Hi! I'm new to the site, and also fairly new to taking glatiramer acetate (which I've been doing for a little over 2 months), and I've got a question about how best to inject it.
The nurse who trained me to use the whisperjectTM suggested pinching the injection site, but then I read all the printed materials that I'd received and saw no mention of doing so. With pretty much every injection, I've been experiencing an inch or two of lateral swelling at injection sites that only last a couple of days and is a little pink, and I've been wondering if that has to do with the pinching? The other day, I remembered something I'd read about subcutaneous injection that you should pinch before inserting but then release before you depress the plunger, which doesn't exactly work with an auto-injector, but I sorta tried it, and the site ended up being much less irritated.
Granted that everyone's body is different, do you pinch?
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FuzzyBoots
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Welcome . Sorry you are having to inject, and I can’t answer your question but I am sure when they all wake up, someone will be able to answer. Blessings Jimeka 😊
I used to pinch, but since I got an auto injector there's no need to pinch. I still have lots of red marks at injection sites. ( my belly looks like a road map to some far away land!)
I recently switched from injecting glatirimir acetate . I used to use whisperjet to inject my hips and did my thighs and stomach manually. (I stopped doing my arms bc too difficult and started showing disfigurement) when I manually injected i pinched up the area then injected, then released to depress the plunger. When i used the whisperjet, i pinched to make sure there was at least an inch of skin in the pinch where i planned to inject, then let go of the pinch to activate the whisperjet and do the actual injection. I actually used both hands on the device.
I started with name brand Copaxone (which i feel worked better for me) and used a different auto injector. I thought i liked the Copaxone auto injector better than the whisperjet but once i became used to the whisperjet i started liking that one ok.
I was on Rebif 4 years ago and I remember the injection site redness. I didn't pinch to inject. The nurse did have suggestions to help with injection pain and redness. Ice the area for 5 minutes before injecting. After injecting spray Flonase on the site and rub preparation H. I don't think the preparation H did much but I think the Flonase did, she had mentioned the ingredients in preparation H changed and it wasn't as effective as it used to be.
I think you may be right in questioning about pinching with the auto injector. I was not told to pinch when using it, but was instructed to pinch when injecting manually. I would call and talk to a nurse with Mylan for confirmation. Assuming you’re in the USA, the number is 1-844-695-2667. As an aside, you can actually contact any nurse line and they will assist you. In other words, you could call Copaxone’s Shared Solutions, Rebif, Betaseron, etc.
Welcome to the injection club. I just switched from Copaxone, after 5 years, to Mylan’s glatiramer acetate. I would still be on brand name, but theIf financial support was no longer providing full coverage of the medication so I contacted Mylan and their patient assistance program covers it with no cost to me.
Hi. I used Copaxone for a bit more than 5 years. That's a bunch of needles. Early on, I tried using a gelpack to prepare / relax the injection site. Worked well for me. Place the pak in a microwave for the instruction-noted period of time; place on intended injection site, the POW!. Hit it with the Auto Injector. Just kidding. gently use the auto- injector (as normal). You may find this action helpful.
Research or call Shared Solutions for info, assistance, or supplies. I'm not with them anymore, but they were always very helpful and accommodating, when I needed their assistance. Take care and stay safe.
I had a hard time getting the level correct with my Autoject. My fat is not distributed evenly. I have finally stopped using it at all, but pinch up to create a thicker layer of fat in which to inject. I stopped using my arms very early on since I just don’t have enough fat there, and it always caused a bigger reaction. I inject manually in my hips and abdomen. Now I have no problems with reaction at the injection site, even though I don’t use cold packs after the injection anymore.
You might try to adjust the depth level if that’s possible with your injector.
Update 2: I was just talking to one of Mylan's nurses (about whether love-handles are an okay injection site [answer: yes, but there may be more nerves and blood vessels around there]), and I mentioned the question of whether to pinch, and he confirmed that it's not necessary when using the injector. (He pointed out that the injector already does some compression of the area anyway.)
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