Evenity Injection Site Pain and The Next Step

@cfb1954 very interesting to hear that you’re going through a second round of Evenity
When you finish your second round, will you return to reclast? Or will you try something else such as Prolia
Would I be correct in saying that your first round of Evenity Followed by reclast Kept you out of osteoporosis diagnosis for about two years
Is your doctor a specialty doctor? If so, what is his specialty?
Mine is an endocrinologist
Appreciate your input and responses

@delmargrl
Hi delmargl,

I don’t think I will go back to Reclast because it didn’t hold me that well. It worked for the first year after and then I think the bone breakdown cycle became faster than the creation of new cells. They were mentioning Prolia to me as a possible post-Evenity med this time. Also, to be clear, Evenity helped me rebuild new bone but I still had the osteoporosis diagnosis afterwards because I was told I had severe osteoporosis to begin with and so I improved my numbers but still wasn’t good enough to revert to an osteopenia level.

My doctor is Dr. Michael Lewiecki,at the NM Clinical research and Osteoporosis Clinic in Albuquerque and I think he has an internal med degree with specialization in the osteoporosis field. I know someone in this group mentioned him when I was reading through posts here and I think he is well known in the field. And I make sure I see him and not his PA when I go for my Dexa scans.

I started screening myself voluntarily in my mid 50’s because my mother had severe osteoporosis by the time they started screening older women; she was diagnosed at 70. After she started falling and breaking bones on multiple occasions, I was very motivated to try and forestall this happening to me.

I thought that doing a lot of physical activity would protect me, but apparently genetics are pretty strong so here I am.

I had 3 separate Reclast infusions but my doctor decided to go with Evenity this time. I just had my 4th set of shots and holy cow, the PAIN! My first set of shots was in my abdomen, and it stung but it was the itching that made me crazy. It may have been the bandages they used (even though I have never had a reaction to a bandage in my life). The next time I had both in my upper left arm. No pain at all. The 3rd time was the same in that I had both in my left upper arm. Both of the injections sent me into orbit with the sharp pain. It's not burning. It's like being cut with a razor blade the whole time the meds are going in. I have a high pain tolerance, but I was about to scream. I went yesterday for the 4th round. Again, both upper left arm. The first injection was fine. No real pain. The second one was excruciating. I am not being dramatic. So, I have been looking online and find many have had the same experience. So, next month I am going to make sure they warm them up at least 30 minutes before they zap me and I am going to split it up. Maybe one in my arm and the other in my stomach area. I had better have the bone density of a 20-year-old girl after this craziness.

@peytonm1618: I’m a fellow Evenity patient. I just had the 9th shots. Through trial & error - my experience is to pinch up the largest area of fat on the abdomen, then insert the needles at a slight angle - inject slowly. I feel some stinging, but no pain and nothing the day after. (However, I do ice the area thoroughly before & after injection and stay immobile for an hour+ after last injection.) I hope this helps you.
May we all find better bone density when this year of Evenity is over!!
🙂

@peytonm1618 I have 8 rounds of Evenity. I wasn't given a choice for injection site. I had them in my upper arm: half dose in one arm half in the other. The Nurses prefer back side of my arm in the same cluster of muscle as for the flu shot. The first ones are relatively painless the second really ached all the way through the second half dose, but felt better within an hour. I did have to tell one nurse to slow down during the injection. The Nurses swabbed me and let's the alcohol dry while she does her prep stuff one arm at a time. If the alcohol is still wet it just follows the needle into the injection site. I hope sharing my experience helps your experience. Advocate for your self.

@cfb1954 hello! Thank you for replying with all your information. It’s so helpful.
I hope you will reply again when you make the decision of what medication you’re going to go on to maintain your bone density from your second round of.Evenity
I just had my fifth injection this February.
And I see my endocrinologist in April to get an update on how I’m doing in this series of 12 injections
I am going to tell him about you in fact, might even show him your most recent post to me so he can see it for himself
We all need to give our input because it’s more informative than what the drug companies put out about the subject matter
My name is christianne
If you’d like to communicate more directly, I can be reached at
Del_mar_grl@yahoo.com
Thanks again you’ve been very helpful. Sharing your journey.

@delmargrl
Just wanted to give some feedback about my 2nd set of injections with Evenity this month. This time, I made sure that a different person would be doing the injections, and I was very descriptive about the pain of the previous injections. I also made the point that I had taken a complete round of Evenity in 2023 with hardly any injection site pain. I also asked when they took out the medicines for injections and they reassured me that they take them out first thing when they open their office in the mornings. And this time the experience was excellent. We decided to try one in the arm and one in the abdomen to see which I might find better, and because the provider knew what she was doing; she took the full minute and injected very slowly and there was very minimal pain at either site. I sat in the chair and hung my arm straight down from the shoulder, too, which I think also helped relax the injection area. She also had me hold the 2nd injection in my hand to further warm it up while she was giving the first one.
And I was a tiny bit sore the next day but it was nothing like the previous visit, where the pain lasted for 3 days. She said most of her clients prefer the abdominal injections but I honestly thought they felt about the same, so I will probably go back to both arms for the next time. I also made sure I got booked with the same person for my next appointment. Hope this helps.

I am wondering if some of the extreme pain some of you are describing might be because of administering mistakes, such as bad injection technique, not warming the shots enough beforehand, giving the injection too fast (you should never have a lump in your arm afterwards if the shot was given slowly enough), and possibly also on what position your arm is in when the injection is given (I think hanging your arm straight down worked much better for me rather than bending it on the chair’s armrest.)

@peytonm1618
So sorry for the injection pain you have been experiencing. I am on my 10th Evenity in the stomach. In my expereince 1st the medicine has to warmed up well 20-30 mins. 2nd the way the technician adminsteres the shot is critical. For me, the tech must pinch a good amount of fat and then inject smoothly and quickly. WHen it is slow and easy, I get a lot of pain. 3rd I put on arnica ( antiinflammitory ) cream after. I have had no issues expcet with the tech who went very slow and did not go into the fat layer. I dont use my arms as a site for injection because there is no fat there. Hope this helps and sending postive energy.

@beanieone
Had my first injection almost 2 weeks ago in my upper arms. Left arm was sore for a few days and I had a bit of a headache but that was it. Hoping the rest are the same.

Hi @csuhilty

Sounds pretty close to what my experience was with Evenity. I had some stinging at the time/site of the injection and mentioned it to the nurse; after that, she removed the syringes from the fridge about a half hour prior to my appointment and that helped greatly. All 12/24 doses went so smoothly that if Evenity is ever approved for an additional year, I would go for it.

I’m happy to hear you’re doing well with Evenity and wishing you continued success.

Cheers!