the shot as going directly to the source of the problem. I always imagine that the Rebif is going directly to my leg and fixing up the myelin post haste. I even will choose to inject in my leg after a hard workout, which usually leaves me weaker in one leg than the other. I think of it as going right to the source of the problem. Completely unscientific, but it works for me Best of luck to you, you are brave

[Cat Mom]

Congrats! It's scary so you're deserving of a pat on the back! I hope other Members here post their tips so you can piece together a shot routine that works for you, it may take some trial and error... here's mine...

- I use anti-bacterial baby bum wipes to sterilize, alcahol swabs make the sting worse

- pinch (big pinch) the area you're going to inject into (I manually inject but that's a personal choice, I passed out cold using auto-inject)

- when the needle comes out, push down with your finger on that bump that forms for approx 30 seconds, it actually makes it go away

- ice then Benadryl cream (or your fave anti-itch cream), ointment is better than cream if you can get it but does a number on clothes

Just so you know, I'm a 48 year old woman, 5' 8", 125 lb so not much fat... I've been on Copax for over 6 years and don't have any permanent lumps from injecting.

Best of luck to you, please keep us posted!

Jen

[deludel]

Wow, thanks for the support and advice! The nurse that came out gave me some suggestions for settings on the Auto-Inject for each site ... seems it might be a good idea to journal how each one went, then adjust each time to see if it changes. I did my arm last night for the first time .. WHOA .. that was just yucky! Also, I did not know about pinching the skin first .. I will definitely try that! I think I am back to the stomach tonight.

I am beginning to feel like I don't have MS (no symptoms right now, easy to forget this invisible disease), but I have "copaxone" .. if that makes any sense ..

[Cat Mom]

If you are self-injecting, either manual or auto-injector, get a pillow and push the fat around with it so it's easier to reach. Obviously can't pinch the fat and inject on the arms at the same time, so this method works well. A journal will definitely help. Good luck and keep us posted!

Jen