I’m new here. I’ve been using Betaferon for nearly 2 years. At the begniining I had the normal side effects which then lessoned.
Over the past 6-8 months my injection sites have become more and more painful and look awful - really bruised and obvious. It got to the point where I hated looking in the mirror so I switched to just arms. That was about 2 months ago and the marks on my legs and tummy have nearly faded away. My arms hurt a lot though and look terrible.
Does anyone have any tips of what I can do to get the marks to go away or prevent them? I tried an entirely new area (my bum) and the marking was instant, which never used to happen at the beginning.
It’s really getting me down as people say things like "Oh my god, what’s all that bruising?"
My wife tells me I look like a cheeta with all my spots. Sometimes bruises and some times just red marks. The worst one was on my stomach and was like 3" diameter and lasted about a month and a half. The beta nurse told me I need to rotate my sites around since you’ll get more reactions if you use the same area repeatedly. I follow their site recomendations and it’s not as bad. About a 50/50 shot of reaction now. And if it hurts to get the shot I know I’ll get a mark so I use the ice pack after to reduce the marking. They also said the autoi hector does help as well. Did for me.
Are you rubbing the area with cotton for 2 minutes after the injection? it helps diminish the red spots quicker and each day rub them again. Ice pack helps the swelling if they are painful, to me they feel like bruises. but do look annoying.
Yes, I rub with a cotton ball for a couple minuites or so, just before I put the ice pack. My neurologist sudjested iceing the area before and after. Just don’t ice it too long, just enough to cool the area. That has helped alot, but I do still get pink marks, but not bruises or red spots. I just hope the new needles and autoinjector help as well. I have the injector but still have two months worth of older needles to use up before I can try it.
I’ve very recently commenced with Betaferon therapy and experienced AWFUL bruising even at the lowest dose.
In addition to rotation of sites (which is a must!) I’ve enjoyed good success by doing the following:
1) Icepacking for about 20mins prior. (pls ensure you always have a barrier between the pack & your skin to avoid burning) 2) Letting the Betaferon package reach room temperature prior to mixing! 3) Icepacking immediately after injecting BUT (which seems to have made the greatest difference!) ... 4) ... gently massaging a combination of Tissue Oil & pharmacy grade Olive Oil for a few minutes and then reapplying the icepack for a further +/- 10mins. 5) Daily supplementation of Tissue Salts (1) and (4).
IF anyone tries this, it would be interesting to know whether it has helped.
Injection Site Problems - Multiple sclerosis forum - Treatment
