Trulicity

[Elwo]

I’ve been doing injections for a year now. It took some getting used to, but no doubt it works as my kevels and weight dropped Significantly. However, I seem to have developed a sensitivity at the injection site. I itch for 5 days out of the seven - anyone had the same and found a solution other than stopping it?












the same reaction

 

[trophywench]

It's always possible to have sensitive or allergic skin to one brand of insulin or another and there really are loads of different ones so I'd always suggest telling your doc and asking to try summat else. One brand of - I stress really good, used by literally thousands of people - pen needles -stung me like hell wherever I stuck one in me. Having changed to another make I subsequently realised that though it helped with Novorapid jabs - my Lantus insulin itself stung.

You do move your sites all over the places its recommended to jab? (not just one or two spots)

 

[rebrascora]

It's always possible to have sensitive or allergic skin to one brand of insulin or another and there really are loads of different ones so I'd always suggest telling your doc and asking to try summat else. One brand of - I stress really good, used by literally thousands of people - pen needles -stung me like hell wherever I stuck one in me. Having changed to another make I subsequently realised that though it helped with Novorapid jabs - my Lantus insulin itself stung.

You do move your sites all over the places its recommended to jab? (not just one or two spots)

Just to be clear, the OP is talking about Trulicity, not insulin, so I don't think there is as much option for changing brands although there is Ozempic, Victoza and Jardiance I believe, but it is a good point about needles and perhaps the reaction may be due to the needle coating rather than the actual injectable, so may be worth asking to try a different brand of needles.

 

[Elwo]

Hi, thanks. Yes I move it about but same. Injection itself is fine, then within a few hours, redness and horrendous itch across stomach/thigh wherever I’ve jabbed. I had same reaction after a while with Ozempic and in the past with blood thinner injections following surgery and general view is I might be sensitive to the needle itself rather than the drug. I can live with it as it does what it should, but a little worried that the sensitivity might build up to something more dramatic. My GP and Diabetes nurse are great and keen to persevere, hence the request for any suggestions. Next one due Wednesday and I’ll be armed with gel pack to see if freezing the site helps. Fingers crossed.

 

[Elwo]

Just to be clear, the OP is talking about Trulicity, not insulin, so I don't think there is as much option for changing brands although there is Ozempic, Victoza and Jardiance I believe, but it is a good point about needles and perhaps the reaction may be due to the needle coating rather than the actual injectable, so may be worth asking to try a different brand of needles.

Thanks Barbara

 

[rebrascora]

I wonder if dipping the needle in freshly boiled water prior to injecting might clear the needle of any coating, if you think that may be the problem. You would need to do it by holding it with tweezers rather than whilst on the pen, as the heat from the water might affect the medicine. Obviously you would need to be careful to let the needle cool down before using but I would imagine it would only take a few moments because it is so fine. No idea if this would actually work but I can't see any harm in trying it. The coating on the needles is just to make it slide in a little easier but I don't think it will make a significant difference to insertion. Of course the coating may not come off in boiling hot water, but worth a try I would think.
It might also be worth using a surgical spirit swab to clean your skin before injecting, just in case it is a yeast or bacteria on the surface which the needle is carrying into your tissue. Just to be clear, I am not in anyway suggesting you are not clean, but our skin is naturally populated with a variety of organisms and particularly if we have higher BG levels, so might be worth trying that first if you don't already do that. You can buy surgical spirit from the chemists and some cotton wool balls or buy a box of surgical wipes. You might even try wiping the needle with the surgical spirit to see if that helps.
Anyway, those are all I can come up with at the moment.

 

[Lucyr]

I wonder if dipping the needle in freshly boiled water prior to injecting might clear the needle of any coating

Pretty sure you don’t see or access the needle in a trulicity pen? It’s an all in one syringe type pen device with an outer plastic cover so you don’t have a needle sticking out, not an insulin pen.

 

[rebrascora]

Thanks for that @Lucyr. I did wonder if it might not be the same sort of system as with insulin, with screw on needles.

 

[Lucyr]

Ozempic and Victoza are a screw on needle system like insulin, ozempic comes with the needles in the box though you don’t get them prescribed seperately. Can’t remember for Victoza, been too long since I used that!

 

[Sarahp]

Just to be clear, the OP is talking about Trulicity, not insulin, so I don't think there is as much option for changing brands although there is Ozempic, Victoza and Jardiance I believe, but it is a good point about needles and perhaps the reaction may be due to the needle coating rather than the actual injectable, so may be worth asking to try a different brand of needles.

Unfortunately comes as a kit and you can’t change the needle (unless changed since I stopped in 2019) , great idea though! Definitely sounds like a needle allergy but wonder if material has changed recently especially as lots of things are hard to source at the moment and needs reporting to yellow card service.

 

[Sarahp]

Pretty sure you don’t see or access the needle in a trulicity pen? It’s an all in one syringe type pen device with an outer plastic cover so you don’t have a needle sticking out, not an insulin pen.

Your right you card, really odd though it suddenly is an issue unless a material change has happened recently in the make up of the pen.

 

[Sarahp]

Hi, thanks. Yes I move it about but same. Injection itself is fine, then within a few hours, redness and horrendous itch across stomach/thigh wherever I’ve jabbed. I had same reaction after a while with Ozempic and in the past with blood thinner injections following surgery and general view is I might be sensitive to the needle itself rather than the drug. I can live with it as it does what it should, but a little worried that the sensitivity might build up to something more dramatic. My GP and Diabetes nurse are great and keen to persevere, hence the request for any suggestions. Next one due Wednesday and I’ll be armed with gel pack to see if freezing the site helps. Fingers crossed.

Have the tried you on a low dose antihistamine? I have allergies and they do this with me as one of my allergies is a common preservative that’s in almost everything.

 

[42istheanswer]

Your right you card, really odd though it suddenly is an issue unless a material change has happened recently in the make up of the pen.

Not really if it's an allergic reaction. You don't have an allergic reaction on first exposure as your body doesn't know what something is. Allergies happen when your immune system decides something is a threat and therefore try to kill the threat off. An allergic reaction may occur with second exposure, twentieth exposure, two hundredth exposure or even more, depending on which exposure it decides it doesn't like something (reaction is usually the next exposure when the antibodies created from the previous one kick in). So newly starting to react does not necessarily mean that anything has changed in the Trulicity pen/needle/inactive ingredients.

Although obviously if you are already allergic to something and then that gets added to something you were previously fine with (e.g. washing powder gets a "new improved" formulation which adds an allergen) then you will also react, which is why people with allergies often first look to see if a formulation has changed when they start reacting to something which they didn't previously react to.

 

[Sarahp]

That’s odd as never been told that and suffer with chronic serious allergies to shellfish and penicillin and have had issues when things have been reformulated, nothings ever been mentioned at allergy clinic either and that is worrying as I can’t have an epi pen due to my heart issues and take two preventive antihistamines for the more serious allergies.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

It seems that 0.5% of participants in the trial reported some sort of allergic reaction (including injection site reactions).

Trulicity (dulaglutide): Side effects, dosages, uses, and more

Trulicity (dulaglutide) is used to control blood sugar and reduce cardiovascular risk in people with type 2 diabetes. Learn about side effects, dosage, and more.

www.medicalnewstoday.com

I wonder if it might be possible to try a different dulaglutide - like a biosimilar, which may have a different formulation?