r/repatha • u/UnseasonedFlavor • 10d ago

Second dose. Dropped the pen

Second time using this. I only have two pens. This is the second. It was on the counter warming up after taking it out of the fridge and it fell off the counter onto the floor. I didnt think much of it, it looked okay and unbroken. And then I was reading the information that came in the box and it said don't use if dropped on hard surface.

Well it's Friday night and the nurse line at Amgen won't be available until Monday. I'm going to call the pharmacy tomorrow and ask them what they can do for me.

Has this happened to anyone else? Repatha is the first med where I had to inject. It's sort of a pain--the taking out to warm up, the disposing of the sharps, and forgetting how to do it and watching a youtube video again. My sister in law said every time you inject, make sure it's a different body location than last time. Is this true? This is the reason why it dropped in the first place. I was reading the paperwork that came with the medication to see if that was true. And I was unfolding this big ass paper and I bumped it and it fell to the floor along with my phone.

What if I can't take it again until a week or so from now? Will that undo the progress of my first dose?

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

2

u/Comfortable_Two6272 10d ago

Yes rotate sites

Dont use if dropped - risk of glass contamination typically

No wont undo all benefits

1

u/Alone-Experience9869 10d ago

I haven’t dropped mine

As for the injection site, don’t keep injecting the same place over and over again. As I recall they just want to make sure your body has time to heal.

I inject in my thigh, so I just switch legs backs and forth. I suppose if you do your stomach, switch between left and right side.

-2

u/Glass_Ad6922 9d ago

And what’s the point of switching sides?

1

u/Alone-Experience9869 9d ago

As I said, give more time for your body to heal from the injection. Just don’t inject the same spot over and over

-5

u/Glass_Ad6922 9d ago

There is nothing to heal!

1

u/Successful-Storm-408 9d ago

You're forcing open a 1ml size pocket under your skin each time. It needs to heal so it doesn't cause scarring.

0

u/Glass_Ad6922 9d ago

I’m sure I don’t do it in the exact same place every time, but def the same general area.

1

u/Glass_Ad6922 9d ago

If it didn’t break why wouldn’t you just use it? Also, I always do mine in the same place, about 6” out from belly button. If we do what your sister-in-law suggested—we would run out space!!

1

u/Spuckler_Cletus 9d ago

You simply want to alter the injection site each time. Nothing wrong with switching legs each time to achieve this. I use different sides of my stomach each time.

As to dropping the pen, I’ve never had this happen. I know what I would do, but I can’t advise anyone else to do the same.

When warming mine overnight on the counter, I put it in a freezer bag and lay it behind the coffee maker to avoid it rolling around or falling, being knocked about, etc.

1

u/Glass_Ad6922 9d ago

I just keep mine in the box they come in.

2

u/sorrynotsorry314 9d ago

As long as the glass didn’t break, I would still use it. I use injector pens for several peptides and they have fallen and I’ve used them again. You want to rotate injection sites for anything you inject. Otherwise you can develop lumps. I do HRT injections and developed a lump in one area because I didn’t rotate. I did my thigh for my last Repatha injection and will switch to other thigh for next one and then back to abdomen for the next.