New Here | Arthritis Information

 

I have been reading many, many posts but unfortunately I am still feeling so low regarding injecting enbrel. I have had RA for 4 years and was managing fine with hydrochloroquine, methotrexate and prednisone until I got really ill in January '08 with c diff which many of these drugs predispose you to. I then had to take several courses of antibiotics and stop all RA meds and pain relievers for nearly 6 months, no small task. RA has been progressing and have had trouble walking and my fingers for most of the day have felt like they are broken.

 

I am now in a position to address my RA, my ID Dr and RD suggested enbrel as it bypasses the gut. Great, I was so excited but my TB test was positive. Latent TB from all my travels, So I am on 9 months of INH which is the last thing I wanted to do after all the a/b's I've had. Finished my first month of INH and had my first shot of enbrel yesterday. All the waiting, anticipation of this miracle cure and relief have turned into a fear of the next shot. I have had so many shots and blood draws over the last 6 months I've lost count but that enbrel shot was a nightmare and infront of my kids too. I didn't have anyone to watch them and I thought this would be a doddle. (They are also used to their dads diabetic shots).

 

The first injector the warm one failed to inject, so the nurse got another straight from the fridge and injected me in the thigh. I could not catch my breath and almost passed out. I would not consider myself a wimp, but I sure was not prepared for that (the burning was so intense) I can't imagine that warming makes that big a difference does it?? I am staying home today because my mail order supply of enbrel arrives today, but I just can't stop worrying about this next shot and how the heck I'm gonna do it. Also waves of nausea, not sure if it's the enbrel or worry. Not so thrilled about this new treatment anymore. Anyone else have a bad first experience, and get passed it???

 

Thanks for any advice you can give,

 

JennyI haven't had experience with Enbrel but just wanted to send hugs your way!!No experience here either- just that my doctor kept suggesting I use it and I had the fear of what you actually experienced. Thankfully my RA has been responding to the MTX so well he has laid off on the biologics. Enbrel shouldn't be injected when cold.  Let it warm to body temp.  Also, ice the area that you inject.  I inject Humira but I ice my leg for about 15 minutes before injecting.  I've taken Enbrel and Humira both and Humira hurts more than Enbrel.  Like you, the pain of the medication took me by surprise.  I hadn't iced the area.  Now I barely feel it.  Also, some people have said that injecting the stomach is easier than the leg.  I'm really sorry to hear about the c-diff. That is one difficult bug to get rid of for good.  One more thing. I found that putting it in my stomach was the least painful area. Hi Jenny Hi, I inject enbrel in my stomach every week and I have to agree with some of the above suggestions. I set the shot out for about a half hour then I hold it in my hand for a few minutes so it's my body temp, then I inject in my tummy. I use the sure click and it hardly hurts at all. I have been on it since December and feel so much better. My energy is up and my morning stiffness is pretty much gone. The first time is always scary and definitely don't stress. Just tell yourself:  this is going to make you feel better! Do you have a friend that can help you with injections?  I used to use depo-provera for birth control, and I would have to go pick it up every three months from the pharmacy.  There's no way I could do the shot myself!  The first time, I picked up the Rx from the pharmacy and went straight to the doctor's office so a nurse could give me the shot.  After that, I had one of my friends (who is an RN at the local hospital) give me the shot, usually after we drank a beer.  I'm a huge baby when it comes to needles. Please tell me with all those antibiotics they put you on probiotics?  Please?  My neice just got over c diff and is weaning from her immune suppressents now.  The docs are using antibiotics and probiotics to help it along.  It's on the American College of Gastroenterologist website. Welcome to you Jenny. Warming the Enbrel to room temperature and icing the injection site are extremely helpful. Do you have the auto-inject or the syringe? When I was on Humira I had the syringe. It took me a couple of times to get used to doing it, but I had no problems one I did. When I switched to Enbrel, the doc prescribed the auto-inject. I find it more painful, but it only takes fifteen seconds and the stinging goes away pretty quickly once it's done. When I was injecting embrel I did the same as others here have described, I'd leave it out for 20 min and while I was waiting, I'd ice my stomach (a lot less painful there) I'd pinch the area, inject, let go and immediately put the ice back on for another 30 seconds. No sting at all because the area was so numb. I was dx 4years ago, and am on a cocktail of mtx, sulfasalazine,celebrex. prednisone, still no relief, so started to inject humira 9 moths ago, I was horified that I had to self inject but I had no option, I had to do it.  I found warming to room temp. and injecting in the stomach was much easier than the leg.  Injecting into the leg knocked me sick. It got so I hated the morning I had to inject, then I got a very bad infection and had to spend 3 weeks in hospital and had to go off Humira. Just an aside to all of the tips given here:  I use alcohol wipes that have a bit of lidocaine in them.  Bought them by accident, didn't even notice.  Now, considering that I used to administer local anesthesia to my patients (dental) on a regular basis, I know that just rubbing a bit of topical lido on skin isn't going to do much at all.  It has to be an EMLA patch to really penetrate the skin.  Topical anesthetic like that works on mucous membranes (think gum tissue or eyes here).  THAT SAID, guess what, it works!  I had to self inject the methotrexate a few months before I started the Humira, and I never felt the needle going in, and while I'm very adept at giving shots, it couldn't be THAT easy.  Then I noticed the box said it had a topical anesthetic mixed with the alcohol.  So the next shot I tried without using that brand pad, just a plain alcohol wipe.  And that one stung going in.  So, go ahead and ice the spot, bring the med to room temp, and try the alcohol wipe with topical lidocaine.  I bought it at Walgreens, and it's their brand, I believe. Wow, This is a really fast board!