Help with Humira Injection

hey guys, hope your all well.

I have been on Humira for 3.5 years now, have been giving it to myself. But now i have to get someone else to give it to me the last few times as it hurt like hell!!!!...I think its because its going over scars from old injection sites. I have tried doing it in my thigh but that hurts much more for me than stomach.

I was just wondering if anyone has any tricks to make it hurt less eg- ice injection area before and so on.
Anyways, thanks

I don't do Humira injections but I do Cimzia and the first time I had it in the thigh it hurt like crazy. The nurse that trained me show me to give it higher up in the thigh where there is more fatty tissue, I hardly felt it. She said the reason it hurt so much before was because in your lower thigh where I was giving it there are many more nerves. For instance looking at your thigh I was going down middle outside thigh, now if I do it there I do Upper outside thigh down below the bend of your hip and leg there's a nice piece of fat there. Fats hard to find on me as I have always been thin but that was the magic spot for no pain.

Hope this helps

tixbut said:

hey guys, hope your all well.

I have been on Humira for 3.5 years now, have been giving it to myself. But now i have to get someone else to give it to me the last few times as it hurt like hell!!!!...I think its because its going over scars from old injection sites. I have tried doing it in my thigh but that hurts much more for me than stomach.

I was just wondering if anyone has any tricks to make it hurt less eg- ice injection area before and so on.
Anyways, thanks

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Have you tried to leave the PEN or Syringe out of fridge for like 15 mins before injecting? This combined with pre icing injection site might be helpful. Bed advised Abbott is working on solving the stinging problem during injection. I know they are making head way, but it requires FDA approval. I bring that up because I wanted others to know that there might be relief soon from Abbott labs regarding injection pain.

I iced the area for at least 10 minutes, left the pen out of the fridge for 15 minutes, pinched the section, and made a mental note of where I injected last (tried making sure I never did it on the same side or on the top or bottom twice in a row). I always injected into my stomach as well as I thought the thigh was too painful also.

Some possible suggestions if you haven't tried them yet, if you've been using the pen for injecting I'm wondering if a syringe might be less painful. I've heard people on the forum saying that its less painful and after having multiple shots and blood draws over the decades in the same spots I've never dealt with any scar tissue so I wonder if the pens may be doing some damage but I haven't done any research on the pens and the possible damage done over time. Have you talked to your doctor about trying Lidocaine patches or anything like that?

I ice the area for well over half an hour. probably a bit extreme but it does help.
I also leave the pen out of the fridge.

I too have had the same problem, I have been on Humira for just over 2 years and the last 4 have been so much more painful than normal! Not sure why this is...

Hello, watch this youtube video. The reason it hurts in your leg is because you are injecting into your muscle, you need to pull your skin up really far and make sure it injects onto the top of the muscle just below the skin. If you do it right you will only feel the Humira going into you and you will feel nothing. All I do is inject into my legs and I know what you are saying as far as damaged skin, it's only 25 injections a year but it really takes a toll over the years. Good luck and follow the video it really works!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgcYmoyVIYg