Cetrotide injections help

[CycleGirl20]

I'm hoping someone could help with some pointers.

The instructions say to inject at 45-90° to your body, so pretty deep with a 1-2m needle. I was pinching my skin pretty hard to keep it mostly in my fat rather than going into muscle. Then they say you can let go of the pinch, which then would mean pushing the needle deeper. Do I need to push it deeper? Are they looking for it to go into my muscle?

The above, coupled with it stinging and the bit where you have to see if you can draw blood which was hard to do one handed was a bit much. I managed to finish the injection with my DP standing behind me to stop me falling over because it made me pretty dizzy. Then had to lie on the floor for a bit to recover.

My DP is away with work for the next few days so if I can avoid injecting my muscle and waggling needles about trying to check I'm not in a vain then it might help!

Thanks

@CycleGirl20 I think with all my injections I stuck the entire needle in right to the end, but sounds like I have quite a bit more fat that you, which would probably make it easier for me. Are you injecting into thigh or tummy? I think tummy is generally easier and less painful (never done thigh myself, but from what others have said)

Sorry I can't be more help!

Into my tummy. It surely doesn't need to go into my muscle though? Wouldn't that be pretty painful?

Yes, I would imagine it would be much more uncomfortable than just into the fatty tissue and could cause bruising. Are you able to avoid the muscle by angling the needle closer to 45 degrees rather than 90? Does your clinic have a contact number where you can speak to a nurse? I imagine they'd be able to advise best way to do it

If you angle it closer to 45 degrees, even when you let go of the pinch you should still be in fat rather than muscle - if it's too sore in your stomach you could try your thighs if your clinic says that's ok. The idea is to get the injection deep enough into the fatty tissue that there's a good distribution of the medication.

There are online videos about how to give yourself subcutaneous injections, and people suggest various tips like cooling the area first to numb it a bit, or using soothing creams afterwards.

I've found for a lot of people the psychological challenge of inserting a sharp object into your own body can be a bit of a barrier, and leads to people either being too cautious or too forceful, both of which can make it feel more uncomfortable. One tip that I learned from diabetes nurses was that it can help to practise injecting an orange - that's roughly the same amount of force you need to apply, and it helps you get your technique right. Don't actually inject your medication of course! But practising with some subcutaneous needles and syringes might help.

Thanks! The cooling idea is good and I'll try a less deep angle. I've been fine with the Ovaleap injections. It was the waggling the needle about trying to see if blood came out that messed me up because it stung and felt really weird.

Hey @CycleGirl20, I've done 4 rounds now with cetrotide so a bit of a pro! I didn't put the needle in all the way to be honest, I would say about 2/3 in, and then when I let go out of the pinch, it would slowly move up just below the white section of the needle. It would never go into muscle. Also I never drew back on the needed to check if I had hit a blood vessel - my nurse said it didn't really matter if we didn't do this. I usually sat down whilst doing it so that it's easier to pinch the skin.

Thanks @ohsheglows! I should definitely sir down! I'm wondering how many days of it I'll have to do. My doctor only prescribed 3 days + 6 Ovaleap but that's because I'm back to see her on Tuesday so she can prescribe more then if needed. I guess only 6 days total would be quite short

@CycleGirl20 I was only on it for 5 days however I was on a short protocol which may be why. It depends on your LH levels, if they're starting to rise, it means your body is trying to ovulate, so they'll ask you to to keep taking the cetrotide. If you have lots of follicles and plenty of eggs collected, they might ask you to take the cetrotide after your egg collection to try and reduce the amount of estrogen your body has.

@ohsheglows would my LH levels rise? I just tested and they're low. I'm CD6/OvaleapD5. I have high amh (4.67ng/mol) so hoping i don't need loads of meds. Would my LH be up by now?

@CycleGirl20 oh I don't mean on the OPK sticks. When they do your blood tests, they check your oestrogen levels - to see how many mature eggs/follicles are likely growing, and they also check LH which is the ovulation hormone. So if the bloods show your LH levels are starting to creep up, that's when they will say to take the cetrotide. How many days of stims do you have left?

I have 1 day, but that's until my appointment so maybe they'll give more. I defo feel like my belly is a bit heavy! Otherwise I don't feel much different so not sure if I'll need more meds