Copaxone Reaction

[starryeyes1]

I'm wondering if anyone else has had reactions to Copaxone? I have been taking it for over 5 months and one night after taking it in the thigh, I experienced the tightness of the chest, difficulty breathing, and my face turned bright red and felt like it was going to split apart. My DR said to reduce it to 1/2 a shot the next night and I didn't have another problem for 3 more weeks when it happened again. Coincidently, both times it occured when the injection was in the thigh .I am worried I won't be able to continue this if it keeps happening. I don't want to switch. Any suggestions? I don't inject into my legs now to see if it makes a difference.

[missy618]

I have been on copaxone for 6 months and had the same reaction last week, but I began vomiting and breaking out in hives only at the injection sites (all of the injection sites), I also had just took the injection in my leg (right on the top).  my doc told me to take a Benadryl and not to take the injection the next day and then take 1/2 the day after that.  He also said that this is normal for the first six months and that it means it's in my system and beginning to work….we’ll see about that when I take new test in March.  

[twopack]

Potential long term functional limitations of MS still concern me more than the potential for a short lived side effect of Copaxone.  But I have never had this immediate post injection reaction.  I'm sure it is both very uncomfortable and very scarry.  I could change my mind if it happened.  I consider almost nothing to be an absolute anymore, especially concerning my health.

It's not at all uncommon to see a drop of blood at the site after injection.  Sometimes, it can be avoided by waiting a few seconds longer before withdrawing the needle (yes, you just hold it there).

After one injection I had done in my thigh, there was an unusual amount of blood flow out of the tiny injection site.  Rut roh!  This was surly disaster headed my way.  I waited for the dreaded IPIR to hit.  Nothing.  Like so many aspects of MS, there doesn't seem to be much clarity for what happens from one case to another.

The center, upper thigh works best for me too.  If I stray to the recommended area's borders, I do it toward the outside of the thigh.  The closer you move to the inner thigh, the more likely you will encounter an increasing concentration of blood vessels and nerve endings (if you think about it, the reasons are obvious).

A few months ago I though I would start a site rotation that included only one thigh injection a week.  That way, either thigh would be injected only once every two weeks.  Before I could start the plan, I had a "perfect" thigh injection experience.  No pain, no sting, no big lump,  I'm not sure what happened.  Not every shot is that perfect (yet) but most are much better.  I don't know what has happened or why.  I just accept and rejoice.

Lastly, I did have the start of my Copaxone use delayed by a cardiologist.  He may have been initially unsure of the reaction itself.  Once he researched Copaxone, he was more concerned that the reactions could muddy the diagnostic waters of some similar cardiac symptoms I was having at the time.  After two weeks, he told me to go ahead and take it.

2 cent Mary

[bonniedune]

Just a quick comment - my experience with the post-injection reaction is the same as what is described here, although the reaction I have lasts closer to 40 minutes from start to finish & leaves me "wiped out" for the rest of the day.

I had my first reaction of this kind after about 3 months on Copaxone, and had read about it, so it wasn't as frightening.  I now get the reactions several times a year, and they seem worse than when I started the medication (6 years ago), and scarier, because I never know when it will happen.  

Recently, I had two of the reactions in one week.   My neuro has taken me off the med until my next appt (about 4 weeks).  I don't want to go on any other med, but I don't want the surprises, either.  I'm enjoying taking a break from Copaxone & the fear of a reaction, in the meantime...

[jensequitur]

Whups!  I was way wrong about the vagus reaction - for one thing, it's vagal, not vagus, and another thing, it couldn't possibly be a vagal reaction, as that's the opposite of the problem.  So my Shared Solutions nurse was wrong.

[Deb61]

My goodness, you really are a trooper!  I would probably have given up on it.  Is there any way you can inject manually?  It sounds like you may be injecting into the bloodstream, and you have more control injecting manually and avoiding muscle or injecting too shallow.  Try in a place where you have the most fat, like Jen suggested.  For me it's my stomach!  If you inject manually, don't push the needle in slowly, make sure the area is heated, and the alcohol is completely dry (it will sting really badly if it's not).  I use a blow dryer to warm and dry the area.  Some people don't use the alcohol pads and inject after they've taken a shower.  

I know what it's like to dread shot time.  I had both of the reactions within a few day time frame, and I really, really didn't want to ever inject again.  Now, when I do it, it's like taking my oral medicines, and I never think about it.

I hope it works out for you, but you can't put up with having severe reactions time after time.  Best of wishes, Deb

[jensequitur]

Sorry for the all caps, but I would NOT turn the injector - if you are injecting into a blood vessel, it's more likely to happen if you inject sideways.

How deep are you injecting?  Try the shallowest setting on your injector, and see if it happens again.  

I would find the area on your body with the most subcutaneous fat, and try it there.  The chart shows the tops of the thighs, the backs of the arms, and two small circles on the lower abdomen.  Problem is, after a year of injecting, I've got two large dents, one on either side of my belly button.  It looks weird.  So I've started injecting into the fat above my belly button, at about the level of the floating ribs.  There's two blobs there, one on each side.

And if it happens again, I would stop - there's no point in putting up with that severe of a reaction.