This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hey everyone -

I have been on rebif for 4 or 5 years now, and ive been using the recommended locations the entire time. However I am getting sick of using the back of my arm, my wife has to help with it which she does not enjoy, and i find it to be the biggest pain to do as well. So my question is, will i be fine if i just use the other 3 locations and skip the arms? Any of you have experience with this? Thanks.

Fishee, I've been on Rebif for about 3 years now and I rotate 3 sites at a time so that I can give a rest to one of the sites for a month or two. But during the summer I do not use my arms at all. I start injecting in them once the cool, long-sleeve weather starts and usually give one of the other sites a rest. It's worked out for me so far and I haven't had any problems.

fishee, I've been taking rebif for about 5.5 years now. Where I live in Canada, everybody has to go to an MS clinic to see a neurologist and get on a treatment, if you want to be on an MS drug. As far as I know, the nurses at the MS clinics in this province tell Rebif patients not to use the backs of the arms at all. That's what they told me and I had the impression that it was their advice to everybody, but I could be mistaken. I've never used the backs of my arms and I always get the thumbs up about the health of my injection sites. Hope that helps.

Wow Dignan that's weird cause my MS Lifelines nurse showed me how to inject in the back of my arms and suggested it as a site. I'm surprised they would suggest different sites here in the US and not in Canada. I don't prefer the arms anyway and will be glad to not have to inject there or anywhere else. Hopefully soon we won't have to.

I've had my husband inject my arms a couple of times, I found it was too sensitive so i only tried that twice. My idea of rotating sites includes areas about the size of a tennis ball, so I have 2 possible areas on each thigh, 6 total for my belly (3 upper, 3 lower) and 2 for each hip/butt cheek. That's 14 locations and these are just what I find to be the least sensitive areas. I can't remember all the instructions the home nurse gave me so I may be doing it wrong. So, if you inject your belly on Monday, is there any reason you shouldn't move 3 inches over for the Wednesday injection?
Kara

Come to think of it, my MSLifelines nurse wasn't really specific about where to inject, she just said that if you can pinch some fat, you can inject there (with some common sense exceptions like calves and inner thighs). I felt very limited for the first few months but then began to explore and found several more workable locations.
Kara

My MS lifelines nurse showed me 4 injection sites. She said it was impoerant to rotate thru all of them. HOWEVER, yall know me and I am gonna do what I want. So, I use the belly sites (2) and my thighs, (2). Been on Rebif since Feb 09. No problems at all. Last time she came to the house and checked up on me, she asked had I been rotating. I said yes but only between the belly and thighs, and she said no problem; my neuro said no problem as well. I am trying to keep this from my job as long as possble, and we wear short sleeve shirts, so I do noy inject there, I am too FAT to inject on my backside hips, therefore I dont inject there either. So far (knock on wood) I havent had any problems...

Alright thats good news, I was just double checking. there is no reason I cant move over say 3 inches and use my stomach again, I was not aware a move that slight is all you needed. I thought I needed to move to a different part of the body. This makes it much easier then, I hate having/needing help.

About the not using the arms as a location, I see the head Neuro at the Mayo Clinic, and I was told that was a good location to use. So not sure what that is about.

Thanks again everyone

I'm a newb so I've only started injecting myself about a month ago. The standard areas for injections are the thighs and belly according to the nurse. So I go high-mid-low on the thighs and h-m-l on the belly on each side with regards to the navel... Only problem is, I seem to forget where I've injected myself on the thighs or belly last...

Is there a better way of doing it without forgetting???

HEY

_________________
"Never argue with stupid people... They bring you down to they're level and beat you with experience"

Keep a log book. I have a small (5"x7") spiral bound notebook that I use to log my Avonex injections. I find this helpful as I sometimes forget which leg I've injected into the prior week as there are no injection site reactions. I also use it to write down other related stuff like new symptoms or whatever.

NHE

That's actually a very good idea... I feel "dumb" that I didn't think about it before

Thx

HEY

_________________
"Never argue with stupid people... They bring you down to they're level and beat you with experience"

I still get red, swollen spots at the injection site so it's easy to see where the needle has recently been. Do you all not get these? I guess I just assumed everyone did.
I had an appointment with my neuro last Thursday and was invited to take part in a trial for a newly designed auto-injector. I manually inject now and i don't foresee that changing but I'm happy to give it a try. I was told that this trial includes 3 free months of Rebif....my insurance company should be thrilled! I wonder if I could bargain with them, I mean, if I'm saving them nearly $7000, shouldn't I get at least half of that???

Sounds good to me. I don't think they should have a problem with that. I still get the red splotches but they are usually not swollen. But sometimes I get lumps underneath the injection site that are not red. I don't know if this is because I hit the muscle or what. I honestly don't even give them a second thought anymore. I look I have some disease or something (oh wait, I do!!)

_________________
Dxed Jan 2006. Sx since 2002. Rebif since March 2006. "When one door closes, another opens but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." Alexander Graham Bell

HI all...
I've been injecting rebif for the last 11 years. I did it in my thighs, arms, stomach and of course the rear end...lol
I found that the least painful site to inject is my stomach, I just switch from side to side. The other sites are too painful.
I haven't had any problems yet
I plan on stopping it soon anyway as I dont think it did a hell of a lot for me, plus I get liberated at the end of this month.

I don't know if anyone else does this, but I learned a technique to inject in the back of the arms by yourself. Gently rest the back portion of your arm on a chair or sofa so the area is exposed. You may have to use the opposite hand to move it around a bit, but this should give you a wide enough area to inject on your own. I learned this while I was on Copaxone and wanted to be independent with my injections. Believe me, when you have to do daily injections, you have to get creative sometimes! It also helps to use the auto injector as well. Just don't press the injector too hard on the skin or it will cause bruising. Hope this helps!