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[amfmbaby]

My husband and I are starting the stimulation phase in the morning very nervous never wanted to take more than a tylenol any helpful hints or suggestions anyone?

[meg12]

The best advice I can give you is to keep your sense of humor! We found it's either laugh or cry and laughter is just so much better when you have a needle sticking out of you! Seriously, I had a horrible needle phobia before we started treatment and the first time my dh had to give me a shot, it took him 45 minutes to work up the courage to do it! By the end of it all, we never even thought twice about it. The medicine is the least of it. Just make sure you keep your husband close to you. The rest of it just sort of works itself out! Best wishes.....

[not hopeless yet]

Hi amfmbaby!
I, too, was nervous before starting them. First of all, I'm a big baby. I pass out at the doctor's office practically every third time I'm there. LOL. But it's not from pain so please don't worry.
We start IVF this Fall but so far I've been through 5 months of Clomid + insemination, as well as 3 months of FSH shots + insemination. The shots themselves have such tiny needles that it doesn't hurt to jab them into your stomach or leg... though they may cause minor, minor bruising.

Seriously, it's not bad at all... atleast my dh didn't mind giving me the actual injections because after watching the video online I was all ready to give it to myself and couldn't do it! Imagine me with pre-filled pen in hand, leg swabbed with alcohol, and I totally chickened out. But this is coming from the girl who passes out having her blood taken.

Personally I just found that dosages over 200 units burn a lil bit but ice helps. And each cycle I was given the Ovidrel 250 trigger shot and that burns a lil bit. But I'm being totally honest here... it only burns a lil bit. I'd tell you if it actually hurt. Hopefully you won't have to do Progesterone shots because I"ve heard those are unpleasant.

Oh and that's the other thing, with the injections I had to go in for bloodwork and ultrasound every other day. It's kind of a pain in the butt trying to schedule bloodwork and not miss work. Actually having blood drawn seemed to hurt more than the injections.

Good luck and keep us posted on how you're feeling and how the follies are growing!

[babymole!]

Hi amfmbaby,

I would say that what helps me the most is to stay focused on the end goal and keep reminding myself how blessed I am to have a way to circumvent the mean fertility hand that mother nature had dealt us.

Every time I stick myself, I would think "will I poke myself 20 times in the stomach every day if that meant I can be a mother?" and the answer is always a resounding "YES!" I don't know how many shots you have but when I first started, I had to have 6 shots per day. I cried when I found out because I am deathly afraid of needles....I got light-headed and had to lay down after my first injection.

It gets easier, I promise. And ice is my best friend....just a couple of minutes and it numbs up the skin very nicely. Oh yea, and poke quickly, hurts a lot less!

Good luck to you!