[the Bird]

First I got a box of dull needles! I call Shared Solutions....they send me a box of replacement med....

After 4 doses of this med I have extreme site reactions....I didn't put two and two together until I was talking on the phone with the nurse at SS....

My short experience with Copaxone hasn't been too reassuring! (The medicine itself, not the Shared Solutions!) First box of bad needles...then a batch of something wrong with the med.....

They offered to send me replacements, but I'm thinking I'd rather have the dull needles and the "good" med! So I tell her I'll use what I have! LOL

Have you had any problems with the medicine or the needles?

[KarenMarie]

Not yet Bird - did mention the dull needle question to my neuro's nurse when I went in for my lesson and she said that Copaxone had had complaints and had corrected the problem - apparently not enough !! Did you look at the needles to see if the Copaxone was discolored or was grainy ?

[NurseNancy]

karen has a good point.
the medicine should be clear.

i havn't had any problems but i've heard a lot about them.
hope your next box is a charm.

[CayoKay]

oh, whatta pain in the derrierre!

it was for reasons JUST like you listed, that I "ceased and desisted" with the Copaxone, back a few years ago.

and two lost packages as well... argh! (I lived in a very rural area then, and it was around Christmas, with all the "temp" UPS drivers...)

I never got dull needles, but I DID get ones that failed to function.

and one box that gave me gnarly site reactions from Hades.

good luck untangling the problems, and hang in there, honey!

[Erin524]

I've had two rather impressive site reactions since I started doing the shots manually (the autoject injections were giving me site reactions that were MORE than impressive, which made it really difficult to do the shots every day)

I think I've had a couple of dull needles, but a dull needle is nothing compared to shooting myself with the autoject...that hurts way more!

[KarenMarie]

Wow - the autoinject is what I use (and my husband too) - the needle doesn't go in quite as far as it does manually even when set to 10 - I guess it is an individual thing - for me the manual hurts and the auto doesn't - and no site reaction other then some redness and swelling that goes away in half an hour - don't know if you know that there's a way to adjust the needle depth on the autoinject and I found that if I press hard into the area I'm injecting with the autoinject - I do get a bruise - so I hold it against my skin but don't use too much force - my husband's been doing it for me and he's been holding the front of autoinject flush with my skin and applying very little downward pressure - so far so good -

[Blessings2You]

Huh. Coming up on two years, and never had a problem with the product yet.

[Bannet]

Hey Bird. I use auto inject so I can't tell if the needle is dull or not. It goes in so fast I haven't noticed.

When I first started taking C I would get huge warm welts. now I hardly have any reaction.

Hope it gets better for you

[FinLady]

I use the autoinject. Been on it since May, and I've gotten better at knowing where to shoot myself. But I've had some award winning site reactions in the beginning, and if I'm a little off of the "good" areas to shoot in - I get a wonderful red welt.

Not sure if the reactions went down because my bod is getting used to the medicine or because I make sure to wipe the injection site with a warm wet washcloth to make sure no med is on my skin.

I've lucked out and haven't had any dull needles yet. I do always make sure the med in the shot is clear. I disposed of one syringe because it looked discolored, but that only happened once. The nurse who came out advised that any discoloration or if there was something that looked like dandruff in the med means that syringe should not be used. If more than one in a box, report to Shared Solutions immediately.

[the Bird]

Thank you for all your responses....

I do do it manually, but my nurse that trained me after the first week or so advised me to no put the needle all the way in....so after he trained me the pain I was having left....still get itches now and then or some pain for a short while, but nothing like before...

These reactions are above and beyond what the others are/were....in fact two of them from days ago are still red and hurting....

Dull needles aren't fixed! so if you autoinject or if you have never used a needle before, you might not notice....

Sounds like a well thought out letter to them may be in order .....