Newbie from Las Vegas

[hopeful-in-LV]

Hi everyone, just introducing myself. I want to wish everyone the best during their cycles. I start IVF in August. My embyro transfer is estimated for 8-29-06. I can hardly wait till September when all is done and I get my test results. I especially can't wait till I'm done with the injections. Is it really painful?? How big is the needle? Honestly, in the last 6 months I've had more blood tests and needles poked in me than I've had in my whole life. I live outside of Las Vegas and seeing a doc in LV. Is there anyone else on this board having their IVF done here? I know my doc gets patients from around the country too.

[kristin]

dear mia

welcome to the site and I hope you find other LV people! I just wanted to write about the injections. I was also really scared about them and didn't think I would manage. The girls on this site helped alot and told me to put some ice on the skin before to numb it and I found that if I did it quick it was much easier than being gentle with myself (as that seemed to be more painful). It really wasn't that bad I PROMISE!!!

fingers crossed
and lots of love
kristin

[hopeful-in-LV]

Thanks! I hear alot of people saying that it was not as bad as they thought. Maybe if i can force myself to get over my needle-phobia i'll do fine. Will take your suggestion and do it quick rather than try to be slow and gentle. Will ice it too.

[racquel]

Hi LV - welcome and best of luck!

I went back into my archives and found some advice on the Progesterone (PIO) shots - those are the scariest because they're intramuscular. The others you'll take before you have eggs collected are not bad at all - you just have to get used to jabbing yourself. I didn't take the time to numb the injection spots for Lupron and Follistim but if you are prescribed Repronex it is a must! (that one stings.) Also recommend you jab quickly but push the fluid in slowly.

Anyway hope this advice helps - you'll find more under a thread called 'Scared of Progesterone shots' or something like that on IVF forum. Good luck!!

Hi Laura - the shots were the scariest part for me as well! I don't know if you've received your meds yet but when mine arrived I about fell out of my chair - they send 18.5 guage needles for drawing the liquid - now that is a SCARY needle! But then you get a smaller (thinner) 27g needle for injection, still a scary looking needle but it's not as bad as it looks.

After a bit of trial and error my DH and I came up with the following routine which works well for us....

1) I lay down so my muscles are relaxed. We ice the injection shot just to numb the skin which is where all the nerves are
2) DH holds the shot under his arm to warm the liquid (makes it go in easier)
2) I take deep breath and when let it out he gives the shot - he's learned to push the liquid in slowly and evenly so it doesn't sting
3) he rubs the injection site to help distribute the liquid - helps avoid a "knot" the next day
4) I sit/lay on a heating pad for awhile, again helps avoid a knot

We also rotate injection sites ... depends on which cheek has less bruises and soreness haha. Really it's not as bad as you imagine it will be. We're on week 4 and only 2 more to go! How long will you be getting the shots???

Take care, Racquel

[hopeful-in-LV]

I will take all the sugestions I can get. Just got my meds today and whoaaa! I have not seen that much medication over the span of my entire life! And the needles, oh boy....HUGE!! Oh well, it's for a good cause. Having a baby will make it more than worth it.

[Hopeful in Indiana]

The shots are not too bad. If you are doing Lupron and Follistim the needles are tiny. If you do Menopur the medication burns. Make sure if they give you a 27 guage needle for Menopur that you ask for a 30 guage. It makes a huge difference. The Menopur made me bruise but, part of that could have been that I was on an aspirin a day. The first time I went through IVF I was a nervous, hormonal wreck. The second time it was a piece of cake. Something we did this time around was take a lot of pictures. We took pictures of my belly all bruised, of me giving myself shots, of me in the room before the retrieval, of me in the room during the transfer (the doc let us take pics). Someone also stated that once they received all of their meds and needles that they placed it all on the kitchen table and took pictures. I wish I had thought of that. They are great pics to document this journey in your lives. Oh, also, someone recommended placing ice on your tummy for 4 minutes before you do your injections. I did not do this but, wish I had thought of it! Keep me posted

[hopeful-in-LV]

Thanks. I'm not sure what gauge my needles are, I'll have to check. The menopur is the one I'm worried about. I may have to do it myself too because DH works in the evenings. Probably would be fine if someone else gave me the shots and I didn't have to look. Also, you can follow along with on me in the August cycle thread on the IVF message board. Incase you don't see me here.

[Jackie A.]

Hi Hopeful in LV:

I am not from LV although I travel there a lot.. I am in Southern California. Couple of my friends had there treatment done in Vegas and their RE was Dr. Jeffrey Fisch. One of my friends was sucessful with her first try and has a healthy boy and now she is trying for the 2nd one with the same RE. I had my IVF done here in California and was not successful. Although I am not ready for another IVF but will consider having my treatment there next time. I believe the name of the clinic is Sher Institute??

What clinic are you going to?

Good luck with the shots. It really isn't bad as it looks. Although PIO shots are harder as you have to get so many of them. Follow everyones suggestions and it will be just fine.

[meadowlark]

I'm also really not used to needles or drugs of any kind. The sheer size of the bag from the drug store was really scary. The needle was so much littler than I expected and it barely hurt, so I thought it was going to be fine. But then, of course, everyone has different side effects. I went was recuperating from egg extraction with a woman who said the hormone injections made her breasts hurt terribly. I felt like my ovaries were sore. Like pelvic pain on both sides but not in the middle. I get the feeling that the doctors are all kind of blundering around in the dark. It is quite a leap of faith. -Arie

[hopeful-in-LV]

I'm having my IVF done with Dr Shapiro of the Fertility Center of Las Vegas. I was referred to him by my OB/GYN when we found out I had damage to my tubes last January. I feel pretty confident about being under his care. If I don't get a positive test this cycle then he will do another cycle (included with this fee) as long as we have good embyros to freeze. I would just have to buy the meds again, that's all. I wonder if most clinics do that I feel good that if I get a negative this time I probably have a second chance without having to pay $12,000 again. Also I like that he is a humanitarian and how he and his partner put together a yearly reunion for all the babies born through his clinic. I'm looking forward to going to some of those.

I came from So Cal too. My husband (Fiance at the time) and I just moved here a little over a year ago on a whim. We came to see if we would be better off economically. So far so good. We we're able to have a wedding and we just bought our first house. Now all we need is a Baby We wouldn't be able to afford IVF if we we're living the we we're in Cali. I didn't even have Health Ins. So I might not have even found out about my condition yet.

About the injections, I wonder what size needles other people have. Mine are 1 1/2 inches for the Menopur, that's huge to me. I'm hoping they tell me I don't need to poke it all the way in. I'll find out tomorrow for sure. The follistim pen needle doesn't seem too bad. I expect the meds to make me feel very pre-menstrual like. Maybe slightly stonger cramping or soreness. I think I'll probably get moody too.

[hopeful-in-LV]

Good news, today we went in for injection instuctions and they said the big needles are just to draw up the medication, then we change the needle to a smaller gauge. It's still 1 1/2'' long but will not hurt as much as a larger gauge needle.