Self Administration of Interferon and Procrit

[BoceprevirGal]

  Am I the only one on here, who is too scared to give myself my Interferon shot, and my Procrit shot?
I do have my meds in my fridgey, and I would like to take the Procrit on a different day, then my Interferon, but I have always gone into my Cliniic, and had the Medical Assistant, or even one of the volunteers, administer it, for me.
   I have watched them give me 15 Interferon shots now (a red colored redipen) and it comes with instructions, although I have never actually had a Nurse train me on how to do it. I have watched them draw up, and give me 8 Procrit shots now, which seems like it is even harder to push in.
  I want to do it myself, but I am scared I will mess up.  Has anybody else had a bad experience with self-administering a shot, like hitting a vein, getting an infection at the injection site, etc? Because so far, when I go to my Clinic, I havent had any problems, when I have someone else do it~

[BoceprevirGal]

Thanks!  Yes, getting the Procrit to draw into the syringe was tricky, with the 1 ml syringe they provided, but it just took patience. I had to pull the plunger back, and push air back in the vial, quite a few times...are you doing the Interferon shot in a regular syringe, or Procrit?

[1swimmer]

No pro click for me this Sunday. Sort o in the same boat, w/ the syringe. I can do it, of course I'll read the pamphlet 10 times.
Boc girl, congrats.

[Dee1956]

Way to go!  So very happy you have been able to do this for yourself
It must be empowering.
Congrats

[BoceprevirGal]

  Thanks, Dee~  I just gave myself my Procrit shot also, sitting down!  When I did it myself, there was no pain or stinging at all, and not even a drop of blood.
    I feel more comfortable doing it at home : )

[Dee1956]

Good for you!  Way to go
It will save you some time.

[BoceprevirGal]

Thanks people!  I am now warming up my Procrit vial...gonna go read the insert sheet. It only came with one syringe, so I will have to break the vial seal, and draw up with the same 1 ml syringe, which will make the needle more dull..ahhh.
    I just hope the Procrit wont be too hard to draw up~

[uriah1]

YAY!  YOU DID IT!  WAY TO GO!  It does get easier.  I tried to be careful not to get cocky about it, though, be methodical, careful, etc.  WAY TO GO GIRL!  AND FOR YOUR HUSBAND TOO!  It takes guts to watch, I think.  My husband wouldn't have been able to do that!

[chuckles333]

Way to go!! I had trouble with my first shot too. I was shaking like a leaf. For me not so much the process as the fear of the unknown, because my first self administered shot was my first shot. Once you get through it though, it's pretty easy, as you've found out. Congrats. it makes the whole process SO much easier now.

[BoceprevirGal]

Thanks everyone:  I did the Inf shot myself, with the help of my hubs next to me, to spur me on. It was very easy.
    Now I'm gonna look, and see if the Procrit syringe pack has this extra and smaller needle, that I am hearing about~

[Idyllic]

The Procrit shots are injectible in all kinds of places. Even close together but you have to practice site rotation. If you unfold that super thick product insert (that is like a road map and you will never be able to refold it) there is a diagram like this:

http://www.theodora.com/drugs/images/857.jpg

Here is one from the web:

http://media.diagnosispro.com/drugs/20100308_0c721ba4-ae19-417f-aae1-221ed1a0866a/procrit-11.jpg

Plus, the 3 gauge needle you use to draw the solution from the vial is not the same one you inject the dose with. In fact the needle looks very close in size to the one that comes with my Peg shots.

These images helped me since I did not want to wait three days and go to my doctor's office:
http://www.theodora.com/drugs/procrit_for_injection_ortho_biotech.html

Plus this guy doesn't do have bad of a job:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqayDxK6rno


But I agree with the others you should do the shot at your doctor's office if you are concerned. The last thing you want to wonder about is if you did it right. If you got all the solution and all that other worrisome, self doubt that went through our minds the first time we started administering our own shots :)

[Dee1956]

Hi Uriah has a good idea, you could try it in the doctors office, you will be there anyway and could just try it.
Good luck

[uriah1]

I was really nervous too.  It helped to have someone there (a nurse) who knew what they were doing and she watched me inject myself.  I did it that way for a couple of weeks.  It felt better having someone there to guide me.  It did get easier as my tx went on, especially the interferon.  The Procrit was hard at first, but I learned to take it out of the fridge extra early (1/2 hour) and to inject it slowly, then it was easier.  I also asked the pharmacy to send me smaller needles and that helped a lot too.
The whole hitting-a-blood vessel thing they say is rare, but can happen.  The nurse told me I would know exactly when that would be (blood in the syringe) and I could take it all out and start with another syringe. No problem, no damage.  I never had that happen, but it was good to know the worst case scenario.  Good luck!

[Dee1956]

Hi Bo, I think you could do it.  Many here had never given themselves a shot before tx.  The doctor showed me how to do it, then he had me do it in the office. Of course I was scared, the unknown is always a little frightening.   It was not  difficult, I never had a problem
Saying that I also had to give my cat fluids under the skin so was comfortable with using the needle.
I have done the injections two ways, using a vial and drawing out the inf and also getting a redipen.  The redipen was easy but so was the regular syringe.  On the plus side it would save you time and as Billy said his GF gave him the procrit, maybe you husband could help you.  I did not realize that you had to give the procrit in the arm.
Good luck

[working dog]

the interferon shot is so easy..adjust the dose..tap the bubbles out..and go for it...just don't pinch your skin hard to put the needle in..the needle is so little it goes in easy...the procrit was not as easy for me....i did only one shot because i had my gf do the others...its a much bigger needle and i had that shot in my arm...warmed it up and shot it in slow because of the burning....good luck...billy