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Anyone give DC daily injections? (spec. growth hormones)

champagnachampagna
in Special Needs

Hi everyone!

My 4.5 yr old DD has Turner's Syndrome and we just started her growth hormone therapy last weekend. She is on Nutropin, and it's a once a day injection.  I was wondering if any of the moms here have tips on the least painful way to administer the injection?  Any special positions that you recommend? The training nurse advised to pick an area w/ a lot of fat, but the problem is, DD is a bit on skinny side, lol. She also suggested the "teddy bear" position where one parent holds the child in a bear hug while the other parent does the injection.

I was looking for other positions that may be worthwhile to try that would minimize the amount of pain and opportunity for movement (jerking by DD) when we do the injection.  I'm also looking for any tips you think would be helpful.  I know there was one mom here (with a son named Drake maybe?) whose DS is on Genotropin, so I hope she reads this too.  TIA!

DD1
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Re: Anyone give DC daily injections? (spec. growth hormones)

  • MummyGruetzieMummyGruetzie member

    We were giving DD genotropin for a couple of days, but I got concerned about one of the side effects and our endocrinologist agreed it wasn't good for us to continue using at this point.

    We were told fatty areas also. If you go for the thighs or up on the tops of the arms even the skinniest kid has something there. The nurse that came to our house said to gently pinch (oxymoron?) the fat there and then push into what you've pinched. That does actually seem gentler if you think about it, versus just jabbing 'em when they're not looking. Eek! I had a hard time administering it, honestly. So I totally feel your pain. Maybe you and DH could take turns being the one with the needle or if you have any kind of nursing services (not sure what DD other needs are) have them do it. For the genotropin, as long as you did it at the same time everyday it didn't matter when you did it. 

    Turner is on the diagnoses I'd looked into for DD. Sorry I can't be of more help, but please know that I'm here if you need to chat. :)

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  • lmorganlmorgan
    My little girl has ONH and has low growth hormone.  We won't know for a bit if we will need to do any injections but Ive been very curious about all the items you just asked.  So just popping my head in here to say that Im curious too and thanks for asking these questions:)
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  • hopankahopanka member
    We used Lidocaine cream about 15-20min before a shot (my son used to get Methylcobalamin every other day). We administered it in the butt - that's probably the most fatty area of the body. I think the Lidocaine cream worked - it certainly seemed less painful...but then - the B12 injections are very very tiny, too.
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  • FalioleyFalioley member
    We've been doing daily GH injections since Dean was 11 weeks old (he'll be 1 next week). I know this sounds crazy, but have you poked yourself with a clean needle? It's really not that bad! The needle is TINY. We only do the injections in Dean's thighs. I've tried the abdomen and it's just weird and the butt has too many nerves for my liking. We give Dean his injection every night around 10pm, which is when the body naturally releases its own GH. He's asleep and most times he barely wakes up. If he does, he goes right back to sleep. Let me know if you have any more questions!
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  • Pierce3252Pierce3252

    We give Isaac a nightly shot of growth hormone (Genotropin) - He's been on it for over a year.  The one big thing we do is wait til he's asleep  :)  That and always wait for the alcohol to dry after swabbing that on before you stick the shot in - it stings a little if not.   Isaac is the skinniest thing on the planet and we have had the best result on his thighs and the tiny fatty part above the butt.  He's too skinny to give it to him in his arms.  :)  Oh and when he's asleep we don't have to worry about one of us holding him down - we have only had to do that if he's still awake.  It seems so fast now that we can have him stuck before he would even notice (whereas in the beginning we were slow, pinched him way too much)  Good luck!!  I'm sure it will get much easier for you with time!

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  • JOEBunnyJOEBunny member
    You might also consider getting this.  It really does help to both distract and reduce pain.  My neighbor has type I diabetes, and she swears by it. 
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  • angmc78angmc78

    Ds was on Gh also. Here is my advice (also coming from someone who had to give themself insulin).

    -wait until she's asleep

    -let the alcohol dry, it's that that causes the most pain

    -thighs, right above butt cheeks are easiest

    I would avoid the whole bear hug thing that may be too traumatizing.

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  • champagnachampagna

    Thanks for all the tips ladies.  I do have some updates...  We've tried giving the shots while she's asleep, but she's such a light sleeper that she wakes up as soon as we wipe her with the alcohol pad. There were a couple times where she woke up as soon as we entered her room.  Then, she ended up crying because she knew what we were trying to do. Most nights it's taken us over an hour to calm her down, and even then she's not completely still and calm when she's finally "ready" to take the shot.  We actually skipped a dose one night because she was crying so much... just kicking and refusing to stay still.

    I've emailed the endo to see if he can recommend anything, a numbing cream or something.  I also sent him the Buzzy link to see if it's ok for DD to use.  I'm still reading up on the Buzzy, and may actually just buy it... I'm getting desperate.

    H and I feel terrible for DD.  She has such huge anxiety about the injections.  She talks about the shots a lot and it's obvious that she's worried about getting the next one every day.  Last night, it took us 2 hours to get her calm enough to take the shot.

    We're going to try the specific injection sites that some of you have mentioned to see if that helps too.  I'm waiting on either the endo or her pedi to call in a numbing cream Rx today.  Thanks again for all the advice and support.  This has been incredibly frustrating and sad for our family. 

    DD1
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