Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives Anti TNF and other biological medications Starting Enbrel This Friday

Hello
Congrats on the next step. If you see any of my other posts you will know I was a newbie to Enbrel 6 months ago. It gets easier and works great. I always inject into my thighs. I rotate each leg every week. I tried the stomach once (ouch). Any questions feel free to email me.

Bless your heart, Kev-I appreciate the offer... thanks bunches...

I have had blood enter the syringe before, but I still injected it. No dr or nurse has ever told me not to inject if blood enters.

Thanks, Chris, if it ever happens to me, I'll proceed as well....

I've developed my first injection site reaction (4th week). I injected on Saturday, and it developed today-a slight reddish rash about the size of a quarter, not itchy or tender-just red. It seems wierd that this should happen 3 days later. Thoughts?

Also, I've noticed that my left hand is tingly-has been on and off for 2 days now. Should I be concerned about a possible neurological MS reaction (I had a slight tingling for one day about 2 weeks ago, left hand and upper lip)? Does this happen to anybody else on Enbrel?

Bite is a great word to describe it!

I will have to use that from now on........it is pefect.

Amy:)

Glad to be of service... Where's that little graemlin with the big, pointy teeth? Good spot to put him here-anyway, we can picture him. Yes, I've used the description of hot knives, pain like a toothache in my cheek/butt, whatever, but "bite" is a relatively recent term I've coined and this is exactly what it feels like, deep within.

Hi Sigrid, I have odd injection site reactions, the first time it happened it was 2 days after the injection and it bought up all my previous sites, including one that i'd used two weeks before. This time it came up about 3 days after the injection and is still there....apparantly its normal.

As for the tingling, I haven't had that but i have had a few odd nerve/shooting pains since starting the enbrel, not sure if thats something to worry about, worth mentioning if its something bothering you, i'll be mentioning it next time at the clinic.

The worse things for me so far have been nausea (I have to take anti nausea tablets), increased thoracic pain and increased fatigue. Going to assess how i feel about all this after the three months are up.

Take it easy.

Sarah, thanks for sharing you personal experience with enbrel. I'm sorry you're getting so nauseated with this-hopefully this will ease up, and soon!

It seems like it's a constant season of scrutiny, doesn't it. It's always helpful to compare notes-many thanks...

Hi Sigrid!

OK, so here has been my Enbrel experiences...

The first injection that I did was into my left thigh - that was a bad idea for me because unfortunately I don't have very much adipose tissue on my legs. That injection HURT!!! So, I slapped the ice onto it right away and was sucky for the rest of the day.

The next week I went for the abdomen where there is considerably more adipose tissue and found that it wasn't as bad as the leg. But there is no doubt about it, it feels like a vaccine going in.

My suggestion is that you let the injection warm up for 30-45 mins prior to injecting. I've heard that icing the spot that you want to inject helps as well. I also suggest that you make sure that once you swab the injection site with alcohol, that you let that area dry completely before injecting! Once I stuck the needle in right away after swabbing and the alcohol stung almost as bad as the needle! Oops.

So, there are my experiences. I wish you luck my friend! You can do it!!

Trina