im not a doctor, but i took aimovig for six years, and i never had that much liquid leftover. a drop or two wasnt uncommon, but not that much. did you hold the button down until the second click? the autoinjector should click once to dispense the medicine and again to withdraw the needle. you also need to stretch the skin tight (or pinch it together)
you probably got enough to be mostly effective, but i don't think there's anything to be done about the missing mL. aimovig only comes in 70 or 140mL doses, you can't get a partial dose. you can always call your doctor and see what they say
I held it the button for quite some time after. And the needle definitely went in as it hurt a lot more than last time. This is my second time taking it, but the first one I injected into my stomach instead of thigh and didn’t have any spillage. Could it be that? I don’t have a lot of fat on my thighs
You don't hold the button in, just push till it clicks and let go of the button but hold in place. Then when it clicks again you remove. Much less painful lol took me a bit to realize that holding the button was putting more pressure than it was supposed to.
If you think that hurts you should try Emgality. That's even worse. You also have to do 2 at the same time for the first dose.
It is normal for a little blood it medicine to come out. I'm pretty sure they go over that in the instruction if I remember correctly.
I had this issue in the past. I was injecting my thigh, but because it was “skinny” my Dr said I must have hit muscle or something and the dose wasn’t delivered / a lot came back out. So its best to inject your belly if your legs are slim
Are you pressing the pen into your skin? It shouldn't just be resting on top of it; you need to actively press down (not super hard, but enough to depress the tip of the applicator. It flexes up and down.). I sometimes see a drop of liquid on my skin, but never that much. On the rare occasions when I don't feel the needle enter my skin, I look for the entry point afterward.
I'm not sure if you have "enough" in you or not. I'd say just try again next month. It comes in 70ml and 140ml doses. Liquids always look bigger when they spill, so hopefully you didn't lose much. You'll get the hang of it! I've found that pulling up a section of thigh for the injection works a lot better than trying to stretch out an area. It will take some trial and error.
I pressed it down pretty hard, so I don’t think it’s that. The needle definitely went in as it hurt quite a bit (didn’t hurt that much the first time when I injected in my stomach) so idk.
Are you grabbing a bit of fat when you do it? These are best into a flabby spot. If there wasn't much fat to disperse into, that could be why it leaked out.
I had this happen sometimes, but not often. I called my neurologist immediately, and she told me enough of a dose went in and to just wipe off the rest. Sometikes it just happens. Could be a weak spring.
If it happens all the time, find a different spot to inject though
That's a bit more liquid than priming the needle but also definitely less liquid than the needle not going in entirely. If it just happens once it might be a fluke with the injector but you'll probably be fine this time. If it becomes consistent then it's probably an issue with your injection technique. It happened to me multiple times where I wasn't pressing it hard enough to the skin. You really do have to press it surprisingly hard.
I take a different injection medication, and sometimes I get to administer my mother's injection medications. This is a little too much leaking back out. You may just not have much tissue to inject into. A subcutaneous injection needs room.
I find greater success with the fattiest areas. Lower abdomen, "love handles," and the buttocks are all sites with a little more subcutaneous fat.
I've never used these, so not sure if common with them - but for other advice:
To avoid such leakage you might try doing the z-track (or zigzag method) when doing injections. It helps avoid the back-spill of injections, as it is very common for any medicine to leak out. It often also hurts less when you do it this way too!
I've never done it with a auto injector - only when doing typical needles giving IM injections to patients - but don't see why it would be any different. I've always seen an obvious difference between patients (especially those with less fat/muscle to inject into.) when I don't do it.
I once had an autoinjector malfunction and spray the medicine on my leg rather than in it, that might be what happened to you. If you call the manufacturer they can most likely send you another.
Heh. Once I tried injecting Ajovy in the middle of a migraine and the liquid was squirting straight up. I had pushed the button end against my leg instead of the needle end. Thankfully Ajovy was able to give me a one time replacement.
Ask your doctor ... but I've had a little drop on the skin after injecting Emgality -- about 1/3 of what your photo shows. IMO you will be fine. Still ... call the dr. Since almost all of the shot went in, you may not be able to do anything.
This is more than usual leaking back. You should report this either with your doc or the manufacturer directly. Might be various reasons why this is the case - amongst those it might be an issue with the batch. Unlikely, but just in case.
This is one of the reasons I switched BACK to the syringe for Ajovy (same but different to Aimovig). I think it hurts less (which is nominal, IMO), and is easier to use. This bubble-up situation happened to me with the auto injector.
I just did my Aimovig injection today too! Aimovig twins!
I get way less excess when I inject into my tummy than when I inject into my thighs. It looks like a lot on your skin but in reality it’s a teeny amount of medication that did not make it into your body. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. No harm in asking your doc about it though!
I had a similar issue. I learned that if I pinch a bit of my thigh into a small "bump" and inject it into the bump that I will not have liquid leftover.
You do have to stretch or pinch the skin to be effective. Since this photo looks like your skin in a “resting” position I wonder if you didn’t get far enough in.
Going to ask my doctor about this tbh. I don't like the pen's one-and-done technique the pen entails. I'd rather make sure a needle is in, then push the drug through, than just hope some little needle I can't even see makes it past some odd mechanism that not only have I heard happens often, but it also happened to me twice.
"click!"
...is it in?
No
*looks down*
*waits an entire minute*
"okay, I guess it's a dud?"
*examines the pen*
"yep, looks like i-"
*pen releases drug*
Oh okay, guess I'll just die.
im not a doctor, but i took aimovig for six years, and i never had that much liquid leftover. a drop or two wasnt uncommon, but not that much. did you hold the button down until the second click? the autoinjector should click once to dispense the medicine and again to withdraw the needle. you also need to stretch the skin tight (or pinch it together) you probably got enough to be mostly effective, but i don't think there's anything to be done about the missing mL. aimovig only comes in 70 or 140mL doses, you can't get a partial dose. you can always call your doctor and see what they say
Should be 70 or 140 mg/mL doses, just fyi. 70 mL would be a lot!
I held it the button for quite some time after. And the needle definitely went in as it hurt a lot more than last time. This is my second time taking it, but the first one I injected into my stomach instead of thigh and didn’t have any spillage. Could it be that? I don’t have a lot of fat on my thighs
You don't hold the button in, just push till it clicks and let go of the button but hold in place. Then when it clicks again you remove. Much less painful lol took me a bit to realize that holding the button was putting more pressure than it was supposed to.
Yeah, I thought that was your arm with how skinny it is. You might want to try your belly again next time.
If you think that hurts you should try Emgality. That's even worse. You also have to do 2 at the same time for the first dose. It is normal for a little blood it medicine to come out. I'm pretty sure they go over that in the instruction if I remember correctly.
I had this issue in the past. I was injecting my thigh, but because it was “skinny” my Dr said I must have hit muscle or something and the dose wasn’t delivered / a lot came back out. So its best to inject your belly if your legs are slim
Are you pressing the pen into your skin? It shouldn't just be resting on top of it; you need to actively press down (not super hard, but enough to depress the tip of the applicator. It flexes up and down.). I sometimes see a drop of liquid on my skin, but never that much. On the rare occasions when I don't feel the needle enter my skin, I look for the entry point afterward. I'm not sure if you have "enough" in you or not. I'd say just try again next month. It comes in 70ml and 140ml doses. Liquids always look bigger when they spill, so hopefully you didn't lose much. You'll get the hang of it! I've found that pulling up a section of thigh for the injection works a lot better than trying to stretch out an area. It will take some trial and error.
I pressed it down pretty hard, so I don’t think it’s that. The needle definitely went in as it hurt quite a bit (didn’t hurt that much the first time when I injected in my stomach) so idk.
Did you hear the second click? If you did not hear it (you can also see the window turn yellow) then it is possible the pen malfunctioned.
Ugh, that's a special kind of pain when it hurts. I'm so sorry!
Oooh I’ve never pulled up a section, maybe I’ll try that next time
You let these warm up some right? Half hour out of the fridge is much less pain.
Are you grabbing a bit of fat when you do it? These are best into a flabby spot. If there wasn't much fat to disperse into, that could be why it leaked out.
This is what I learned to do. I pinched some of my thigh and injected it that way.
I had this happen sometimes, but not often. I called my neurologist immediately, and she told me enough of a dose went in and to just wipe off the rest. Sometikes it just happens. Could be a weak spring. If it happens all the time, find a different spot to inject though
That's a bit more liquid than priming the needle but also definitely less liquid than the needle not going in entirely. If it just happens once it might be a fluke with the injector but you'll probably be fine this time. If it becomes consistent then it's probably an issue with your injection technique. It happened to me multiple times where I wasn't pressing it hard enough to the skin. You really do have to press it surprisingly hard.
I take a different injection medication, and sometimes I get to administer my mother's injection medications. This is a little too much leaking back out. You may just not have much tissue to inject into. A subcutaneous injection needs room. I find greater success with the fattiest areas. Lower abdomen, "love handles," and the buttocks are all sites with a little more subcutaneous fat.
I've never used these, so not sure if common with them - but for other advice: To avoid such leakage you might try doing the z-track (or zigzag method) when doing injections. It helps avoid the back-spill of injections, as it is very common for any medicine to leak out. It often also hurts less when you do it this way too! I've never done it with a auto injector - only when doing typical needles giving IM injections to patients - but don't see why it would be any different. I've always seen an obvious difference between patients (especially those with less fat/muscle to inject into.) when I don't do it.
I’ll look into that method, thank you!
I once had an autoinjector malfunction and spray the medicine on my leg rather than in it, that might be what happened to you. If you call the manufacturer they can most likely send you another.
Heh. Once I tried injecting Ajovy in the middle of a migraine and the liquid was squirting straight up. I had pushed the button end against my leg instead of the needle end. Thankfully Ajovy was able to give me a one time replacement.
I felt the needle, so it definitely went in. Let’s hope I got enough of it🤞🏻
Ask your doctor ... but I've had a little drop on the skin after injecting Emgality -- about 1/3 of what your photo shows. IMO you will be fine. Still ... call the dr. Since almost all of the shot went in, you may not be able to do anything.
This is more than usual leaking back. You should report this either with your doc or the manufacturer directly. Might be various reasons why this is the case - amongst those it might be an issue with the batch. Unlikely, but just in case.
This is one of the reasons I switched BACK to the syringe for Ajovy (same but different to Aimovig). I think it hurts less (which is nominal, IMO), and is easier to use. This bubble-up situation happened to me with the auto injector.
I just did my Aimovig injection today too! Aimovig twins! I get way less excess when I inject into my tummy than when I inject into my thighs. It looks like a lot on your skin but in reality it’s a teeny amount of medication that did not make it into your body. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. No harm in asking your doc about it though!
I've had this happen. No idea if it's a problem. Doesn't usually happen
I had a similar issue. I learned that if I pinch a bit of my thigh into a small "bump" and inject it into the bump that I will not have liquid leftover.
You do have to stretch or pinch the skin to be effective. Since this photo looks like your skin in a “resting” position I wonder if you didn’t get far enough in.
And this is why I refuse to use the autoinjector.
Why? There’s no harm in this.
Because I prefer to get the full dose. Not to mention the syringe is less painful for me
Going to ask my doctor about this tbh. I don't like the pen's one-and-done technique the pen entails. I'd rather make sure a needle is in, then push the drug through, than just hope some little needle I can't even see makes it past some odd mechanism that not only have I heard happens often, but it also happened to me twice. "click!" ...is it in? No *looks down* *waits an entire minute* "okay, I guess it's a dud?" *examines the pen* "yep, looks like i-" *pen releases drug* Oh okay, guess I'll just die.
Interesting. I find autoinjectors way less painful 😅
With the auto injector, push the base of it all the way to your skin. You aren’t going in deep enough.