Do you have questions about injecting Betaferon®?
We understand that injecting yourself with a needle is very scary, but we are happy to offer you our help so that you gain the confidence you need with the treatment your doctor has chosen for you.
How to inject Betaferon®?
When people start with their MS treatment most of them are scared in the beginning about injecting themselves with a needle. So it is just normal to seek help with this tricky part of treatment. On the other hand MS is a difficult disease therefore drug therapy is sophisticated too. to inject refers very much to the injection tool you are using. Some people are using manual injection technique. Others are using autoinjectors.
If you want to improve your injection technique, because you are fed up with the manual injection or you have injection site reactions (ISR), you can use one of the automated injection devices Betaject comfort® or Betaject Light®. It has been proven in medical trials that use of autoinjectors minimises occurrence of ISRs.
By the way: Betaject Light® is the smaller autoinjector which meets the needs of the more mobile user. Betaject comfort® is the bigger and more robust autoinjector.
Where to inject Betaferon®?
Betaferon® is a treatment which needs to be injected under the skin (subcutaneous injection). There are a couple of recommended injection sites at the body, i.e. the outside of the upper arm, the belly, the outside of the thighs and upper out quarter of buttock area.
It is very important to choose a different injection site each time you inject yourself. The injection should be rotated around the body. We recommend to rotate injection sites after a certain scheme. Do not use any areas where there are lumps, bumps, firm knots or pain. Do not use any area in which the skin is red, discoloured or depressed. Record where the injection has been administered in a injection rotation diary.
When to inject Betaferon®?
Betaferon® researchers have found that injecting the drug every other day keeps the levels of the active substance in the blood consistently high, so that a strong beneficial effect is maintained. with regard to the injection frequency, however, what about the regarding the injection time during the day?
Is there something like a preferred time in the day, when to inject Betaferon® best?
Yes, there is: Betaferon® is a interferon treatment that might be connected in the beginning of therapy with side effects such as flu-like symptoms. The symptoms usually begin after 4–5 hours after injection. It is a normal interferon reaction – as with all other interferons - that the body answers with fever, chills, sweating or muscle aches. To avoid these symptoms you can take a fever-reducing product such as ibuprofen or paracetamol half hour before injection or you simply administer Betaferon® at night time and sleep the symptoms away.
