Side effects of DHE injections
I have recently received two sets of DHE treatment through IV (3 days, twice per day) for the treatment of my migraine headaches. I have found that the treatment worked but my migraines resumed a day or so after finishing the treatment. My doctor has therefore prescribed injections of DHE that can be administered at home. Thus far, I have given myself two injections. The side effect that I am concerned about is a significant amount of soreness at the site of the injections. It feels like I have a bruise and the area is painful to touch. Is this typical? Am I perhaps administering the injections incorrectly?
Hi Hanging On!
Are you giving yourself the DHE shot in the same place each time? Maybe see if you can try with less force. You really don't need a lot of force behind those shots. Are you applying pressure after? Maybe it's too much. See if you can call your doctor and come in for another lesson in how to give the shots again, maybe that will help.
On another note: even with DHE we have to be careful of Medication Overuse Headache (MOH), also called Rebound Headaches. See this article: Medication Overuse Headache: When Remedy Backfires.
Good luck!
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Assuming you are placing the injection in the right spot, here are a couple of tips:
1. When you break the skin with the needle, do it quickly and at a right angle to the site you are injecting it into.
2. Once you have the needle in, always aspirate, or pull back on the needle to make sure you are not in a blood vessel -- no blood should come up into the syringe. If it does ( and it is extremely unlikely if you are in the right spot), pull the needle out and reinject -- use a fresh needle if you can it will be sharper.
3. SLOWLY inject the DHE. The volume of DHE is 1mL, take at least 15 seconds to push the plunger in when injecting the DHE. Then pull the needle straight out.
Good Luck
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