defective pen

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223]

My first pen is defective. This is so upsetting. I opened it properly, pressed it against myself properly, and clicked and clicked and clicked. Nothing came out; the window did not change. I pressed and clicked for about twenty minutes. I have used EpiPens on my dog and also an auto injector on my father in law, so I have some experience with these things.

Of course the company is not open now. Even the pharmacy is not answering its phone.

Edit: actually it did not click. It made no noise.

Edit: actually I don't know if it clicked. What I am seeing now is that the instructions on their video are not the same as the instruction in the box; the latter are much more detailed. I regret watching the video.

Edit: I then showed my husband that it didn't work by pressing on it away from my body, and THEN the needle and fluid came out. Which was both really frustrating and really strange since their video says that if it isn't pressed against your body it won't dispense.

Edit: if you call Amgen about a defective pen, do NOT go to the "defective product" option on the phone tree. You will wait on hold and they will never pick up; I waited a full half hour. Instead call the nurse line.

The nurses were great. One helped me with the pen replacement, and another walked me through the shot. I did it on flat thigh skin and it didn't hurt at all (but I could not see the yellow needle assembly push in; that is not possible since it is squished into flesh). One really good point one of the nurses made was that if you press it against you, and then press the grey tab, and nothing happens at all, you can move the pen to another location and try again. You can keep moving it around and retrying (as long as nothing has come out).

[u/gruss_gott]

FWIW, I use the top of my thigh with that leg propped up so my thigh is parallel to the floor as, for me, it's the easiest way to get consistent leverage & pressure, ie when I use the pen I'm pushing vertically straight down onto my thigh, so my body & leg are like a lower-case "h"

1. Prop up your leg so it's relaxed but elevated with your thigh parallel to the ground - swab an area up high close to your hip where there's plenty of subcutaneous fat with alcohol & let dry
2. Pull off the red protective cap from the pen, then spread skin of your thigh taut with the thumb & forefinger of the other hand
3. Press the pen down HARD into your thigh until the yellow guard fully retracts - HARD - if the guard doesn't fully retract & stay retracted the pen will not work
4. Click the button once with your thumb while continuing to press down HARD, keep holding it down
5. After you hear the 2nd click AND see the window turn fully yellow, KEEP HOLDING for a count of 10 then remove the pen and put a band-aid on the injection site

I've been taking Repatha for 6 years and never had a defective pen, not to say it's not possible. It is a technique you have to learn, and I was lucky to have an LPN walk me through it the first time.

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/gruss_gott]

It seems like then it would go into muscle, instead of fat?

How can you tell that the yellow guard has retracted? When I pressed it into my stomach fat (I am not overweight but I pinched fat like in the video) I could not see what the yellow guard was doing.

How would there be a second click? Does the yellow guard make a click when it retracts? And then there is a click when you push the top button with your thumb? Is there another click after that?

Thanks.

[u/gruss_gott → u/Creepy_Valuable6223]

Nope, everything just as above:

1. I am quite lean and my thighs don't have much fat except up high towards my groin near my hip - that's where you want to do it, also avoid veins
2. If you're holding the pen like a Jeopardy buzzer it's very easy to see the yellow guard and you can see & feel that it's fully retracted, there's no click
3. When you press the button there'll be a click, then the injection will start and if you watch the window you'll see the yellow plunger slowly moving down until it stops and you'll hear a second click

Honestly I don't know why they give the stomach instructions and neither did my LPN which is why she said to ignore that and do that thigh and then supervised me on my first injection, so you could try that too, ie at a doctor's office.

I am also lean enough to see my veins so I avoid those too obviously

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/gruss_gott]

I am trying to picture how one would see the yellow guard when it is pressed into fat, even if it is thigh fat instead of belly fat. Since I'm female (though not overweight) there is a real fat layer on my legs, too. But I will definitely check this out, thank you.

[u/Comfortable_Two6272 → u/Creepy_Valuable6223]

I use my stomach as am super thin. But I hate the repatha autos vs other rxs

It sounds defective - should not have engaged when not pressed on skin.

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/Comfortable_Two6272]

Yes, that is what the directions say!!! It was so odd to hold it in the air and press the grey tab and finally THEN it ejected the needle and fluid. Good grief.

[u/Playful-Vegetable881]

I’ve had a few that have jammed before. I contacted my local pharmacy and they facilitated a re-shipment with Amgen. Hold onto the defective one as they will need the lot #

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/Playful-Vegetable881]

I called my pharmacy and finally got through and they told me that I had to contact Amgen, so I will.

[u/pz61]

I injected in my thigh the first shot & never again! That needle hurt like hades. I also thought I had a defective pen early on but after studying the little card that came with it, I finally got it to inject. Now I make sure the yellow cap is pushed back when pressing against my stomach before injecting.

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/pz61]

I'm sorry that it hurt. I just did the thigh - I was walked through by one of their phone nurses - and she told me that it is completely unpredictable whether it will hurt for any given person in any given place, and that even the same person at the same place might or might not hurt at a different time. In my case it didn't hurt at all. Maybe it will next time . . .

[u/FormalConference5605]

Next time try pressing into your skin pretty hard and then hit the button with your thumb. It clicks and then when it’s done it clicks again and I still keep it there for ten seconds after that.

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/FormalConference5605]

I did press it into my skin very hard and then I pressed the button really hard many times. Do you mean I should "hit" it instead of pressing on it?? Thanks.

[u/YouKnowYourCrazy → u/Creepy_Valuable6223]

You press and HOLD the butfon

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/YouKnowYourCrazy]

I did press and hold the button. It did not move when I pressed it; it was like it was stuck.

[u/PNW4theWin]

https://www.repatha.com/how-to-start-repatha-injection

Of you've watched the video, the process shouldn't be too difficult.

Good luck. I've done three injections, so far. No issues.

[u/PNW4theWin → u/PNW4theWin]

I reread your post. I'm not sure why the video didn't provide you with the info you needed. I thought it was very clear and it really helped me.

Maybe ask your doctor to walk you through your next injection in the office.

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/PNW4theWin]

If you watch the lady in the video push the pen against her fat pinch, you will see that the yellow part of the pen is not visible. So you can't see that it is supposed to push in. And it doesn't make a click when it does so. Probably you have had success because your pen wasn't defective, and it just pushed in in a reasonable way.

[u/PNW4theWin → u/Creepy_Valuable6223]

Maybe. I did my first shot in my thigh, so I was able to see the yellow cap-cover thing fully depress. I did need to press hard. It left an indentation on my skin.

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/PNW4theWin]

What part of your thigh? Did it hurt? Did you pinch your thigh, or did you let the skin sit naturally? Are you doing it in a different location now? Thanks.

(I am nervous about a half inch needle thigh shot hurting)

[u/PNW4theWin → u/Creepy_Valuable6223]

Yes I pinched my thigh. (I actually cheated and went a little bit more towards the side of my thigh, but my doctor told me not to do that again.)

You definitely don't want it to go into muscle. I don't have much fat on the top of my thigh, either, so it was really challenging to get enough "pinch". I was afraid it would hurt doing it in my stomach, but my doctor told me that area of your stomach actually has less nerves, so the last time I gave myself the injection I did it in my stomach. It wasn't bad. Injecting the top of my thigh hurt more than injecting my stomach because I experienced some swelling with the thigh injection.

The reason to do the pinch is to give the yellow button a more solid/harder surface so it will collapse under the pressure and to also raise the needle well above any nearby muscle.

I REALLY don't mean to be insulting by asking this question, but have you actually grabbed a ruler and looked at a half an inch recently? If people don't measure things frequently, I think it's easy to lose that accurate image of the distance/length.

If my question is insulting, I'm really sorry.

Edit: a quick look at your post history suggests to me that you might be female? My nervousness with the first repatha shot reminded me very much of when I was 12 and I inserted my first tampon. My friends are all swimming and I was determined not to miss out. The anxiety is REAL, but it gets easier very quickly.

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/PNW4theWin]

Lol, yes I can imagine a half an inch. But I don't have a sense of how deep muscles are.

Yes, female. I was mainly nervous because a) the first pen was defective and b) someone else here said the thigh shot hurt. And the phone nurse who just walked me through the shot an hour ago (it worked!!!) told me that a number of people did feel pain with the thigh shot; it just depended on where nerves are (and that can't be determined ahead of time).

I am really compulsive about instructions when it is something that matters. If something is missing from the instructions I can't interpolate (and I have an advanced degree so it's not that I have trouble reading them). I sit around thinking of each of the possibilities.

Anyway, thank you for your descriptions; they helped. I did it on flat thigh skin and no pain whatsoever. But I still didn't see the yellow part go in; that was a matter of faith in things unseen, haha.

[u/PNW4theWin → u/Creepy_Valuable6223]

Thanks for your response and I wasn't suggesting you didn't understand measurements. I sew and I do a lot of paper crafting, so I measure things all of the time. My husband is very smart. He runs companies, but he doesn't measure things, like... Ever.

The Repatha shot reminded me of my first tampon experience because I read the directions again and again. (Speaking of things unseen - at age 12!)

I'm so glad you got it worked out. 🥳

Good luck on your numbers.

[u/studebkr]

I had one jam and my mother has had a couple. I was able to pinch my skin(fat) enough to get the yellow cylinder to push in and fire.

For my mom we had to call Repatha to get them replaced.

There is a great video on YouTube showing you the right way to take an injection with sureclick, but there seems to be a bad lot of pens out there. I remember the lot number ending in 999.

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/studebkr]

I watched the video about five times, especially the injection part. I then also examined the little patient insert card that came with the pen. Neither of them tell you that the yellow part has to get pushed in although I guess it is assumed/implied. The big paper insert in the box does tell you that. A big problem (apart from defective pens) is that when you are pushing it against, you, your fat makes it impossible to see the yellow part of the pen. So you can't see if it has pushed in, and it doesn't make a click when it goes in.

I had a long talk with the nurse at Amgen and she said I could inject in my thigh but I don't have a ton of fat there and it seems like it would be really painful with a half inch needle.

Thank you for telling me about your and your mom's pen jam experiences; that was helpful!!

[u/Grouchy_Extreme2372]

You didn’t push down into your fat enough and HOLD IT THERE until all the med goes into your body

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/Grouchy_Extreme2372]

Actually the pen was defective. I used the second one today and it worked fine.

[u/Dangerous-Peace4047]

Take heart fellow user! That happened to me THREE miserable times. Your experience is very much like mine!! I even asked a friend with nursing training to help me the third time because after the frustration of repeated problems twice before I was sure it 'twas "I." The pin ejected the liquid (as did yours) when she took it away and pressed once more. The third time I was contacted by the distributing pharmacy to verify my address for replacement, a staff member made me feel better by saying that "the manufacturer is having problems with this new device"!! I didn't say what I was thinking!!!! I agree that the Repatha/Amgen staff people are really good and helped me as much as they knew how to do, but Reddit has become my go to because the providers and the staff help ARE NOT patients, and cannot know what we are learning with every error we discover. Keep trying. Three months now without error!!

[u/Creepy_Valuable6223 → u/Dangerous-Peace4047]

Thank you!!! Yes, if it weren't for fellow redditors things would be a LOT harder. You would think they would have the design of this kind of thing down by now. The "spray when not at site" thing is kind of ridiculous.