HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Firmagon Injection Bruise

Support Forums
>
Prostate Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 3/6/2015 5:15 AM (GMT 0)
Hi All:

Had my 4th Firmagon injection March 2, 2015 but had a different nurse injected since I changed dr's and clinics (now with Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.) I doubt that the nurse injected Firmagon before but cannot be sure. I watched her reconstitute the powder in liquid form by swirling it for a few minutes and then she pinched lower than usual (around belt line) and injected it very slowly as I instructed and which is protocol.

The problem is that unlike the other 3 injections this one formed a dark half dollar sized dark bruise by the injection site and as usual ached for a few days. The problem is that I never had the bruise before even though I always had swelling and redness in the area and I do not feel the usual bump the drug formed the other 3 times around the injection site.

Is it possible that she screwed up and I am not getting the time release benefits of the drug? I watched her inject it and verified that all of the liquid did enter my body.

When I questioned my concern to my new Dr. who specializes in Metastatic PC and is very reputable, he told me that there is really no way to know if my body is properly absorbing the drug and obviously he cannot authorize another injection until the end of the month.

I know that I am properly being paranoid but any insight from someone would be helpful.

I suppose the good news is that I am still getting the periodic hot flashes so whether it's the Firmagon or the daily Casodex causing them I don't know.

Thanks
Posted 3/6/2015 5:44 AM (GMT 0)
Is your"T" still 63? For effective cancer control, it should be below 20. Many HT patients drop to below 10..Maybe try a different drug...
Posted 3/6/2015 5:51 AM (GMT 0)
It's below 20
Posted 3/6/2015 5:59 AM (GMT 0)
It's below 20
Posted 3/6/2015 6:01 AM (GMT 0)
Now back to the shots...For the three grand the doctor bills for them, you would think he would administer them himself...
Posted 3/6/2015 6:14 AM (GMT 0)
Kudos on that one but you know how our system works.

I know one thing for sure though. the next round of Firmagon injection, I will make sure that I get a nurse who knows what she or he is doing
Posted 3/6/2015 6:47 AM (GMT 0)
Bruising is pretty common and shouldn't affect absorption. Some guys find that icing immediately afterwards helps. They usually say that the first two shots are the worst - I guess you got a break upfront but paid for it later. I'm glad it's working so well on your T level. You obviously don't need any antiandrogens with T that low.

- Allen
Posted 3/6/2015 11:47 AM (GMT 0)
I had some minor bruising with my Firmagon injections for at least the first couple. I can still feel the lumps 2 years later. They seem to flare up after a Lupron shot, even though the Lupron is injected on my back side.
I definitely recommend only allowing experienced nurses to administer the Firmagon injections. I was asked once to allow someone to try their first one on me but I refused since I was pretty tender from being poked regularly during my chemo cycles.i
Posted 3/6/2015 3:11 PM (GMT 0)
If the needle passes through a small blood vessel on entry then a small amount of blood leaks into the tissue forming a bruise. This happened to me on one of my first two shots. A drop of blood formed on my skin at the injection site on the one which later formed the bruise. This should have no effect on the medication. It can happen with any injection of any substance. It can happen with a blood draw if the phlebotomist does not pierce the vessel cleanly and accurately.
Posted 3/16/2015 5:13 PM (GMT 0)
Dear Geop,

I have now switched over to the once-a-month FIRMAGON shot for the first time last week. I had been on the four-month LUPRON shot. My oncologist and I have been having consultations about this.

To be honest, the FIRMAGON shot did leave me with some redness, stinging, and painful swelling at the injection site on my gut. I was expecting this from what I had been reading. The next night, I felt wiped out, which was probably my body adjusting to the new shot and I had a bit of a fever. The redness, stinging, and swelling really began to show up the next day and continued to sting and swell for the next couple of days, but my energy felt fully restored a day later. I went to work as usual all week long. Later in the week, the swelling began to "calm down" and the redness and stinging began to lessen in intensity.

Many men have described the feeling of the injection site reaction as a "bee sting" and that was very accurate, in my new experience with my first FIRMAGON shot. For about 3 days, it did feel like a bee sting on my gut. The FIRMAGON shot does leave a hard lump underneath the skin that forms, which is somewhat tender to the touch, as others have described. Over time, your body begins to absorb this "lump", which is the FIRMAGON medicine. So the FIRMAGON shot is a different experience than the Lupron shot, I would have to agree.

I have been drinking water and also going for walks in the evening. I felt like the side effects and the swelling began to go down once I started going for walks in the evening. The injection site stayed tender and sore for a few days, I have to admit. Others have reported this, so I was expecting this. As the days passed by, the stinging and redness went away.

My oncologist believes strongly that the once-a-month FIRMAGON shot will give him more "control" over my PSA numbers. I believe in his expertise on this, and I believed in him enough to give the FIRMAGON a try. I have to see my oncologist every month as it stands, anyway, so getting the FIRMAGON shot every 28 days is going to be part of my new plan.

Another big reason for switching over to FIRMAGON is that my oncologist feels that the testosterone levels will be better controlled with the once-a-month FIRMAGON shot. We discovered that my testosterone levels were "spiking up" during the course of the 4-month LUPRON shot and so this is another reason he wanted me to switch over to FIRMAGON. That all made a lot of sense to me.

Many urologists and oncologists fail to test the testosterone levels of patients that are on hormone therapy shots. You need to keep the testosterone levels suppressed to a high degree to keep your PSA levels as low as possible. If you haven't had your testosterone levels checked lately, ask your doctor to request one the next time you have a PSA test, just for your peace of mind. My testosterone level had NEVER been tested by my original urologist. Never ! Now my oncologist is testing my testosterone level each time he requests a PSA test so that we can monitor the effectiveness of the hormone therapy, since I am switching over to FIRMAGON shots from Lupron shots.

I fully realize that a once-a-month shot is not as convenient, but if it helps control my PSA and testosterone numbers better, then I think it is worth it. FIRMAGON is the "new kid on the block", compared to LUPRON.

I thought it would be good to describe my experience to add on to your experience with FIRMAGON. I think it's important to be honest for others who might be reading this forum now or in the future and realizing that the FIRMAGON shots often DO have redness, stinging, and swelling at the injection site for a few days.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for keeping in touch about so many topics that need to be addressed, with frankness and honesty ! Those of you who haven't officially joined as free members, I would recommend you sign up today and join in on the conversations and also post your own questions and experiences ! Doctor appointments can go so quickly and you sometimes need advice and support between doctor appointments. You've got caring and insightful people here on this forum to help you ... 'round the clock, middle of the night, seven days a week, and even during holidays. You will be WELCOMED ... and you will ALSO be helped here !

Sent with my best,
CYCLONE

Post Edited (ISU-CycloneFan) : 3/19/2015 7:23:27 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 3/16/2015 7:31 PM (GMT 0)
If you are a pirate leader The Black Spot is very dire indeed. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it. Sometimes there is a bit of a bruise at the injection site. Sometimes there isn't. It doesn't keep the medicine from performing its purpose and, most likely, it's not anything the nurse did wrong.

Sometimes I would get the black spot. Sometimes not. Didn't seem to make any difference in how much the shots hurt or in my T levels. Same very-experienced, careful nurse for all of the shots, black spotters or no.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply