You might experience discomfort or pain during or after injectable syphilis treatment. Some options to reduce this include:

• Take Acetaminophen and/or Ibuprofen about 30-45 minutes before treatment.
• Bring a support person with you to your appointment for treatment.
• Try to distract yourself during the treatment – feel free to use your phone to read or play a game.
• If you are lying face down for the treatment, point your toes inward to help relax the hip muscles.
• Try to move around as much as possible after the treatment – this will help the medication to move away from the injection site and decrease the discomfort.
• You can take another dose of Acetaminophen 4 hours later, or Ibuprofen 6 hours later.
• Apply ice soon after treatment (this will help to stop more swelling at the injection sites) and heat later in the day (this will help the swelling to move away from the injection sites)