Enbrel Injection Site Reactions

I've now been on Enbrel for a month.  I've done 4 injections - the first 3 without any sort of reaction.  The needle is tiny and really doesn't even hurt when I do the injections.  The 4th injection, however, was a different story.  I not only had a crazy injection site reaction, but also got a terrible head cold.

I don't really blame the Enbrel for the head cold, I more blame the 300 disease filled teenagers that I come into contact with every day.  Several of my cheerleaders were sent home sick with the flu last week and I was basically starting a count-down to when I would get it.  I somehow avoided it, but got this dumb cold.  I'm going on day 10 of the cold, and even had to skip my injection last week because of the cold.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I can do the injection soon because my jaw is in a total freak-out right now!!!!

Anyway, the Enbrel site reaction is bad news.  Right after I did the injection, I had no reaction.  It wasn't until 36 hours later that I noticed a large red raised patch at the injection site.  It was hot and about 3" across.  My little sister is an Occupational Therapist at a hospital, so she sees weird things all the time.  I showed her, thinking she would be all "nah, that's no big deal," Instead, she suggested I see a doctor.  Yikes.

Day 2 - Post Enbrel Injection

We got home from the mall and I told my sister that I was going to draw a line around the reaction, so so I was sure it wasn't spreading.  I was a little bit concerned it might be an infection instead of a reaction.  When I lifted my skirt, I saw that now instead of just a reaction, I was also bruised.  The site reaction continued to grow outside of my lines (so I'm not really sure why I thought it was a good idea, because then I just looked like I couldn't trace the outside of the mark!)

Day 2 Enbrel Site Reaction

I called the Enbrel Nurse Hotline Support Thing and they walked me through all the legal crap.  Apparently a little bit over 30% of all Arthritis patients have a reaction.  They asked if I had a fever, if it was hot, if it was getting worse.  I had to answer yes to all 3.  She didn't seem concerned, so I wasn't concerned.

The next day I checked on it again.  The bruise was getting worse, but it wasn't NEARLY as hot as it was before!  Now it was just sore and really bruised.  I had to warn my dance class that I was, once again, crippled.  We do Yoga on Mondays, so my yoga poses were a little strange since my bruise was on the top of the my thigh.

Day 3 Enbrel Site Reaction

My head cold was super raging at this point.  Many of my students tried to send me home today.  I think they just wanted me to put on a movie and get a sub. haha.  I talked to a bunch of teachers today that suggested I go see my dr.  I was hacking up a lung and my leg looked a little bit scary.  I called my doctor and explained the symptoms and arranged to go in the next day.

Day 4 of Enbrel Site Reaction

This is what my leg looked like when I went to the doctor.  She seemed mildly concerned.  She said it was a pretty bad reaction and that usually, if someone is going to have a reaction, it takes place the 3rd or 4th injection.  No one told me that!!!!  Dr. wants me to try one more week and see what happens.  If I react all crazy again, then I will have to discontinue using it because clearly my body hates it.  I am going to do it again this week, but am a little bit nervous to say the least!

Day 12 Enbrel Site Reaction

It's now 12 days after I had a reaction to the Enbrel.  The bruise is almost gone (finally!).  I'm going to do the next shot tomorrow and really just keep my fingers crossed that I don't look like I punched myself in the leg this time!