I have been doing the injections for several months. The change totally solved the upset stomach problems I was having. The first few times were a little scary, but it is easy to do and it doesn't hurt at all. You use the tiny needles commonly used to inject insulin. I hope you will find the injections easy to do and more effective than the pills.

Thanks for reassuring me altoclef...My son is diabetic and he uses the short tiny needles but my dr. told me they are alot bigger than that. The script she wrote is 27 guage 1" and I know my sons are much smaller. Where do you inject?

The needle thing got complicated. My marching orders were to administer it subcutaneously, but the needles on the prescription were for huge, intra-muscular horse shots. (I think her "wonderful" electronic medical records screwed that one up!) I had a long discussion with the pharmacist as to whether the injections were actually SQ or IM, whether the SQ was off-label (it's not, but it is newer), books were brought out, websites were consulted.

Lucky me, I live in a state that has laws allowing anyone to buy needles without a prescription. Designed to protect IV drug users from AIDS and Hep B & C, they also protected me from a bad electronic medical records program! I hope you aren't bound to what your doctor wrote.

You will be taking a small amount. 1 pill = .1 cc, so you will be at .4 cc (or ml). The needles marketed to diabetics are perfect. I bought some recently with a 6mm needle. I have been injecting in my abdomen and, as I said before, no big deal.

Did you get good advice or handouts from your doctor on how to do it? I didn't, but the pharmacist printed several pages of info for me. There are also YouTube videos and other online resources. Most important, if you don't have a good pharmacist, FIND ONE! They can make all the difference.

If your doctor says you need a bigger needle, I wonder why. Is she asking you to inject it IM? Please, please make sure she isn't thinking you should be taking 4 and not .4 ml, too. Maybe she just has the same dumb computer program mine does.

Ok after reading this I called my pharmacist who is wonderful and he said using my sons small needles would be perfect basically for the same reasons you mentioned. The cost of the MTX is so much cheaper too. He said the amount to inject is the same as the pills and said I should be fine. I'm praying this helps with my headaches. I will be starting this tomorrow and will keep you posted. Thanks so much for your help.

Then at the next church supper or PTA meeting you can drop an offhand comment about "shooting meth!"

Haha that's a good one!

Remember ...do not lay down for at least 20 mins after you have injected the mtx.. I went from 6 pills to .6 then to .8 because i was taken off the plaquenil.. I am having no problems now...I did learn to eat a little something before doing the shot...

Really? Thanks for that tip. I'm nervous about this but am planning on switching tomorrow.

Ok so am I to fill up the whole syringe for 0.5 dosage?

0.5 mls methotrexate = 1/2 ml cc needle
I'm afraid I'm doing this wrong.

As sick as this sounds, I love the MTX injections. The only reason I say this is because the pills made me horrendously nauseous and the nausea lasted from one dose of pills to the next. I have absolutely no side effects from the injections. Hope you have the same relief. I inject in my belly, alternating sides each dose. I've also been told I can inject into my thighs. Hope this helps!

When I first switched from pills to injections everything was good but after about 9 months of injections I began to get excruciating headaches and nausea that got worse each time I injected. Had to stop and switch to Humira.

I hope it works much better for you! And remember each person is different so we all react in different ways!

Good luck! :)