Injection #6 went in this morning. I got 20 self-injectors on January 22. On Sunday and Thursday, I use one of the self-injectors to inject the drug into my stomach.
The injectors have to be refrigerated and are in sealed boxes. I take the injector for the day out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes. I cannot put it in warm water, the microwave, or attempt to warm the injection any faster than letting it come to room temperature. They say I can inject immediately, but the 30 minutes is for my comfort. I set a time on the microwave for 30 minutes.
The injector box is sealed on both ends, so nobody can tamper with it. They want me to keep the boxes so that they can ensure I’ve been doing the injections.
After the 30 minutes of warming are up complete, I pull out my injection log. On the log, I note the date, time, location of injection, and if all the drug was deployed. So, before injecting , I note the date. I look at the previous injection site to note where I should inject the next shot – upper right, lower left, lower right, then upper left is the pattern. Then note the location and time. Next, I remove the safety, clean the injection site with alcohol, put the injector to my belly, push the plunger and wait 10 seconds, then put the used auto injector in the sharps container. I put the box back in the cooler that is sitting in my fridge. Then I enjoy the cooling sensation in my belly – because the shot really isn’t at room temperature.
I do all of these steps every Sunday and Thursday. The whole thing takes less than 35 minutes – 30 minutes of warming time and 5 minutes of actual work. Then sometimes I have side effects and sometimes I don’t. I think the up dosing side effects were worse than the full dose side effects. Since this is the sixth injection, the side effects have mostly gone away – thank goodness, but now I can’t tell if I’m getting medicine or not. And since I’ve been super, duper careful with my gluten free diet lately, it is almost impossible to tell if I’m getting drugs or not. Such is the joy of being in a double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trial!!