Huge preference for the syringe. You can see what you are doing, you can control the rate at which to press the plunger, no loud noises to make you jump. I found the pens to be very painful, although I had them with Humira, which, in the words of my rheumatologist, "has a little pH problem." Enbrel & Orencia with a syringe are pretty close to painless.

also a huge preference for the syringe. i've only used enbrel and humira, but i used both the syringe and pen for both. the pen makes a loud noise which always startles me, and it just dumps the medication in, which can be a little painful. or a lot painful. i was surprised by how much humira hurt with the auto click angry pen. with the syringe, you can put it in much slower, and you have more control - i feel like having that control makes it better for me.

I like the pen. I don't want to see the needle. If you inject higher up the thigh you feel it less. It does push it in fast. It's done in 15 seconds.

I'm talking about Enbrel. That's the only one I have tried so far.

I always preceded the syringe. I felt I had more control and the pen seemed to leave a painful itchy swollen bump. It helps if you give the area a few minutes icing beforehand.

My experience: Pen is much more painful.

used both humira and enbrel on both the syringes and pens. used orencia on a syringe.

syringe hands down. no pain. the thing does not have a hydraulic lift that shoves all of the crap in, in under a nano second.

if you like pain, then get the pen. the syringes are like injecting water they don't hurt. i figure that's a bonus.

the plain ole syrgines also do not come with 542 step directions and rainbow colors that are supposed to color code the parts of the thing that will also do your dishes.

with the syringes you will not "accidentally" pull the pen out thereby dripping a thousand or so dollars down your thigh...

i was a participant in a syringe and pen testing research thingee doee. i bet they had a lot of fun on the other side of the glass wall.

Depot

I definitely prefer the syringe over the pen. I take Humira and it burns no matter what but the syringe give me more control. I, like others on here, hate how fast the pen pushes the med in and the noises the pen makes. I think the only advantage to the pen is not seeing the needle. If needles aren't a big deal to you go with the syringe.~Lori

Thanks for the responses. It seems most favor the syringe. I can see how the pen might be painful since it has to jab all of that medicine in with one quick push.

Have only done the pen with humira and no problem at all. Maybe a little sting, but it's gone in a minute. I inject in the belly (more padding) so that may make a difference. Good luck either way!

The pen for Simponi is excruciating. They gave it to me by mistake. The next month I did the syringe, and I didn't even feel it go in. Mind you after 10 years of mthx injections, and 5 years of a daily needle, it was pretty familiar. Plus I like to see it go in, too! Just to be assured that it is inside me and not going into a needle bin.

I didn't know Plaquenil came in an injectable form. I took pills many years ago and they did absolutely nothing for me. Neither did mthx pills, but the injectable really helped! I guess you learn something new every day.

Hi Marlene,

I am on the plaquenil pills for now. Plaquenil doesn't come in an injectable form. The next step is a biologic so I am trying to learn a little more about it before going back to the doctor so I am prepared.