Talk me through injections

[TTCbaby2xox]

I am hoping to start my first round of IVF on my next cycle or the following one.

Im so nervous about the amount of medication. I’m at the higher end of the low category for egg count so consultant said I won’t be on the lowest dose but also doesn’t need to be the highest.

can anyone tell me what the injections/meds look like over the month please? Where do you inject? Are progesterone injections necessary or is there an alternative there (I read somewhere they’re not nice but recommended for a frozen transfer??). First transfer will be fresh (if any embryos are available)

I know I’ll get all this info at the clinic but just wanting to get my head around it.

The injections depending on the one you are on might have a bit if a sting when injecting but you can ice the area to numb it first and this helps. I usually do my injection on the lower fatty part off to the side of my stomach. You can get a little hormonal on the stims so just remember its not you, its the extra hormones being pumped through your body and to be nice to yourself. The medications your on will be different then someone elses so we can't tell you what yours will look like or what your protocol is, you will get all that information from your clinic once a plan is put in place for you.

Hey op, I was on highest protocol twice then three rounds on lower. Quite a variety of drugs, some a little more stingy than others, but nothing more than a mild short lived sting. If I’m honest, I barely felt a blip emotionally in terms of the meds, I had lots of bad news to contend with but outside of that felt just relief to be actioning something rather than trying and trying without help.

the injections themselves were a little scary to get used to for me, but I was so extremely concerned with perfection and not wasting a drop that I over complicated things. It ended up being a calm and familiar moment of my day, dare I say, I ended up enjoying the process!

always ask your nurse for advice, always give yourself a bit of time to prepare the injection before the time you take it. I did mine along with an instructional video for the first few, and I still play the video’s music in my head and hear the woman saying “good job!”. Feeling calm and orderly will help lots. Good luck!

Sorry forgot to add, all my meds were in tummy below belly button area (there are picture “maps” online, and I took progesterone pessaries but always fresh transfer so I can’t comment on injections.

I had a phobia of needles before starting IVF so was very worried about having to do the stims, and then it was absolutely fine - I never loved it, but it was absolutely manageable. My husband mixed the meds and loaded the syringes and I did the injections myself in the lower belly. I used ovaleap and menopur in my rounds and both were fine in terms of any pain/stinging, like maybe hurt a tiny bit briefly but didn't last. After 5 days I added another med I now can't quite remember name of fydremal or similar, that stung a little but honestly I found stims fine

I did have progesterone injections, lubion and prontogest and I won't lie, they weren't super fun. Lubion went in the stomach (or thigh, but I did stomach) and sting a bit and caused bruising, prontogest had to go in the butt muscle and I was on that until I was 14 weeks pregnant following a successful transfer. Lots of people just do pessaries for progesterone though, my clinic were just super cautious and my levels a little low

Overall, it's not the most fun, but it's OK ans things like icing the area can help. I also rewarded myself with nice chocolate!

For the egg collection it was two or three weeks of tablet norethisterone, then a week's break then a over a week (maybe 10 days?) of injections, to begin with just one per day (pen like injection so really easy), then two per day (one pen like one normal syringe) then day or two before collection three for just that day. If you feel any stinging sensation or a slight raised white area after the injection don't panic like I did.. it's absolutely fine and normal. Also 2 pessaries per day which would have continued until 12 weeks (I think?) if it'd been successful.

For frozen I had two weeks of norethisterone tablets, week's break, oestrogen patches for a week or two, then continue with patches plus two injections (progesterone and blood thinners) and three progesterone pessaries per day.. again this will continue until pregnancy test, then if pregnant I continue until hopefully I make it to 12 weeks.

Injections all in lower stomach. The progesterone (lubion) injections are fine, maybe a little sting but not much, needle is small and narrow!

Id suggest buying some numbing creme if you really don't like injections, and if you don't have much fat then sit down and lean forward a bit so it gives you a bit more to grab onto. It can help if you have someone else to grab the bit of your stomach you're gonna inject into, so you can focus on just injecting.

thanks so much for your replies. I will try and focus on it being the positive thing of doing something about it as one of the posters above says. That’s very helpful. My OH will be keen to get involved I’m sure, even if it is just holding my tummy.

Hehe I got my OH to hold on to my shaky hand sometimes while actually injecting, I once was all anxious and squirted half the syringe into the air! There will be minor hiccups, but a quick google here or Reddit will let you know you weren’t the first! One poor woman having accidentally put all her meds in the freezer instead of fridge, and another missing their trigger shot time slot by falling asleep for two hours! (the most important one to get timing right on). I found forums really helpful. Get your clinic to link you to instructional videos becuase if you’re like me, you’ll think you’ve absorbed all the directions but you were actually just like omg I’m starting ivf!

There’s just so much banking on each of the many steps of the process isn’t there.
Thanks for your advice. Forums are a good shout and the videos - I do think they send them but worth trying to remember to ask.

My advice is to take it one step at a time and don’t think about the next step until you’re there otherwise it can feel overwhelming. I found the stims stage much easier that I expected, I think I did it for about 14 days and by the end I didn’t really need to think about what I was doing. I had an injection training before I started and I was told to really pinch and inject there and I wouldn’t really feel it. It was true. For progesterone I just had pessaries but it’s clinic/protocol dependent. Best of luck x

Hey! Plenty of notes above, I just wanted to add again about getting numbing cream (I used Emla) and I always had a little routine where I'd make a cup of tea so after the injection I'd just sit relaxing for 5 mins after doing it to just chill. Kind of made it a nice enough ritual!

I usually faint at needles but I much preferred doing it on my own and by the end of it I almost enjoyed it as I was so proud I could now do it!

Hope you get on ok!xx

Good for you for being so brave when you usually pass out with needles!! I know it’s a needs must thing, but still 👏🏼

I often pass out having things like blood tests and have to look away when being given injections - I hate needles so much in fact that the bad part of my C-section with DS wasn’t worry about being cut open or the discomfort afterwards, it was having the cannula in my hand and the numbing injection in my back 🤣

BUT despite being on the highest IVF med dose (I had to be on 4 injections a day at one point), I found injecting myself for it relatively easy. It helps that there is rarely much blood and minimal pain as the needles are usually pretty small and thin, plus the stomach seems to hurt less than other body areas ime.

But the main difference imo is that I was in total control of it - and that I was so busy concentrating on doing it right that I wasn’t just sitting there waiting for the “sharp scratch” 🙄 of a needle by someone else. Just watch the videos, and give yourself plenty of time to do the mixing/get the needles ready and you’ll be fine.

as someone petrified of needles i'd say the same. i was actually looking into hiring a local nurse and having them come administer the shots as i was too scared to even think about it. partner is the same. i also didn't want him doing it cause i knew if he caused me any pain i would 10000% massively lash out on him so didn't want to add that to the mix. as someone mentioned above, my partner's job was to track what we're doing when, and prep all the shots, so all i had to do is grab a shot, stick it in and release. safe to say it's completely cured my phobia now.
i'd vouch for icing the area for a minute or two beforehand - that's a lifesaver. i tried lidocaine cream as well and ice works a million times better (and is much less of a faff. oh and it's free lol). and as someone said, there's a few shots that the needles are super thin and it's a piece of cake (usually the prefilled ones), and then there are ones that are a bit thicker but still ok (for me that was menopur as i had to use the needles provided by the pharmacy as it wasn't premixed) and then agree, the fyremadel or whatever it was called was the worst of the lot but that one came maybe half way through the stims. i usually did the worst one first to get that out of the way! rotate stomach sides, bear in mind you need to be 3-4 fingers away from your belly button at all times (up down and left/right) and honestly, it gets so much easier as you move on. good luck!