Does anyone take Cimzia?

Is anyone else here on Cimzia? I have no problem injecting the medication as I was on Humira previously but the injection sites seem to have weird reactions for me. The first time it left a hard noticeable lump under the skin, then the next day the skin turned completely white a bit bigger than half dollar size around each injection site and the lumps went down. This last injection the lump in my right leg was about 2 inches to the right of where the needle was injected, and the injection on my left leg the needle seemed to be caught when I tried to extract it and when I got the needle out my leg would not stop bleeding! The white spots were still there the next day just like the first injection. And then followed by some nasty bruising. I know I'm injecting them right, could it just be the difference in medicine?

I was on Cimzia for 2-3 years and that reaction you are describing is very common. I would get those white lumps from injecting the medication. Cimzia is very thick so it will leave a bump when you inject.

Are you using the pen or the prefilled syringe? I always used the prefilled shots because I like to slowly inject the medication because it didnt hurt as much. If you are using the prefilled and are giving yourself the shot, they should have taught you how to aspirate to make sure you are not injecting the medication in a blood vessel. If they didnt teach you, ask your Dr.'s nurse to teach you before your next shot.

If you are using the Cimzia pen and it caused the bleeding, try to avoid giving yourself a shot in that exact area again. You may have hit a blood vessel that time. 

As for the medication bump in a different area than where the shot was is because the medicine is so thick and it will take the path of least resistance. Not too worry about that.

Hope this helps!

montana yoda - Thank you for replying! Yes I reported the reaction the first time to my doctor and the Cimzia nurse line. The Cimzia nurse line filed a report of the reaction and made this huge deal out of it which only scared me so my doctor had me come into the office (which he didn't even charge me for) and checked out the injection sites himself. I told him they didn't hurt, it was just more of a "wow that looks freakishly weird" factor. And because I was fine otherwise he said to just have a nurse present during the next injections (which I couldn't do because schedules conflicted but whatever, no biggie).

pmedic & jdiane - Thank you for replying! I do have the prefilled syringes. I am still on the initial doses so I took 2 shots on the 14th of July, then another 2 on the 28th. My next 2 shots are on the 11th and then I start the 2 shots once a month deal. I do know to pull back on the plunger to look for blood so that I know I didn't get a blood vessel. I had to do the same with humira. I've never hit a blood vessel and hope I never do because I can't imagine throwing away the syringe and not having the medicine, how would you replace it? That part gets me. I also like the syringe because I can control the flow of the medicine being injected. The humira pen was extremely painful because it shot the medicine in ridiculously fast! But it never left a lump like Cimzia does. I did notice that Cimzia is a lot thicker (and also sticky!). I am glad to know that others taking this long term have the same reaction as I do, then I know it's not some freak thing (which would figure for me). With Humira I would get red spots all over my legs and they would just randomly come and go and it looked like a nasty rash. Was really embarrassing. I live in Arizona and it's too hot to have to cover my legs all the time because I look like I have some nasty contagious disease on my legs! So I'm glad so far that hasn't occurred!

Thanks again for the replies, they are very appreciated and very helpful.

Chrisnsteph- Anytime you are injected with a medication, you are supposed to aspirate (pull back on the plunger). Cimzia is not meant to be given intravenous so it could possibly cause some side effects amongst other things.
Ask your GI nurse to teach you how to inject properly before your next shot.
Good luck!