To be crapping myself at egg collection??

[elsaesmeralda]

Hi, sorry to post here but really I'm just hoping to get some honest answers.
First time ivf, first egg collection this week and starting to flap it a little bit.

Am I being a wimp or is it no big deal?
I've had an operation before under GA so was completely unaware, what's making me nervous is that this is under sedation and I don't really know what that means. Am I going to be awake but woozy or fully asleep?

Thanks

I've never been through egg collection so I can't comment on that. Sedation wise I think it affects people differently. It makes me fall asleep (I remember trying to stay awake to listen to the doctors but not being able to).

It's understandable to be nervous, ask the doctors and nurses all the questions you need to. I hope everything goes well!

I was terrified but honestly it was completely fine! I was unaware if anything under the sedation but you come back to fully awake really quickly so it’s all over in 20 mins. It was a few years ago but I did it twice and it was the easiest bit of the whole iVF slog. Honestly don’t worry. Worst bit is the cannula, take the day after off as the first go I went to work the next day and was a bit sore walking around. Good luck hope you get lots of great eggs xx

I remember worrying too but it was fine. Conscious sedation but didn’t remember anything and came around quickly.
Good luck!

I had my egg collection under sedation and to be honest it felt just the same as a GA just without the groggyness when you wake up! I was up and heading home within a couple of hours after a cup of tea and some toast

I’m sorry, but if you’re after honest answers then I’ll share my experience as a balance to the previous ones. I had egg collection under sedation, I just felt a bit drunk but I felt every follicle being evacuated and I remember it all. It was by far the worst pain I’ve suffered, only beaten by the subsequent natural birth 9 months later! But, it only lasted 10 minutes and it was completely worth all that pain. I kept telling them that it was really hurting me and they said they’d up the sedation dose but it did nothing. Maybe I was unlucky and you will be fine but be prepared for it not being a walk in the park. I think if our icsi has failed, I’d have demanded a GA for the next egg collection.

Wishing you all the luck in the world and a pain free EC

You will be fully asleep, same as a GA operation.

I have had GA operations before and felt great immediately afterwards, but after the egg collection I burst into tears as soon as I woke. I was told this is extremely common. To be honest it felt much more violating than a normal operation. I don’t think doctors realise this.

If you have ovaries that are easy to get to ie in normal place and moving easily, then it is basically a (thick) needle up the vagina and through the vaginal wall into the ovary. That spot in the vaginal wall will be ouchy for sometime after.

If you have ovaries that are stuck behind the womb (and a gung ho gynaecologist) then they may spend some time trying to reach this with the needle. (However you would have been told during the scans if they were stuck behind womb.) If they struggle to reach the ovaries then obviously the wound in the vaginal wall is worse. I woke up stuffed with bandages and couldn’t have sex without some discomfort for eight months after the egg collection. Hopefully your ovaries are in the right place!

Sorry not to be more cheerful but fed up with clinics being dishonest about it all.

Hope it works for you OP. If you do need to cycle again then do your own research on the likelihood of success as the clinics tend to just keep trying and not to take into account how the first cycle went. I was strongly pressured to cycle again but, when I drilled down into my individual circumstances combined with my reaction to the first cycle drugs, the chances of success at my age with my medical history were about 5%. So it shocks me they were pressing me to spend £6-10k on a 5% chance.

Anyway keeping fingers crossed for you pxxxxx

I was also very nervous before hand but I didn’t know that anything was happening and was pain free afterwards. It was actually one of the easier parts of the process.
Wishing you all the best 💐

It was absolutely fine for me. To be honest, sedation felt exactly the same as general anaesthetic. You’ll be fine. Good luck x

Going by previous posts, I must have been given zero sedation then!! Maybe they just put gin in my cannula cos I definitely didn’t sleep or relax, just felt dizzy and felt every bloody pain.

iirc I was extremely spaced out. I had a nurse up talking to me, but I had no idea what was really going on.
After the first or second go, I also had transfer under sedation.

I was sedated and don't remember any of it. DH tells me I talked a lot as I came round but don't remember that either. I felt normal pretty much straight away; there was none of that grogginess that you get with a GA.

I found the transfer more uncomfortable - fully awake with a very full bladder - but not painful either.

I don't have experience of this procedure but I've had a few surgeries and the anaesthetists have always been very very watchful for any signs of distress during the awake bits at the start. I know this because I always start to cry and have been given both a lovely injection and gas and air both of which really helped. So tell them if you're feeling scared.

Thank you everyone for your answers. It's nice to see real women's experiences, it seems most people were out of it but a couple was more aware and felt pain.
Its just the idea of being awake that's freaked me out abit, but at least I know that's a possibility.

I just don't want to go into this completely clueless, to be honest my clinic haven't told me much! I (think) I have around 21 follicles so not sure if the amount will make a difference but can I ask about any pain afterwards too? Should I expect to be uncomfortable for a couple of days ?

I was asleep throughout. But went home by lunchtime. Felt sore for a few days. Was far less stressful than all the injections....

5 collections under sedation.

First one I remember nothing.

Second one I was feeling pain on my tummy and shouting ‘ow, get off me Rex’ and trying to -as I thought- push the dog off my tummy because he was hurting me as he had jumped on me. It was pretty painful. Amazing how your brain makes things up to link in with what you are feeling.

3rd one no pain but I hear shouting and swearing, as I came a bit more aware I realised it was me and they were saying ‘we’re all done, we’ve finished now’.

I think for the rest they made sure I was zonked so I wasn’t so awful.

They will look after you, it’s understandable to be nervous about it. Good luck op

I was sedated and out of it, no pain as such but my bladder went into spasm after and i couldnt pee for ages and they wouldnt let me leave until i did. I got ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome after although not severely but i ended up needing a full week off work after

Just an update, had my egg collection. I was completely out for the count 👍🏻👍🏻 the anaesthetist said they use the same stuff as a general just not as much. In some pain but sure that's to be expected. Got 17 eggs.
Thanks for everyone's replies

For me it was just the same as if I had had a GA. No awareness of what was going on at all. Best of luck OP.

Op did you have it today? Just make sure you have someone with you in a few hours time, I was fine till late evening (had the extraction early morning) then got the shakes and felt rough as a badgers overnight. Turns out I don't respond to anaesthesia well

Yes had it this morning, I'm starting to bloat quite abit and am pretty uncomfortable tbh, more painful than I thought it'd be. My partner is here and looking after me 👍🏻