Hi, I'm on Avonex, I take it around 7:00 pm so the worst will come at night, while I'm sleeping. My routine is:

1- nice shower, don't know if I'll be able next day

2- eat well at dinner time

3- take meds, I used tylenol and Ibuprofen because the Dr recommended it, now I do 800 mg Ibuprofen and get less chills and fever, one hour before shot.

4- take shot out of fridge when I do #3

5- my daughter gives me my shot, thank God.

My supplier sends a 1" needle, which is thinner than the one provided.

I used to get very sick the first few months, not anymore, keep meds by the bed and some water just in case you get a fever, so you don't have to get up, I do.

Good luck and let us know about your experience.

Alma

I would take either tylenol (or advil) one hour before my shot, and two hours after my shot take advil (or tylenol) again before I go to sleep (alternate the meds). I too would suffer most of my side affects during the middle of the night and the next two days following, so keeping well medicated helped. Good luck with this, let us know how you make out.

For the past year, I have the injections about 8 p.m. Saturdays. It does vary alittle some weeks for me, even after all these years that I use it. But this is some general Avonex prefilled syringe dealings.

I take hydrocodone and ibuprophens an hour before the Avonex shot; sometimes I forget and swallow them just 5 or 10 minuets before it's done. I'm not really sure if there is a difference those times or I didn't have enough protein/ water/ sleep the day before that shot...

Still, I usually notice feeling flushed about 20 minuets after the the shot and up to an hour after it too. The headaches usually start up about an hour or 2 after it too; so I might take one or 2 of those quick release acetaminophen OTC pills if it is too painful.
The nights of Avonex I tend to sleep wearing a sweatshirt or some longsleeved shirt to help ward off the freezing chills that show up some weeks at 4a.m. for me. (I have heat intolerance so this always seems odd to me too...)

Sorry this is so long; I suppose I coulda just said to expect some smaller symptoms 20 minuets after it and stronger ones about 2 hours and for the next day and a half.
But not everyone gets the same effects; Good Luck!!

Hi , my daughter was on avonex, but the Dr changed it after first MRI, due to new lessions. She didn't like it because she has uttof ( sounds like this) which is when her body temperature rises, she goes blind. The first time this happened she felt really scared, so even when shots were at nightime she felt anxious about going blind. Her sight came back when her temp was normal. We found out about this on first shot night. Reading about possible side effects helps somewhat.
Also I used to be sick for 24-48 hours, but in the last month has gotten a lot better. It seems to skip a week.

Alma

I recommend taking your shot as close to bedtime as possible this way you can sleep through your side effects. Another recommendation would be to take it on a night where you can sleep in. The first few weeks were the worst (chills, nausea, etc) but taking 600mg of Advil helps a lot, like everyone has said, an hour before the injection. I also found eating a "hefty" dinner and allowing myself dessert helped. I would always take it on a Friday night and allow it to be my eat anything I want day! Also no alcohol that day or maybe the next...it does not go well with Avonex!