prefilled injections

[jbirdee]

Hi there! I am new to TIMS however I have been a lurker for many months. I am currently taking Avonex. I am on injection #6. I have been gradually working up from 1/4 dose to full dose coming up next week. My question is I have noticed a small air bubble in the prefilled vile. Do I remove the air bubble before I inject? Or do I just inject it all to insure all the avonex gets administered? Since I have a huge needle phobia I have my BFF who is a nurse come to inject me once a week. I have yet to have any side effects. I have found that taking 2 Aleve 2 hours before and then 1 Aleve every 8 hours to work for me. Thank you in advance for your response...Jen

[NHE]

Hi Jen,

Hi there! I am new to TIMS however I have been a lurker for many months. I am currently taking Avonex. I am on injection #6. I have been gradually working up from 1/4 dose to full dose coming up next week. My question is I have noticed a small air bubble in the prefilled vile. Do I remove the air bubble before I inject? Or do I just inject it all to insure all the avonex gets administered? Since I have a huge needle phobia I have my BFF who is a nurse come to inject me once a week. I have yet to have any side effects. I have found that taking 2 Aleve 2 hours before and then 1 Aleve every 8 hours to work for me. Thank you in advance for your response...Jen

You need to keep the air bubble in the syringe. It will help to push all of the liquid medication out of the syringe when you inject. I used to remove the air bubble, but then found that there would be about 70 µL of liquid remaining in the syringe. In order to get the most medication when you inject, leave the air bubble in there. In addition, a small air bubble in an intramuscular injection should not be a problem (I was told this directly from the Avonex nurse).

NHE