sore injection sites?

[shucks]

I am in my 3rd week of copaxone, and the first week and a half or so I had absolutely no problems. within the last week, every injection site hurts like hell starting a few hours after injection and lasting for up to a week. It is sore like a bruise, and I dont know what the deal is. Any advice? Could it be that the needle is set too deep or something? I have been using an 8 setting everywhere, but when I looked today it was on about a 9 setting for some reason. I called shared solutions and they were pretty useless. I backed it to 6.5 0r 7 and the thighwas today, but I wont know about soreness to tomorrow.

[Froggie]

Hi Shucks,

I feel your pain! While I was on Copaxone, I used to get awful hives that would itch severely, especially on my thighs. I think I was injecting on the 6 setting, occasionally 4 for my thighs. As I understand it, Copaxone (Glatiramer Acetate) is a long chain protein that can cause an allergic reaction/anaphylactic shock. Do you take Ibuprofen at all? That may help with the soreness. Another thought is you may be injecting very close to veins. They are not always easy to spot, but when you get too close to one, it can be very painful. I have to be really careful, as I have a lot of surface veins and I bruise very easily. I've had some reflux and bleeding from injecting in a bad spot. Since my husband has done my injections manually for over a year now, I've had few problems. Have you tried doing a manual injection? I personally find it easier to control. Hope this helps!

Christine

[shucks]

I switched to manual injection and it seems to have helped a lot. I still get the issues, but they are about half of what they were.