Well wednesday was my second remicade infusion. I sit down in my very comfy recliner at the clinic and wait for my nurse to put IV in. Omg i couldnt bare the pain of the needle it took all i had to keep my hand still. I was in tears. I had gone for blood work the day before too and it also hurt i was so mad at the girl who drew blood...lol anyways back to the IV, i asked the nurse what she did because it has never hurt before and to my surprise she asked if i was flared. Little did i know my body is super sensitive at that time. Good to know i guess. Does this happen to anyone else? Also i am still rather stiff and sore. When in flare d oes it take longer to take effect? Just f this is working my first infusion only lasted a week

Funny you mentioned that about the blood draw, I have had my blood drawn so many times I can't count ,but just this past week my blood draw hurt a lot too and I was wondering what the cause was too. I think I might be in a mini flare or one that is trying to start up. I think it will only be a one time thing. Take care.

last year i had a tooth extracted and an implant put in its place. it took many appointments over a year's period of time to do the work.

the first appointment was the worst as my tooth had ankylosed (fused) to the bone and they had to remove all the bone in the front of the tooth just to get the tooth out. then they had to graft bone in. took about a month to mostly heal. it was a big deal. yeh, it hurt during the procedure, well, the shots of novocaine hurt, but normal hurt. well, normal for me.

then other appointments, normal hurt.

but the last one, which was just get a shot or two of novocaine, slice open the gum to expose the implant, so that my dentist could next put the crown on. well, that was the most routine of them all. really shouldn't have hurt that much. and did heal up within a week or so. but the novocaine shots were so so painful that day. even with me on my muscle relaxant, etc. i warned them i was flaring and very sensitive to pain that day. but had no idea til the shots.

was really amazed how much more sensitive to pain i am when in a flare as compared to when i'm not.

so, yeh, took me totally by surprise!

Hi Nat,

I would try to hang in there; the loading dose infusions are just the beginning. I found that even once I was feeling remarkably better... it kept slowly becoming even more effective. It sounds positive that you noticed an improvement after your very first infusion.

As for the IV needle hurting, I'd suspect that it was either a less experienced nurse, an uncooperative vein, or the choice of placement. I don't think it would matter much whether your disease was more active or not. One good trick is to drink extra water the day before your infusion to plump up your veins - can make it a little easier. Being dehydrated at all can make it more challenging for the nurse.

I've had 51 Remicade infusions! Luckily, the needle has only hurt a couple of times and in that situation, I let the nurse know that something is wrong, to stop... and they try again in a new spot. It really shouldn't have to hurt that badly.

Hope it is easier on you next time - and really hope the Remicade works for you!
mig

Sorry it hurt so much...I use to be terrified of needles but I guess once your used as a pin cusion you kind if get use to it. My arm veins are so tiny that about 99% of people opt to butterfly on top of my hand...even my Remi is put in in the top of my hand. There have been places needles just shouldnt go like SI joints, ankles, sides of my feet, jaw and I have almost really gotten lucky with iritis and gotten some in the eyeballs...grateful that one hasn't happened yet! Lol

Also yes give it several infusions I had to get say four or five in in a four week period and go up to 500 before I noticed a big difference.