I think all of us have been nervous about self injecting medications. Ask your doctor's office if a nurse can help you with your first one. Take a deep breath... tell yourself you can do it, and then pat yourself on the back. The hardest part of the mtx injections will be remembering what day of the week to take them. YOU can do this!

-daizy8

I've been on MTX for 11 years and doing shots for the past 8-9 years. My daughter-in-law is a nurse and she taught me how....admitting she could never inject herself, however. But this is what I do.....

I use a spot on my flabby tummy and clean it with an alcohol swab, load the syringe to the needed level(usually ,7mls for me) and then I hold it and push it is really fast while not watching it actually go in. Then i slowly press in the plunger(MTX should be injected slowly), then out it comes. I rarely feel anything.

I use insulin syringes with short needles so they just go in under the skin and usually the 29-30 gauge needles for size...tiny enough that they rarely hurt. It was hard at first but now is a breeze and my stomach is so much better.

Only big piece of advice....avoid stretch marks if you have them.

It really is easy and cheap. I get 3 months of MTX for $10 from my insurance and I just got a box of 100 syringes for $10....that will last me about 8 years. Like I said....cheap.

Doing it the first time is the worst and then the first time by yourself but once that hurdle, you'll be fine. Do that first shot in your doc's office with the help of the nurses...it helps the fear factor.

Good luck............Jen

I take mtx pills, but I have self-injected biologics. I have given myself shots in the thigh, and the tummy. As Jen said, go for the tummy. Stay away from the immediate belly button area - or so it said for the shot I took. It is a bit scary at first, as Daizy said, you can do this!!

i stick the thigh and no where else. for myself only, a cakewalk, the mtx, can do it while doing something else. really. feels like nothing. or at least it does for me compared to the humira, or the actemra or those silly injector pens (for biologics i like the pre filled syringes but that was not a possibility with actemra).

back to mtx, had a locked office and my own fridge at work, used to do it at work also in between tasks or during tasks.... a long long time ago I looked at videos after I saw the histrionics of some folks i decided to never to research by watching videos again. it's not painful, or complicated for me. there's a learning curve to everything, you'll learn this, master it, and you won't give it a second thought.

depot

I'll throw this out there,just to show how far we've come..

Back in the 90's I was having a tough time with MTX pills so I switched to the injections. [ Not a pen....an insulin-like syringe.] My insurance company put up a fuss about self-injecting, even though the bottle of MTX and insulin syringes were very cheap. Still, they refused to pay.

Two can play this game, I thought.

So I arranged to drop by the doctor's office once a week and the nurse would give me a shot. The insurance company happily paid for the [then] $150 bill each week.

Go figure.

I also had needle fear. Took advice from Dr and others on this forum that injections work better than pill so I decided to go for it. I have my husband inject me in the upper arms. He is a taxidermist and uses a needle a lot, of course on dead things! At the same time one of my cats has become diabetic, so he injects her also. I figured I should try to do this for myself so I would try the kitty first. First thing I did was pull the cap off, which was on there pretty good, and stuck it in my finger. Then got kitty, injected her and thought it was a piece of cake, kitty didn't flinch! Afterwards I pet her neck, where I injected her and it was wet. Seems I never even stuck the needle into her. So I quit, let the husband do it to both. Anyway, it is just a pinch and you can get used to it. I've had little to no side effects.

My husband, who was a medic in the guard, injects me in my thigh, and I can honestly say I don't feel a thing! Not a thing!

My daughter who is a CMA showed me the first time. I do it alone now. WOW $1400.00 for 12 injections. My MTX vials are so cheap my insurance don't cover them, They are less than my co-payment. I pay 10.00 per 2 ml vials. I just picked up 12 weeks for $65.00 . $1400.00 is not in my budget.

It's a lot easier to self inject than most people think. The needles are so tiny. My doc asked how I feel and I told him since starting the injections I feel 150 % better. He slapped me on the knee and said he wished more people who try injections first with MTX than going to biologics. He teaches at UCLA and sid he should take me with him to talk about it! lol

Today will be my third injection of MTX. I'm a bit of a baby with needles. I had the nurse teaching the first time and I was a nervous wreck. But I managed to do the injection despite convincing myself I couldn't do it. I had my husband along with me, and also my sister who does daily injections, for moral support. That helped a lot.

Doing it on my own last week was so much easier because I could focus on my breathing and relax more. Again, I didn't feel it at all. I am so grateful for the MTX injections! They work so much better than the pills and I have no more stomach pain. I am finally weaning off of prednisone, too, since the MTX is much more effective in this form.

It's cheap, effective, and not difficult at all. So, go for it! You will do fine :)

this husband thing seems convenient

I just inject it myself - it's either that or no medicine :) - amazing how I came around with no options :)

it's either than a workout, really :)

depot