Humira - the ANTICHRIST of biologic injections

[zombieAttack]

humira is the antichrist incarnate! :devil:

:sign0085: i'm on humira; been on it for a few months, every 2 weeks. i HATE and DREAD these injections! they are so INCREDIBLY painful, and the pain takes forever to go away. when i go to excersise days later, they still hurt and burn. as i'm sitting here typing this and thinking about having to do another injection soon, i'm effen tearful, sweaty, throat closed, almost in full blown tears, dreading the terrible pain. not only is it insanely painful, i also get huge, swollen red, itchy welts at the injection site that last 4-5 days; sometimes large bruises. i also have had significant decrease in cognitive ability and constant brain fog. i cant imagine having to continue to do this every 2 weeks, for years?

my main question:
what, if anything, can i do to help with the side effects of humira?
i do take the injx out to room temp for about 25 min.
can i ice the area or will it mess with medication efficacy? does that even help? can i use anti-itch creams? what can i do??????

I have asked the Dr and they said talk to humira; humira nurse says they cant help, talk to the dr... annoying.

i also just saw online that perhaps there is a syringe? is it better/less painful? i'm using the pen.


oh, humira anser antibodies were negative.

...

and BTW, i'm no sissy. i'm tough as nails and always have been. but these injections reduce me to a blubbering idiot! :voodoo:

man, if you used these things as punishment for criminals, crime would cease to exist!



admittedly, i'm not staying on a tight dosing schedule as sometimes i cant bring myself to keep inflicting this pain and other side effects willingly.



thanks for the help!

 

[Clash]

My son takes them and hates them with a passion too.

We switched to the syringe and he says it's a bit better. We also had the GI to prescribe a vial of lidocaine that we inject with the humira. It's a nuisance but my son says it helps a bit too.

The last time I talked with my son's GI nurse they said that humira was working on adjusting the pH of humira which would make it be less painful.

The office had also talked with a product rep that has a patch that numbs down past where the injection release that will be available.

C takes his shot out 30 minstrel before injection, ices the area then goes through the process of loading the lidocaine into the humira syringe then gives the shot.

But honestly, he would switch to another med in a minute! He also has weekly mtx shots that he administers and those don't bother him at all, just the painful humira ones he dreads.

 

[ronroush7]

Have you asked your doctor about another biologic? By the way, I think it would be okay to ice it?

 

[mehtadone]

I switched from the pens to the syringe and helped massively

 

[Maya142]

We iced before the shot and after the shot, for about 15-20 minutes. My older daughter has just switched from the pen to the syringe (thank you Clash!) and she thinks it's much less painful because you can control the rate of the injection.

We have not tried adding Lidocaine yet, but I have heard from parents that it works well.

We also did the shot while my kiddos were distracted - while watching TV or talking to them, asking them questions.

They both hated the shot, but since it helped so much they didn't fight it. Both of them were on weekly shots, and the older one is still on weekly shots. It's not fun, but it is what it is. If it didn't work so well, I'm sure she'd be happy to switch.

They had no real side effects with Humira. My younger daughter had injection site reactions a couple times (itchy and red) but we gave her Benadryl before the shot for a few shots and that helped. Then we stopped the Benadryl but they never came back, not sure why.

Good luck!! Apparently, the company that makes Humira is going to re-formulate it to make it less painful. No idea when though.

It's the pH of the shot that makes it hurt so much.

 

[Pilgrim]

My daughter takes the med by syringe. We leave it out overnight before injection. She had terrible brain fog for the first few months but it did get better at about month three. She does dread it but we told her she's not allowed to worry about it until injection day (she's weekly). Psychologically it helps a lot to put the dread off limits for yourself and then to do the deed early in the morning. We do not ice because it's the med not needle that burns. But some people do so maybe it works? I think you should try different ideas and see what helps.

 

[hcrum87hc]

I use the pen every other week. There used to be times where it would hurt pretty bad, but the past several times, it's been a cake walk. I take the pen out 30 minutes before I inject. I decide where to inject it (I always use the tops of my thighs) and use the wipe to clean the area. Make sure you're giving the cleaned area time to dry. Then I pinch the area and squeeze while pulling up on my skin. I don't know why, but this seems to lessen the pain a lot. I then inject, wait for the hiss or count to 10, whichever comes first. Sometimes it'll sting for a few seconds, but not nearly as bad as it used to. I've never had any noticeable side effects or injection site irritation.

 

[zombieAttack]

Thanks everyone for your replies and advice!

I am requesting my MD change the Rx to the humira syringe instead of the pen.
I have requested a stonger topical cream for the itchy welts. (i cant take benadryl, most oral antihistamines dont agree w me either)
I will request lido if the syringe injx is still too painful.
I will try icing the area to see if it helps or not.

Thanks for all of the support! I KNEW you guys would come through for me! :thumright:

 

[zombieAttack]

Hello Everyone,

Quick update....2 things:

1. I spoke to a Cigna Theracare Nurse, who has been the most helpful healthcare personell I have encountered in this whole humira ordeal. She recommended using a warm compress at the injextion site for 5 minutes BEFORE the injx. She said never to use ice, as this often makes it worse.

2. My healthcare provider changed my Rx to the syringe instead of the pen.



I just did my 1st syringe injection and placed a warm compress on my tummy 5 minutes before, and the result.....

Magic!!! Literally NO PAIN save for a teeny, tiny bit of stinging post-injection! This is even less painful than my Cimzia injections used to be! I am sooooo relieved, and feel confident that I can stay on schedule and stay healthy.

The humira pen needs to be discontinued; it's just way too painful of an adminstration method. The experience I had today with the syringe was 9,000 times better than the pen.

Thanks again to all of your help and support. I hope that this information helps other humira patients too!

 

[ronroush7]

Hello Everyone,

Quick update....2 things:

1. I spoke to a Cigna Theracare Nurse, who has been the most helpful healthcare personell I have encountered in this whole humira ordeal. She recommended using a warm compress at the injextion site for 5 minutes BEFORE the injx. She said never to use ice, as this often makes it worse.

2. My healthcare provider changed my Rx to the syringe instead of the pen.



I just did my 1st syringe injection and placed a warm compress on my tummy 5 minutes before, and the result.....

Magic!!! Literally NO PAIN save for a teeny, tiny bit of stinging post-injection! This is even less painful than my Cimzia injections used to be! I am sooooo relieved, and feel confident that I can stay on schedule and stay healthy.

The humira pen needs to be discontinued; it's just way too painful of an adminstration method. The experience I had today with the syringe was 9,000 times better than the pen.

Thanks again to all of your help and support. I hope that this information helps other humira patients too!

Thanks. Great news.