I started stims last night. We went out for dinner (ordered a rare dessert to stall) and then raced home to figure out what the heck we were supposed to do. The injection class covered it, sort of; all I really did there was follow step-by-step cues to open this, secure that, draw from the other, and jab a small peachy-pink patch of fake rump. I was a comfortable, confident, quick-study student. But last night at my home Injection Station (yes, I set one up!) — at which I felt I'd already mastered the art of self-administering Lupron — I was quite thumby.The Menopur syringe is bigger, and you have to mix the medication with a diluent. So it's just more steps and a bulkier item in your hand. The stick itself stung, but I think that was from the medication (the diluent is a saline solution) and not the needle.
The Follistim pen is bigger yet and I think a little hard to manipulate with one hand, but it is convenient and better than using the older, bigger syringe-based method. I loaded two days' worth of doses into it and so now it's ready to go for tonight. I did feel that needle (small prick), but the main difficulty was pushing the medication into the skin. I'm sure it will go more smoothly tonight.
Side effects of last night's shots:
Teeny minute of wooziness directly afterward, followed by a brief shooting pain in the sciatic nerve and an ache in my groin (both on same side as injections); bruise at the Menopur site, bruise and lump at the Follistim site. I woke up pretty warm and had a stiff neck (not necessarily due to meds) this morning. Then I caused a big bleeder with my expert Lupron-injection technique. I just hit something, there was no pain whatsoever. I have felt totally fine during the day. No effects that I'm noticing.
3 comments:
Wow! It's all happening now!
You sound like you're coping brilliantly with all the shots. I also found that numbing the area with an ice cube for about a minute beforehand helped both with the initial pain and the bruising afterwards.
Thanks also for posting the links to the articles about IVF & acupuncture - as you know, I had my first consult with the acupuncturist last week. I'm glad that you're finding it so helpful & will keep my fingers crossed that you get a successful outcome as a result.
I love the title of this post. I also used follistim and menopur on my ivf cycle. Sending good ivf vibes to you. I saw your blog link on ff. Mary Ann
Re the title: My instructions from the clinic read "Take your daily gonadotropins between 7-9 pm." I chuckled every time I read that and thought of the Lord's Prayer . . . and there's definitely a little bit of that playing in the back of my mind with each round of injections.
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