pain is so very personal. Some people get neuropathy after dealing with pain for a long time and can't feel pain as much and some people have mild form of disease and they don't have much pain to begin with . it's just such a personal thing. Did you know that some women can deliver a child without medication and some women can die during childbirth?

My skin has been affected by Sjogrens and is very thick and dry and the injections hurt so bad . the sites also didn't heal properly and turned into infected boils that wouldn't heal, so the doc stopped the enbrel. so I can totally relate. The experience is different for every person. Just be thankful you don't have that problem.

I do think everyone relates to pain differently. Please don't take my response as dimishing anyone's pain. I don't play the "my pain is worse than yours" game. What someone feels is what they feel. Its not right or wrong.

Before my first injection of mtx with needle & syringe, you would've thought I was going to get a limb amputated with all the drama I created. My husband gave me the shot in the arm and I was prepared for Armageddon. Needless to say while it stung for a bit, the world didn't end. Enbrel in the thigh wasn't pleasant but it is what it is. Shots are painful.

So yeah, I do think the woman was probably being a bit overdramatic. Although to give her the benefit of the doubt the producers probably asked her to be as vocal as possible given that it was a radio broadcast and not visual. But labor like sound effects was a bit over the top.

Im a big believer in the mind being a very powerful thing. Thoughts have power. The more power you give to something the more control it has over you. If I dwelled on all that's wrong with my physical body I'd climb into bed & never get out.

No doubt about it that Crohns would be a miserable beast to live with. A very good friend has it and its horrible. She weighs next to nothing because eating is such a painful experience. Within 30min shes in so much pain she's ready to scream and practically in tears from the cramping. She's had 2/3 of her colon removed from the damage. Keeping a job has been hard for her because she flares so often. That being said she takes 100mg-2 shots- of Enbrel every week and has never told me she thought it was painful. After what she deals with from the disease itself I think that's kinda low on her list of complaints. Then again, pain is subjective.

Rambling again,
Emerald

Yes, overly dramatic.

i just live alone, i got used to doing these injections at work because I was not going home after work i was going to kids symphony or some such crap and could not inject in the car so I did it in a locked office where i had a locked fridge.

i remember typing the story on here one day of having watched a woman in total histrionics on you tube be held down by a nurse and her husband for an enbrel or humira shot. i had been looking for a live time demo prior to injecting the first time a biologic. i backed out of that you tube video as fast as i could.

i looked around some more until i found some guy demo his injection 1 2 3 on you tube. he looked ok with the process. he was so calm and silly siting around in his work out shorts sticking himself. he had wicked hairy legs. that made me laugh. which distracted me. :)

i find the diminishment of my quality of life and the RA itself more painful than (my humble opinion only) dumb shots or iv's even when the iv nurse can't find a line, tries 3 times and calls for the IV nurse who uses a pitchfork on me.

i am thankful about not having allergic reactions, linzsey. i had an office mate who had your same reaction every month with her enbrel. you are both troopers. she would show me her skin issues from injection and that has to go through your mind when you are about to stick. i felt for her. and i feel for you with that.

i think that everyone's reaction and feelings are different. but so are circumstances. i never quite had the luxury to call in the fairies to inject me or use any time on rumination. it was stick and go. maybe that was a good thing, no? look at what sammy is going through. she wants to inject and can't get the damn medicine!

depot

Doesn't help a new person needing to use those drugs=scare them off before they even try it for themselves

I agree sure we all react to pain differently but yes it doesnt help new people when they are faced with doing injections. When i was to start humira i had watched various utube videos on the injection and i remember watching a guy trying to get up the nerve to give himself an injection in his stomach. He made such a big deal i thought he was going to hyperventilate that it raised my anxiety. I am a nurse and have given many shots but i was so scared...and when I gave myself my first injection it wasn't that bad. When i post i qill be honest and say that it burns or hurts or whatever the case is but i wont post all the horrible anxiety that i myself had getting up the nerve to give the shot. The best to all

I did find the Humira injection to be painful WHEN I gave it in my thigh. Though not as painful as childbirth. I told myself it was better than days of a flare, since it only lasted ten seconds. And it was.

I finally tried giving it in my stomach, and this was much better. It is probably because I have some belly fat, and it isn't straight into a muscle, but whatever the reason, I have no problem giving it to myself now.

Just my two cents.

I'm three months into Enbrel injections. I've also had two kids naturally with no drugs at all. I learned Lamaze breathing 36 years ago when I had my first son, and I do still use it from time to time when faced with a short-term painful situation. While the Enbrel injection is absolutely nowhere in the childbirth range of pain, I do use breathing to relax me through it. It works really well since my focus is on a focal point and my breathing and not on my thigh that is stinging a bit. All in all I'd say 15 seconds of stinging is worth it!

I did the same. Deep breathing & counting through the Enbrel injection.
It's painful but not to that degree. Although to be fair some just have little pain tolerance.
Sure dreaded injection days.
Sammy