Betaseron injection pain question

[pud's friend]

I'm having a painful and desperate time of things.

Is anyone else on Betaseron here?

I've been on it for 6 months and I've been through the mill;
side effects - continue, night flu pain and fatigue, hangover next day
medication - brufen and codeine to knock me out through the side effects
injection sites - few and far between. I'm losing weight daily and was very muscular before so finding fat spots is hard. If I hit muscle I can count on a weeks worth of pain and bruising and marking. Usually stick to saddle bags and butt.
Pain - OMG I'm no wuss, I have tattoos and piercings so I'm not faint of heart. But lately the needle going in stings (no liquid on the needle) and then the liquid itself KILLS !!

I've had to get Himself to inject me recently and he hates to do so cos I scream with pain so much !!

What's going wrong? The sting as it goes in is really really bad. I'm sweating and light headed afterwards. I'm rotating sites, I'm going in half needle deep, I'm trying to find fat. If I go to shallow I get welts under my skin.

Can anyone help ? please. thank you.

[susieq]

I've been on Betaseron for almost 3 years. The flu-like side effects are long gone for me. I believe they will get better for you, if you can just hang in there a little while longer.

My Beta shots also burn. They especially hurt when my husband gives them to me in the areas I can't reach (butt and arms). I think it's because I'm not in control, but they sure hurt! He also hates to do them.

Sometimes the ones I give myself hurt, too. I'm still having problems with big red spots and bruises when I do my upper abdomen. I'm also having problems sitting, and that butt shot was several days ago.

Having said all that, perhaps you should talk to your neuro about the problems you're having. The sweating and light-headedness are not normal, I would think.

Good luck to you!

[SandyC]

Jim's on beta too. He likes his shots either in the behind or stomach where he has more fat. No pain but does have the "burn". He also pre-medicates but still feels blah the next day. His neuro once prescribed some Benadryl for side effects and red spots and it helped so maybe you could try that? I'd ask the doc first though.

[legzzalot]

Definately ask your doc first but I know with Avonex it is better for me to do my shot during the day, and to tylenol and benedryl an hour before and every 4 hours after the shot for a day. It kills off the flu like sx. My doc told me to take my happy sleepy pills and do it at night time, and I was waking up in the middle of the night with the flu like yuck.

The training nurse is the actually the one that recommended the tylenol and benedryl. Doc was against it at first until she realized it was the only way I could get around the flu.

Don't know what to tell ya for the pain. I actually have less pain when DH2B does it for me. Fortunately he looks forward to Saturdays when he gets to stick me.

They did send me smaller needles when I requested them, but mine is intramuscular. Do they have an autoject for beta?

[karilann]

Wow, I've been injecting Betaseron since 2003 and only use the back-side and belly. Once in a blue moon I use the legs. The arms are OUT. That hurts wayyyyy too much. I have a cream I got from the doc that really helps the red spots. Its called MOMETASONE FUROATE and it has to go on with a band-aid to seal it in. No band aid and the redness still comes on.
Now its important that the shots go in a certain depth. I'm concerned that you may be shooting too shallow. Do you use an autoinjector? If not you can get one for free by going to the MS Pathways web site. The depth on it is automatic at 12. If I inject without it and go too shallow...it hurts more. Also make sure the alcohol you use is completely dry before you let the needle go in. Some people get a really bad irritation from wet alcohol going in the shot.
Also.....rub rub rub the injection site for a good 45 seconds after the shot. This will smooth out the welt.
The redness however get your doc to write a script for the cream above. Just remember to use a band aid and seal in the cream over-nite.
Sometimes a warm wet compress before the shot helps soften the skin and can help....so can a cold compress. Try some different things and see if any help at all. Make sure you tell your doc the problems you are having.
Big Hugs to you

[Desinie]

I'm on Betaseron 4 months now. I don't use the arms at all because I don't have enough fat there. I know the auto-injector has a 10 (mm?) and a 8 extender to screw on the end of it if the 12 is going in too deep and hitting muscle. You just need to call Beta-Plus and ask them to send one out to you. I manually inject because I feel more in control of things and the sound the auto-injector makes makes me flinch. I had some small dots of bruising the first 2 months or so, but not anymore. I inject the outer areas of my thighs, stomach and buttocks. My outer thighs have a bit more fat there than the tops.

As far as the post injection side effects, I take 600 mg Ibuprofen a half hour before I inject . Perhaps a bit of joint pain the day after. In the first 2 months or so, I had some slight headaches the day after, but now very little if any side effect . It's recommended to hydrate more the day after the injections.

Good luck, pf. I hope your injections start going better for you. Have you tried calling your Beta nurse?

[pud's friend]

i seem to have a fine line between too shallow and welting or into the muscle and bruising. i don't use alcohol on my skin first. i manually inject - never used and don't have an auto inflictor. i don't have a beta nurse or any nurse for that matter.

i've found i'm getting stomach upsets with brufen too since i only eat once a day. just can't get the timing right. nausea rules until about midday.

thanks for your ideas. will keep trying i guess...