[Catch]

Last night I gave myself a shot of Copaxone in my right thigh. Within two minutes my thigh hurt so bad I had to lay down and it kept getting worse. In 5 minutes I was in tears with pain all the way from my knee to my hip. Thankfully, after about half an hour I could go to sleep.

Could I have hit a nerve with the needle? My thigh is still very sore today and I'm limping a little, especially if I have to walk very far (like around the office).

Has anyone ever had this happen? Can I store this in the "That Was Weird" drawer in my memory banks and forget about it? Or should I worry?

Thank you all.

[jacksonsmommy]

You may have hit a muscle. It hurts like hell. Nothing to worry about though. Just one of the many joys.

I found applying heat helped a little.

[Dejibo]

sounds like you went too deep and may have gotten into the muscle. copaxone stings like angry bees on steroids in the early days any way, throw that into muscle fibers and OUCH! it can be sore like someone punched you really hard for days. Skip that area in the rotation for a couple of rounds. In the 3 years that I used copaxone I only did that a couple of times, so its rare.

[SallyC]

OUCH Catch that smarts.

I did that once too, thought I had killed myself. I'll be so glad when they come up with a cure so we can quit stabbing ourselves..

[FaithS]

That used to happen to me, every single time I injected in my thigh, my arm, or my hip. I called Shared Solutions multiple times. Tried all their tips. They thought, too, that I must be injecting into a muscle. The site would ache for 2-3 days. It would hurt so much (in multiple places, because Copaxone is a daily shot) that I would take Tylenol or Advil evety 4-6 hours, always. At night, the pain would wake me, so I'd take it then too.

Finally, I called Shared Solutions to have a nurse come and re-train me. She said I was doing it correctly, and I was not hitting muscle.

I talked with my MS Specialist, who approved me injecting only in my abdomen, and, only 4x per week, so I didn't use the same site more than once a week (due to concerns about dents).

Has been working fine for me. I've been doing it that way for over a year.

~ Faith

[Dejibo]

I used the SIDE of my thigh in order to find more fat and found that worked well. the top side of your thigh has precious little fat and its too easy to nick into the muscle. go over to the side, grab a hand ful of yummy fat and STAB! ta da no more sore legs. I have heard of folks using the inner thigh but i never ever could find enough courage to do it there. EEEK!

I hope its feeling better now.

[Debbie D]

I stopped using the front of my thighs since I would bleed like crazy, get dents and graying of the skin.
Neuro said use the side where the fat pad is...but I don't do the thighs at all anymore.

[Catch]

Thanks for all the tips. I've been injecting Copaxone for three years and never had this happen. It made me think of what it must feel like to be shot. I think I'll mark that area strictly off limits.

I have also gone to injecting only 5 times a week, that and some weight gain has begun to fill in the dents.

[NurseNancy]

it must have been muscle because if it was a nerve you would have felt it the first couple of seconds.

i'd chalk it up to weird and unusual.
everyone's advice was great.

[Mariel]

I too have been injecting myself, in my case with Interferon for Polycythemia Vera. I inject only into the belly and have no pain, not ANY pain (well, a faint sting). However, the INF is giving me very bad neuropathy in my feet. about 10 hours after the shot, three times a week, the blow torch on my toes starts and goes on for hours. Demerol has not been enough to stop it in the moderate dose I consider OK, so I am taking Tylenol, which is a risk because I have Porphyria too. This is awful. Worst misery of my life, I think, but of course we do forget the horrors we went through, like the neurological impairments I had leading up to MS diagnosis. But for sheer pain, this is as
bad as Shingles, and harder to mollify. I am thinking I may not continue.