Injection Day!!

In my last post I mentioned how I got the call for my MS drugs, well the time has come and now have started on the treatment.

On Friday 8th August we made our way to Royal Victoria, Belfast to go to the Pain Treatment unit were I was to meet my MS Nurse Mark. I was very nervous going as I did not want to start injecting myself every week as I really don't like needles. However I need not have worried as Mark was very nice and explained everything to me  - showing me the prefilled Avonex syringe - how it all worked etc

Here is a picture of Avonex and how it works.  Mark went through sample ones - putting them together and injecting a pin cushion so I can see how it was done. Then I got to do a trial run as well on a practice kit and a pin cushion.

First of all there is a grey cap on it which needs to be taken off, then you take the foil off the needle cover and put the cover into the pen/syringe then pull the body away from the injector shield and the needle cover flies off and now the needle is inserted into the pen.

Next step is taking the pen and injecting yourself - so putting the needle in the set place an then press the blue button - and hey presto I have been injected!

When I injected myself I thought it was going to be really sore as normally needles are, but it wasn't that bad, just felt like it would if you pricked yourself with a pin. Now, I know it will be hard getting used to injecting myself every week but now I have done it once I know its not painful when injecting.

Where do I inject? Well Avonex is a drug which is injected straight into the muscle, so the best place to do it is the thigh - Mark explained how to do it - first of all your put your hand to your hip then move it down the leg to the knee and the second place where the hand hits (the middle of the thigh) is where the injection goes. And every week will rotate the side on which injection is done - so Friday I injected in the right thigh and this Friday will inject on the left side and so on and so on.