Having done this a few times myself, I can say that if you had hit a muscle instead of fat, you would feel a strong sting or even a strong muscle pain in the area that you injected into.

Thanks for all your suggestions and Yep been injecting enbrel for over a year in my belly but my stretch marks are so close together it is hard to be 1 inch away from them. I do all the tricks I have seen. I just didn't think the thigh would hurt that much worse. I tried and decided fighting with finding a spot on the belly, even if I hit a stretch mark, is way less pain than the thigh!

Esther, I forgot to mention I stretched the skin where I was doing the injection and kept it stretched for the entire injection. Once you hear your 2nd Click you can let your skin go. Thats kind of important! Keep the skin tight!

Esther, I did Enbrel injections and one tip I have is I let mine sit on the counter for more than 3 hours before I injected. I have a lot of stomach stretch marks too and I understand working around them. I have Only injected into my stomach area. Just avoid the stretch marks. My nurse told me the stomach is the least painful site and I never cared to prove her wrong! I also applied an ice pack or one of the cold gel sleeves held against where you plan to inject for about 5 minutes. Clean with alcohol. Let that dry. Hold injector at 90 degree angle and I would apply band aid then an ice pack immediately after injection for another 5 minutes or so. If you let the Enbrel sit out for over 3 hours it truly helps. Enbrel is very thick and probably 75% of the time it was kind of "Bitey". Its still worth a little pain to get all the benefits it brings you in protecting your joints. Try my suggestions next week and let me know how it goes. I also use a tape measure to make sure I am over 2 inches out from my belly button. I have found the center area of my stomach does not like to be injected so I stay to the side area of the belly button but still front of body and always 2 inches out from it .