Hello!
I am not new to Enbrel (been taking it for 2 years), but am new to the prefilled 50mg injection. Has anyone found that it is EXTREMELY painful when injected? I asked my doc. about it and she said that is b/c there is a preservative in it so it can be prefilled. It stings and burns so bad. Anyone else having this problem?
If so- any advice?
I've heard of it being painful, so that's why I stuck to just the smaller dosages. More shots, but less painful.I have been on Enbrel for RA since 9/04, started with two 25mg injections, and since 2/05 on one 50 mg. The 50 mg definitely burns but the burn only lasts as long as I am injecting. Those few seconds seem worth the burn as opposed to the mixing and messing with the 25's. I spoke to Enliven Services which is the support team for Enbrel users, and they suggested icing and pinching the skin of the area first. This did not help me, but it might help you. The burn is because of the different formulation. The 25's always left a quarter sized bruise for several days which helped to track where not to inject the next time! There is no bruising with the 50's. It may help you just to know you aren't alone! The bruising used to bother me, but I just do the shots where my clothes will cover the area. Do you inject it into your stomach? As gross and creepy as it sounds, it really hurts less, at least with the 25s.I was never bothered by the bruising of the 25's, since neither the injection or the bruise hurt. Best not to inject in the same place and that bruise served as a good marker! I've never had a bruise from the 50's, but the 50 burns no matter where you put it. Generally I inject my thighs. Also I only inject every 10 days as opposed to the usual 7. This is because I was losing hair in clumps, and my rheumy suggested that since my RA was currently under control with Enbrel as a mono-therapy that we try a 10 day cycle to see if the hair follicles would stabilize, and thankfully they have. According to Enliven Services a couple of studies were done and 6% of Enbrel users experienced hair loss. Big bummer when you are in that 6%!