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Not looking forward to this week's Humira pen

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Posted 9/13/2011 8:46 PM (GMT 0)
My last pen 2 weeks ago was sort of a miss-fire.  I have no idea how much medicine I got, if any. 

How frequently has this happened to anyone else?  I've been taking since early March and this is the first time for me...

A normal pen, I push the button, and sitting in front of a clock, I wait a full 10 seconds.  I feel the initial injection, but it doesn't hurt much more than a pin prick.  But as the med goes in, it stings worse and worse until I pull the pen away.

2 weeks ago, the pen clicked, like normal, but there was an immediate pain.  I couldn't hold it on the full 10 seconds.  The noise/clicking quit, which usually means the yellow marker has in the window, and all the medicine has been expelled from the device.  I pulled the pen away from my leg, and an amount of liquid - the medicine - comes rolling down my leg.  I think I got some medicine - at the very least my leg was bleeding from the injection site.  I have no idea how much is already in one of those pens. 

I'm guessing the needle wasn't set in straight and it hit my leg at a funny angle?  Anywho...I had originally been a stomach shooter.  I did that once or twice while recovering from surgery and it hurt a LOT more than I remember them hurting pre-surgery.  So I've switched to my legs the past couple of months, but I think I'll go back to my stomach this week. 

I'm also considering going a day early...I have taken on Wednesdays - typically evenings but have also done mornings.  I'm considering taking it tonight just to get it over with.

 

Posted 9/13/2011 9:01 PM (GMT 0)
you are brave! i had a nurse come to my apartment every sunday to epi-pen me by my belly button cuz it was to painful for me to bear especially the sting right after! ouch!! i was crying so much, poor old lady nurse must have thought i was a wacko. thank god i stopped that a month later. didnt do anything to me.
Posted 9/13/2011 9:23 PM (GMT 0)
I had the same thing happen to me a few months ago . . . I called the Humira number and they sent me a new epi-pen. I had to send the old pen to them, as they sometimes have a faulty needle (apparently).
Posted 9/13/2011 10:09 PM (GMT 0)
I use the syringe that way you can control it as far as how much goes in how fast etc. yes it takes me longer to do but it hurts much less. Good luck my bells has too many scars so I have to use my legs and I have used both pens and syringes I get to worked up when I have the pen due to pharmacy error etc to the point I have given my self headaches from stress.
Posted 9/13/2011 11:07 PM (GMT 0)
I used to get pens, but when I switched insurance, they put the prescription in as syringes, which I have learned hurt far less. Since you can push the medicine really slow, it doesn't sting. I won't ever go back to the pens now.

I'd definitely talk with your dr about trying the syringe!
Posted 9/14/2011 12:45 AM (GMT 0)
i had that happen to me about a month ago- i pulled the pen away as normal and the lliquid came out. i was like *&^%! there goes $1,000!
I should have called the ins co. it's only happened once. yeah those things hurt like hell sometimes. sometimes nothing but sometimes it's insane. also sometimes after i give myself the shot it bleeds like crazy. stops pretty fast but there's a lot of blood for a quick little prick. that's happened 3 or so times...i wonder if i hit a little vein or something. weird.
Posted 9/14/2011 2:17 AM (GMT 0)
So, I just went ahead and did it tonight...in the stomach...success!

I considered calling the pharmacy or humira 2 weeks ago, but I wasn't going to inject a replacement pen...I think I got some of the medicine...there's really no way of knowing, right?

I need to ask my doctor about the syringe option.

I wonder if it was a difference in using my leg vs. my stomach?  The nurse who taught me how to do it said not to "pinch the inch" to use the pen....that the needle protrudes from the pen very narrowly. In other words, the needle will not inject into muscle.  So, for my belly, I always just pressed the pen against, or even into, my belly, but the top of my thighs, there is not much fat to inject into...So I did pinch my thighs to have a spot to inject into.  

Posted 9/14/2011 4:14 AM (GMT 0)
in the gut huh? haven't tried that one...
question about your "handle"...clonehead?
Posted 9/14/2011 4:14 AM (GMT 0)
See with me another reason they had me do my legs over the belly not only was due to scars as well as stretch marks (thank you prednisone), is the fact that I have little fat on my abdomen and really had none back then since I was up and down (as low as 85lbs at some points me being 4'9.5" min I should be per BMI is 90). Glad it went better for you today
Posted 9/14/2011 5:38 AM (GMT 0)
I use the pen in the leg but I sit and relax my leg and inject into the upper thigh (more meat) and I can see the marker go down. I just got the syringe by mistake and couldn't do it myself I had to go to my DR. so I will make sure to use the pen. I just wanted to give my input good luck.
Posted 9/14/2011 8:06 PM (GMT 0)
yeah, when i got the loading dose (4 shots) the nurse at my dr's office did it. All in the stomach. The nurse who did the training two weeks later said either location would work, but since I did fine in the stomach previously, and i do my B12 shots in the abdomen, I just kept with the stomach area.

clonehead is an ID I've used on a few other (non-Crohn's) websites...It's a combination of Star Wars (clones) and an old SNL skit (coneheads.)
Posted 9/14/2011 9:11 PM (GMT 0)
I have never tried it on my leg because I do them on the stomach and they've never hurt more than they usually do. So if it ain't broke don't fix it so I've kept doing it on my stomach. I was once scared I had a misfire because it barely hurt but the liquid went in so I didn't worry about it. But luckily I have not had misfires, I'm sorry you had to experience one, I've always been scared of it happening to me though.
Posted 9/15/2011 6:10 AM (GMT 0)
Ive tried both syringe and pen, and i cannot stand the pen at all, it hurts WAY too much because of the speed the drug is forced in.

I went back to the syringes today and my boyfriend did it for me and he was so gentle, i barely felt it!

i seriously recommend trying the syringes if you can get them.
Posted 9/15/2011 6:16 AM (GMT 0)
I used to take Humira and found it much easier in the belly than leg too. It didn't help my CD, nor did anything else, so now I'm minus a colon and have a perm ileostomy. Ironically, I'm back to taking a biologic, this time for my symptomatic arthritis thanks to the CD. I take Simponi - started out epi-pen but they've since stopped making them due to issues so I had to go to syringe - I thought it would be scary but it's not so bad at all. I use my lthigh with this drug due to the lack of abdominal real estate thanks to scars and stomas :)
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