[Erin524]

I'm needing to rotate my copaxone shots a bit more lately, so I asked my dad to give me my shot in the back of my arm tonight.

My dad is a nurse anesthetist and so he's a professional shot giver. (granted, a lot of what he gives people goes in an IV port...)

So, he picks a nice fat spot on the back of my arm (not difficult to find fat back there, I have a lot of arm apparently) and he started to give me my shot very slowly.

Almost immediately after he put the needle in my arm, and he had barely pushed the plunger in, my arm hurt really really bad! I made him take the needle out. I had pain going down my arm, and my index finger felt like there was water dripping on it. It felt like he'd hit a nerve, and that's what he thinks happened too since my middle finger felt like someone was dripping water on it.

My dad thought it was really strange, because he said the area he was injecting into was a fat spot. He said that he didnt think there should be a large area of nerves there. It was really weird.

Oh, and the stranger thing about it. My left hand has been numb off and on (mostly on) since Xmas. Today my index finger was pretty numb. Most of that numbness in the index finger and some that was in my middle finger went away after the failed attempt at the shot. (weird, but cool) I can kind of feel that creeping back in (darn!)

Anyone else ever have a similar thing happen?

My dad was glad that I made him stop the shot. He was afraid that he'd damage a nerve if he'd continued trying to give it to me. I guess the back of my left arm is off limits for shots for now. Oh well, but I have plenty of space on my backside to do shots for now.

[pud's friend]

Strange... but nothing surprises me here.
Hope you're ok.
just blame the nurse

[Dejibo]

Yep, done that! It HURT! I made my husband pull the needle out and stop. It took a few days, but my fingers came back to normal. The MD said some capillary beds are so embedded into the rich nerve supplies that surround the underarm, and the lower arm, and with the lymph system so close, it can sometimes be irritating. OUCH! I found my arms gave me tons of trouble, and stopped using them for a while. Gave them a rest.

I hope your feeling better now.

[Erin524]

I just woke up and noticed that I have a ginormous bruise where my dad tried to give me that shot. He barely got any C injected into it last night, so I'm wondering how much bigger the bruise would have been if he'd been able to finish giving me the shot.

I think I'll be staying away from that arm for now.

My dad will probably freak when he sees the bruise. He was upset last night that it hurt me so much when he tried to give me the shot.

[Dejibo]

sounds like you smacked a capillary bed. You cant always tell where they lay, you just have to take your best guess. Hang in there. I found um on my bum bum, my thighs, my arms, and even hit a belly bunch.

Its great that you have your dad to help you.

[Erin524]

Originally Posted by Dejibo

sounds like you smacked a capillary bed. You cant always tell where they lay, you just have to take your best guess. Hang in there. I found um on my bum bum, my thighs, my arms, and even hit a belly bunch.

Its great that you have your dad to help you.

I like that my dad can help me with the shots. He's usually pretty good when he does the injection for me. Most of the time it doesnt hurt at all. (yay!) They usually hurt when I do them, so it's always nice when my dad can give me one that I barely even feel. Dont even get the ginormous itchy hive sometimes when he does it. It's good to have a professional shot giver in the house.

If I didnt have my dad, I'd probably be asking my aunt (nurse practitioner) that lives across the street for help.

I'm pretty sure it was a nerve in an odd spot that got hit last night, my dad thought it was since my knuckle on my index finger felt like there was water dripping onto it.

I skipped the shot last night after that, I'm going to try to do my stomach or a thigh tonight, hopefully I wont get a bleeder from that (my stomach and thighs like to bleed on me when I do my shots for some weird reason)

[dmplaura]

Yup, which is why I stopped injecting my arms. I had so many difficulties with them, especially after the 6 month point of Copaxone.

I was double injecting my stomach and doing 6 instead of 7 shots a week when I threw in the towel on the drug.

[Erin524]

I'm actually considering quitting it too. Mostly because the people from SS (Shared Solutions) are really nasty to me when they call to make sure that I'm doing the stupid shots.

I dont know if they realize it (they probably do) but they're really really nasty to their customers, and it irritates me to no end how they talk down to me like I'm stupid because I have MS. It's kind of appropriate to call them the "SS" rather than "Shared Solutions". They're Copaxone Nazi's. ("you vill do this or we vill tell your docktor and make him verrrry verrry angry!")

and it's starting to really mess up my skin.

The SS doesnt seem to believe me that I've always been about two and a half boxes ahead on the C since I started taking it. The training nurse for the shots didnt show up at my house for nearly three months, so I had a huge stockpile of shots in my refrigerator before she finally showed up.

I may just tell my neuro I'm quitting the C, and finish out my stockpile and then go find someone who's willing to give me a Rx for LDN.

My neuro kind of ruined any belief in the C the last time I saw him. He was telling me how he thinks that LDN doesnt work, and then practically in the same breath, he told me that he pretty much thinks the same about all the injectible MS drugs too. So, what's the point? If he doesnt think it works, why should I continue to pincushion myself?

It'd probably be a lot cheaper to try LDN too.

[karilann]

Ive injected betaseron 1b since 2003 and have never successfully injected the back of the arm. It hurts really bad and leaves huge red marks that last forever.
I'm having trouble with the leg too. It doesn't hurt, but the red marks last about 9 months and I don't want them to show.
So.....that leaves the backside and belly. They remain poka-dotted, but are hidden from view.
However; I am building up some scar tissue in the belly and have to be really careful not to hit a scar area. OUCH!

Oh, Erin....I've been thinking the same thing too.

[Erin524]

Originally Posted by karilann

Ive injected betaseron 1b since 2003 and have never successfully injected the back of the arm. It hurts really bad and leaves huge red marks that last forever.
I'm having trouble with the leg too. It doesn't hurt, but the red marks last about 9 months and I don't want them to show.
So.....that leaves the backside and belly. They remain poka-dotted, but are hidden from view.
However; I am building up some scar tissue in the belly and have to be really careful not to hit a scar area. OUCH!

Oh, Erin....I've been thinking the same thing too.

It just irritates me that the neuro said what he said about the injectibles, yet he still wont give me a Rx for LDN, even tho he said the same thing about LDN that he said about the injectibles?!! Makes my head hurt to try to understand his logic.

I'm just also getting tired of Shared Solutions talking down to me about once a month. If they'd call me from the same phone number everytime I'd just let the phone go to voicemail. I've at least learned to not admit that I've skipped a couple of shots. (few months back, one guy went off on me, left a note in his notes saying that I said something about "not feeling like taking the shot for a week or two", and that was nothing near what I said. I got a follow-up call the next day from another person who quoted the first guy's notes and kvetched me out about it)