aloha, siggie.

and sarah too...

as the enbrel folks will gladly tell you 37-40% of folks doing up the ole enbrel will get an/several/some/many
injection site reactions( ISR's) over the duration of time.

new people tend to get 'em more than folks who've been on enbrel for a couple years...

1. one 'theory' is this shows the skin and body are showing a sign of reacting to the med...a good thing, because
it means a 'response'.

2. my rheumy's general theory about ISR's is operator error...there is a hump to get over in terms of being comfortable
with giving yourself shots...the actual physical 'doin' it' part...he said beginners move the needle around once it's in,
have hesitations about the prick (will that get thru the censors?) of the skin...

AND YES...don't panic...it can light up five, six little red splotches and do it on the 'other' leg...and yeah it looks ugly,
unless you really, really, really messed up your shots, it won't harm you it's just ugly.

and 3. my rheumy also commented about the little dingle drop on the end of the needle...ok, again, remember high school
chemistry and the property of solids,liquids and gasses...temperature and pressure are the variables...45 min or an hour
is not out of line to get a prefill 50 to room temp...warmer has less 'grab' to hold onto the little bubbles, and they tap
up the barrel of the syringe easily...then SPRITZ the little stream thru the tip of the needle...a spray in the air; NOT
a dribble or a drool...then hold a finger against the plunger to prevent movement and shake the whole thing once...
IF you get the little drop off the needle, then there isn't BIO-WHAMIE in the little hole in your skin...it's all a half inch
deep under your skin.

also...if your slow injecting the enbrel there is more risk of moving the needle around in the hole or half pulling it
out and then sticking it back in...all little skin wounds...also if you do a real slow soft gentle 'stick' you can feel the
needle getting hung up on about each of the three/four layers of skin...that feels hinckeyer than a push with just enough
force to get in all the on one push...needs less courage too.

when i started enbrel back in 04 i got it for free from enliven services...their program called for you to do the
shots for FOUR months bfore evaluating response (this ain't alka seltzer...plop plop fizz fizz relief is just a swallow away)
Enbrel's own graphs show a couple months is normal just to see if it helps much...and your response/improvements
keep growing for six months...so keep shootin'

best to you again,
aB