Sunday 15 February 2009

Running out of spots

Last night I had to take my Betaferon injection, which I take every other day. The way that it works is that you rotate the injection sites to minimise skin reactions. That is the theory. However, increasingly over the last six months I've been getting really bad adverse reactions. It seems OK when I do the injection, and indeed for some days afterwards. The skin then turns purple, then white, then a scab develops. At this point I try to avoid using the site until it clears up. The problem is that can take up to six weeks, and now I'm running out of places that aren't affected. I had trouble on both arms before Christmas - and they've just about cleared up now. At the moment my right thigh is affected and my stomach on both sides. That is the worst, because it get's irritated constantly by the waistband of my clothes. So, I'm down from six available sites to just three.

My MS nurse gave me some alternate needle sizes to try out, the problem is that I can't detach the needle that comes with the medication. I've tried several times, and only managed to stab myself on one occasion! Time to speak to my MS nurse again.