How to Administer Yourself a Biologic Shot

Hi, I'm Lisa Emrich an RA patient advocate living with rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. I'm here to talk about how to give yourself a biologic shot.
First you want to start with injection training. Read the information that the manufacturer provides to go with your medication. Watch any videos that they have on their website, those are always very helpful. Often, the direct company will send a nurse to your home to help you with your first shot. Or you can go to your doctor’s office and perhaps the nurse there can also assist you.
When you're ready to give you a shot you need to prepare your syringe. Whether it is powder that needs to be reconstituted or if its prefilled syringes, you need to make sure that those are ready. If it’s a drug that is refrigerated be sure to take it out, let it arrive to room temperature and so that will be more comfortable when you inject anyway. And if you have an autoinjector device be sure you load it properly.
Always inject in a clean environment; clean skin, clean hands, clean space. When you use the alcohol swab let it dry first. It will sting less. And warm skin is much easier to inject into. One thing I used to do will be after I shower. I’d be clean, my skin will be warm and it would be easier to give myself – my MS daily injection. It was very helpful.
And then you need to know how to dispose of your syringes; your used syringes. You can probably get a sharps container from your pharmacy when your medication is delivered perhaps, or use a hard sided laundry detergent bottle. Those are very large you can put lots of syringes in them. When your container is full you need to know what your county recommends to find out the rules and regulations. You may be able to drop off your used box at your pharmacy, at a local hospital or maybe at your doctor’s office; or maybe according to your county it simply goes into the trash. You need to find out what works in your area. And please keep in mind that these are only general tips. These are what I’ve learned from my experience but always refer to the recommendations that are specific for your medication and for your situation. And don’t be afraid of giving yourself shots. If you have trouble contact your doctor and discuss it because if you're not giving yourself your shots or skipping doses you're not getting the benefit from it. So be sure to reach out.
And that’s how I see it as an RA patient advocate, but I do recommend that you go to your doctor for more details and go to Google and type in RA Biologic shot for more information. Thanks for watching.


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