Enbrel Treatment: Day 1

I have chosen Wednesdays and Saturdays to have my Enbrel treatment. Tonight was my first treatment since February 2006. Below I have documented the procedure:

A package of Enbrel (below): Four of these come in each box and last 2 weeks. Note: alcohol swabs no longer come in the package and must be ordered seperately.

Solution prep: I previously instilled the diluent in the vial of powdered medication, allowed it to dissolve, and I am now drawing back the preparation into the syringe.






Site prep (below): Preparing the site properly is critical to minimize risk of infection. I am swabbing my chosen site (left lower quadrant of abdomen) with an alcohol swab.

Safety precautions (below): The far left photo shows my aspirating (pulling back on the plunger) before injecting the solution (right photo).

Injecting (below): The medication must be injected subcutaneously. To do this, pinch the skin and insert the needle at a 45 degree angle.

Complications: Site reactions are common after injecting Enbrel. This site reaction occured within 2 minutes of injecting Enbrel. The site became red, warm to the touch, and itchy, with small welts emerging. You can see a small bump above and to the right of the bloody insertion point. Beneath the site reaction I could feel the bleb of fluid beneath my skin, like a round pebble.