Hubby likes it. Leaves a nasty red welt after the injection but it goes away in about 12 hours.

The neuro gave him two new patient packs - one to keep in each vehicle.

Hmm my Neuro said it was cheaper than the shots ?  Did he fib to me???  Guess I'll find out when I refill my prescriptions off of new script.  He also prescribed them for me, but I still have samples and older prescriptions left to fill before I hit the new ones.

Haven't tried it yet, makes me nervous trying  newfangled injectors...for now I have shots, and O2 machine that runs at 5 lpm.  Have been on one or both too often lately with air pressure changes exacerbating the CH.

JustNotRight wrote on May 9^th, 2010 at 8:38am:



Does 5 lpm work for you?  I hadn't ever met anyone who had such a low flow work.

Yep, my neuro just gave me a sample as well.  For those of you not familiar with it, the whole injector is about 5 inches long, plastic, and is rather futuristic looking.  Rather than a needle there is a small, pressurized cartridge (probably CO2, but what do I know) behind the medicine.  You snap off the protective tip, pull back a plastic lever to "charge" the thing, pinch an inch on your stomach (or grab some flab if that's the case), press the tip of the injector FLAT on the inch, and press the charge.  The high pressure shoots the medicine into your system.  (If you were in the military in the last 25 years, you know what I'm talking about.)  If you don't have it flat against your skin you can wind up with a nasty cut.  And, these things are not reusable; use it, then pitch it.
Now, the cost.  My pharmacist said the cost of 6 injectors is nearly $3,600!  And, like a couple of you have found out with yours, MY insurance will not cover it...it's too expensive.  Back to needles or pills.
Hope that helps.

It's $145.00 for hubby's Sumavel script - he get's nine injectors every 30 days.

Edited to add we used the $35.00 off coupon from the drug company and paid only $110.00.

Asa wrote on May 12^th, 2010 at 11:19pm:


Actually Asa you may not be far off on the 36 cents comment.  Most drugs and their wrappings only cost about 5 bucks to make (My dad used to work for a major pharmaceutical co.).  What you actually wind up paying so much for is shipping, personnel wages and current research into other drugs.   I asked my Dad what he thought the actual cost of this new fangled injector was to make and he said at most 10-15 bucks with (inflation) medication, and injector active components and plastic included.

Well, to let you all know.  I got the chance to use the Sumavel sample my neuro gave me a couple of weeks ago.  Got woke up Saturday morning at 1a.m. with the usual blinding pain.  Staggered into the bathroom, snapped the cap, pulled the lever back on the cartridge, sat down and pinched an inch on my stomach, and pressed the thing against the inch.  Slight hiss and quick injection.  It felt no worse than being snapped by a rubber band and left a dime-sized welt (or welp if you're from Missouri) that was gone by morning.  It was much quicker than trying to give a traditional shot and has no clean up afterwards...just throw away the now empty injector.

I can also say that the headache went away!  This is actually the first medicine I've tried that really seemed to knock the beast out.  So.  Now comes the fight with Tricare (military insurance, if you will) to fill the prescription.

Thanks.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

As far as the needle vs. needle-less issue?  I never used the needle.  I initially got diagnosed with clusters from a Neuro but then went to my GP who, bless his heart, has tried many different meds over the the years but never the imitrex injection.  Fed up with all of it, I went to this recent Neuro a couple of weeks ago.  She's the one who wanted to try me on this Sumavel thing.  And, I have to admit, so far so good.