Intron A maintenance dose day 1

Ice helped me tremendously. Good luck. I'm sure you know stay hydrated!

Ice helped me tremendously. Good luck. I'm sure you know stay hydrated!

Ice helped me tremendously. Good luck. I'm sure you know stay hydrated!

Hi,

I didn't use ice, but I do have a couple suggestions for injection technique that may help.

1) If you don't already have them, get your doctor to prescribe you extra needles. You should never try to do an injection with a needle that has already pierced something. Use one needle on the syringe to mix the fluid with the powder and draw up the solution into the syringe, then right before you actually inject yourself change to a new needle. Each time the needle pierces something it dulls, making the injection more painful- fresh sharp needle is always best. Plust needles are really pretty cheap.

2) Needle size is also important. Check the guage of your needle- if it's a 20 or 23 G needle ask your doctor for some 25G needles for the actual injection into your body (it doesn't matter for mixing). The diameter of the needle decreases with increasing guage size (i.e. 25 G is actually smaller than a 20 or 23G) and smaller needles hurt less, although you may have to inject a little slower/more gently with a smaller needle (smaller hole means slower flow). 

3) I know it's hard, but try to insert the needle quickly and a little assertively. Don't go stabbing yourself from great distance, but the slower and more tentative your needle insertion the more painful it is because you streatch the skin instead of piercing it quickly. I you're having trouble/don't want to practice on yourself, save out a needle/syringe after your next injection and practice with a small peice of meat (chicken or steak) at room temperature. You'll find that it's harder to insert the needle if you go slowly than if you move quickly and you can practice your technique a little without being your own guinea pig. Just be careful you don't accidentially prick yourself with a dirty needle- have your sharps container handy. When I was learning injection technique (for school) they had us practicing wtih an orange- the catch was we coulnd't hold onto the orange to steady it, so we had to learn to be quick or it would just bounce off and roll away. Orange peel is quite a bit tougher than human skin, but if you really want to test yourself, give that a try- it's pretty hard.

It's also mentally hard though when it comes to doing it on yourself, you know it's going to prick, and you know it's not going to make you feel very good and at least for me it made me a little aprehensive. Take a deep breath and just do it. I found it also helped me to stabilize my forearm on my abdomen and use my wrist for the injection.

None of this is helpful however if you're using the multidose pen (if it's back in circulation). I have no experience with that. 

Good luck! You've got a long way to go, but it's very doable and just keep reminding yourself that it's not forever and you will feel better (amazingly quickly) once it's all finished.

-Eva

Hi,

I didn't use ice, but I do have a couple suggestions for injection technique that may help.

1) If you don't already have them, get your doctor to prescribe you extra needles. You should never try to do an injection with a needle that has already pierced something. Use one needle on the syringe to mix the fluid with the powder and draw up the solution into the syringe, then right before you actually inject yourself change to a new needle. Each time the needle pierces something it dulls, making the injection more painful- fresh sharp needle is always best. Plust needles are really pretty cheap.

2) Needle size is also important. Check the guage of your needle- if it's a 20 or 23 G needle ask your doctor for some 25G needles for the actual injection into your body (it doesn't matter for mixing). The diameter of the needle decreases with increasing guage size (i.e. 25 G is actually smaller than a 20 or 23G) and smaller needles hurt less, although you may have to inject a little slower/more gently with a smaller needle (smaller hole means slower flow). 

3) I know it's hard, but try to insert the needle quickly and a little assertively. Don't go stabbing yourself from great distance, but the slower and more tentative your needle insertion the more painful it is because you streatch the skin instead of piercing it quickly. I you're having trouble/don't want to practice on yourself, save out a needle/syringe after your next injection and practice with a small peice of meat (chicken or steak) at room temperature. You'll find that it's harder to insert the needle if you go slowly than if you move quickly and you can practice your technique a little without being your own guinea pig. Just be careful you don't accidentially prick yourself with a dirty needle- have your sharps container handy. When I was learning injection technique (for school) they had us practicing wtih an orange- the catch was we coulnd't hold onto the orange to steady it, so we had to learn to be quick or it would just bounce off and roll away. Orange peel is quite a bit tougher than human skin, but if you really want to test yourself, give that a try- it's pretty hard.

It's also mentally hard though when it comes to doing it on yourself, you know it's going to prick, and you know it's not going to make you feel very good and at least for me it made me a little aprehensive. Take a deep breath and just do it. I found it also helped me to stabilize my forearm on my abdomen and use my wrist for the injection.

None of this is helpful however if you're using the multidose pen (if it's back in circulation). I have no experience with that. 

Good luck! You've got a long way to go, but it's very doable and just keep reminding yourself that it's not forever and you will feel better (amazingly quickly) once it's all finished.

-Eva

Hi,

I didn't use ice, but I do have a couple suggestions for injection technique that may help.

1) If you don't already have them, get your doctor to prescribe you extra needles. You should never try to do an injection with a needle that has already pierced something. Use one needle on the syringe to mix the fluid with the powder and draw up the solution into the syringe, then right before you actually inject yourself change to a new needle. Each time the needle pierces something it dulls, making the injection more painful- fresh sharp needle is always best. Plust needles are really pretty cheap.

2) Needle size is also important. Check the guage of your needle- if it's a 20 or 23 G needle ask your doctor for some 25G needles for the actual injection into your body (it doesn't matter for mixing). The diameter of the needle decreases with increasing guage size (i.e. 25 G is actually smaller than a 20 or 23G) and smaller needles hurt less, although you may have to inject a little slower/more gently with a smaller needle (smaller hole means slower flow). 

3) I know it's hard, but try to insert the needle quickly and a little assertively. Don't go stabbing yourself from great distance, but the slower and more tentative your needle insertion the more painful it is because you streatch the skin instead of piercing it quickly. I you're having trouble/don't want to practice on yourself, save out a needle/syringe after your next injection and practice with a small peice of meat (chicken or steak) at room temperature. You'll find that it's harder to insert the needle if you go slowly than if you move quickly and you can practice your technique a little without being your own guinea pig. Just be careful you don't accidentially prick yourself with a dirty needle- have your sharps container handy. When I was learning injection technique (for school) they had us practicing wtih an orange- the catch was we coulnd't hold onto the orange to steady it, so we had to learn to be quick or it would just bounce off and roll away. Orange peel is quite a bit tougher than human skin, but if you really want to test yourself, give that a try- it's pretty hard.

It's also mentally hard though when it comes to doing it on yourself, you know it's going to prick, and you know it's not going to make you feel very good and at least for me it made me a little aprehensive. Take a deep breath and just do it. I found it also helped me to stabilize my forearm on my abdomen and use my wrist for the injection.

None of this is helpful however if you're using the multidose pen (if it's back in circulation). I have no experience with that. 

Good luck! You've got a long way to go, but it's very doable and just keep reminding yourself that it's not forever and you will feel better (amazingly quickly) once it's all finished.

-Eva