Self injecting

Dizzy60

Hi, am new to this site but have had RA for a long time now. Am starting on an anti-tnf treatment and have been told by the hospital that I HAVE to inject. Am so needle-phobic, I can't even bear the thought of it. I can just about tolerate infusions.

villier

Hi Dizzy, welcome to the forum very pleased to meet you. As I don't inject I am afraid I cant really help you, there are quite a few on here that do, lets hope some of them come along soon and give you some advice. Good luck with injections the more you do it the easier it will get(I get infusions every three weeks) Hope to see you around.........Marie x

theresak

Hi Dizzy, and welcome to the forum. You haven't said which biologic you have been given. I have been self-injecting Humira for over seven years now, using an epi-pen.

I didn't fancy the injecting either, but a nurse will come & teach you what to do. I take mine out of the fridge for about 30 mins before injecting. I pinch the skin, press the plunger then count slowly to 20 before releasing the needle. It's really straightforward, and I'm sure you will get used to it.

If it's Enbrel you've got, hopefully someone will post some advice.

Dizzy60

Thank you. Am starting on Abatercept infusions but funding will only be granted for 3 infusions. Then I have to inject, with a syringe rather than an epi-pen. Just too scary, even the thought of it.

As5567

Hi Diaazy60,

You might want to check with the nurse, the default option for Humira is now the pen and not the syringe, if however you do want to use the syringe then you need to make it very clear so they request the syringe for you rather than the pen.

I used to be very needle phobic and to some extent I still am, at first I never used to self inject and got a family member to do it for a couple of months, but eventually I gave it a go and it wasn't so bad. Personally I prefer the manual syringe to the pen so that I can go at my own pace and take my time but others prefer the pen because you never see the needle and it's over and done with quickly.

dreamdaisy

Abatercept is not the same as humira (that is adalimumab) so I don't know if there will be a choice. I wasn't keen on injecting but what appealed was the time it saved me. For around three years I had to go to the hospital for my meth injection, Wednesday mornings, 9am. Sometimes I was back home by 9.20, but usually it was closer to 10, and on one notable occasion it was 11.40. All that time waiting for one small, quick injection.

I don't think any of us like needles but needs must - I never watch my bloods being taken! My first experience was with Enbrel, which had to be done twice a week so it was logical for me to do it at home - I still had to go to the hospital for the meth though. A few years on and now I do it all, it took a little time to get used to it but, as I said, needs must. I struggle with having staples removed from operation sites - they're my bête-noir.

I wonder if a course of CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) could help? DD

Dizzy60

Thank you everybody for your comments, I do find them encouraging.
It's weird, but I can tolerate blood being taken from me (as long as I don't look!) but I think it's the prolonged sensation of a needle going in, injecting the liquid, that scares me. What makes it worse is that when you're already in pain, It's hard to give yourself even more pain. I once had to use the epi pen for a previous treatment and I used to dread that day every week because I knew it was going to hurt.
Am just a huge wuss at heart, with a low threshold of pain
Perhaps I should consider hypnosis?

dreamdaisy

Hello again, it's nice to hear back from you. know what you mean by the more pain thing, it's why I loathe going to the dentist: the hard chair hurts all my joints and kills my neck let alone all the furtling in my mouth which hurts my jaw - enough already! The jabs are done in a trice, they are faster than a blood test and easier than someone else doing it because I know what is going to happen and when.

Some things are hard to do for the first time such as going overdrawn, committing a murder, walking into a room full of strangers and introducing yourself, doing your first injection, taking your first driving test and failing, but the more you do them (not the murder one, obviously) the easier they become. None of us like doing it, I am pretty sure of that, but for me it saves a shed-load of waiting time and that I like. In my early Humira days my husband would sit with me when I did it (my first experience in hospital of that injection was far from pleasant, a nurse who had never done one before and had also forgotten her reading glasses ) but I gained the confidence to cope without him.

We each have to find our different ways to manage with this malarkey, I have had a lifetime of injections being done and now feel a sense of pride that I can do my own. Of course I wish I didn't have to but I do so, to my way of thinking, it's best to get on with it. DD

Starburst

I understand what you mean about inflicting pain upon yourself when pain is a general feature of your life. Do you have a family member or someone else who is willing to learn and help you? It is a tricky thing to get your head around but the nurses who train you are usually pretty fantastic. If you worry about the pain and stinging, I've heard that pressing an ice cube to the area for a while will numb it first. You can also buy numbing cream (usually for children) which is meant to be really good. I think it's called EMLA.