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Humira pen training

jaycee

jaycee

My GI told me once I get my loading pens I need to come into his office to have the initial "training" and help with the first 4 doses. So after messing around for 2 weeks with my mail order pharmacy and insurance company I'm getting my loading doses delivered to the house on Feb. 3rd. I called today to schedule the training and nurse said the best they can do is Feb. 10th. I told her I have a appt with the doc on Feb. 8th and wanted to do the training before that. She said they couldn't it! I really upset with them because I'm sick and have to wait a week for a nurse and I'm seeing the doc 2 days before that.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Please tell me if the prednisone is making me unreasonable.:devil:
 
L

luvincookie2001

Is it a requirement to have the official training done before? Is there anyone in the GI office that could help? For your own peace of mind though I know you can watch the training videos online through their website, humira.com and then there are links to training videos.
I had my loading dose done while in hospital and none of the nurses there were trained for it. They ended up calling up a pharmacy nurse trainer person who I'm pretty sure had never done it either. They had watched you tube videos at the nurses station and were following the written directions that came in the package.. nice training for me!! But it was pretty easy. The nurse did the first 3. 2 in one thigh and 1 in the other and then I attempted the last one in my second thigh. The biggest trick was just the pinching. "pinch and inch and hold it tight" If you pinch too loose it hurts more. The nurse didnt pinch hard enough my first one and didnt click and hold the button so the needle kinda jumped and jabbed twice so i ended up with a bit of a bruise.. like I said, nice training.
My second dose I was lucky to have a field nurse come to the house to help and do the training although it was all pretty self explanatory.
Sorry I don't have a lot of advice on what to do for earlier nurse visit, maybe call again talk to someone else, ask about any cancellations or even try calling your local hospital or health unit to see if they know of anyone with experience with Humira that you to talk to?
Good Luck
 
C

CrohnsNYC

I would call back and ask to speak with the doctor. I am not sure how your doctor's office works, but when I call my GI I can either leave a message for the nurse or the doctor and they always call back by the end of the day. If they still will not budge with the appointment, do you have a rheumatologist or general practitioner who can assist you? Did you get the instructional DVD/CD? Although I wouldn't advise doing it alone the first time. I went through a similar thing with the waiting for the meds then waiting for an appointment. It is so frustrating and upsetting. The entire process is difficult then to add on unsympathetic people into the mix can be just maddening. Good luck - keep us posted.
 
Z

Zoodles

Call and leave message about delay and doing training the same day as the doctor appointment. I think they are also are concerned about the possibility of an allergic reaction to the medication.
 
jaycee

jaycee

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to start by calling Humira's 1-800 tomorrow. I was on their website and it said they can help with nurse training and/or directing me to a clinic. If that doesn't go any where, I'm going to call my family doc and see if they can help me.

My GI's office must be different then most. I can only talk to the doc thru the nurses. I've never talked to him on the phone. Maybe it's time to check out some other Gastros in the area.

Zoodles-I think you're right on with the allergic reaction concern. I did ask for the same day as doc appt that is why I'm upset with them. I don't know how long it takes for the "training", but I think they should be able to make time for me.

Jamie
 
M

Mark63

Hi Jamie,

I hope that you got things sorted out. The information pack I received with the initial dose was very informative and included a DVD. However, I note that there is a video posted on their website. Unfortunately it seems I can't post the URL for you so try Googling "Hunira video".

Good luck.


Mark
 
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