IVf girls - lupron question

[changedname]

  I am on day 4 of suprefact (I guess it is the canadian equivalent of Lupron). At what point should I expect the horrible side effects (hot flushes etc). or did you not get them?

 Also, why does the needle hurt so much more than the gonal F pen? This sucks. I keep hitting blood vessels and bruising or having to change the needle location (see all the red dots).

 

[discogranny]

I only got hot flashes mildly. I would randomly get on in a restaurant or something and then it would pass within a few minutes. They weren't unbearable. Honestly, the buildup in my mind was worse than the real thing. Toward the end I got very uncomfortable and emotional, but overall it wasn't too bad.

Regarding needle sticks, I would recommend starting two inches below your belly button and going in a clockwise movement, sticking in a new place each night. I did 51 shots total (just priming, I did suppositories for progesterone support post-transfer) so you should definitely have a plan going into this. You are going to bruise and sometimes you might bleed, it's just one of the fun IVF bonuses.

[mae141]

I was only on it for a week, but I didn't get any side effects from it. Hopefully you won't get any unpleasant side effects. I was talking to the nurse at my RE and she said that people that get to use pens like them so much better than other injectables.

[bronxgirl]

I don't think I had any side effects. Sometimes the injections hurt and sometimes they didn't. I found the biggest thing was t get the needle at the proper angle.

[changedname]

Mar 15, 2013 19:44:26 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

I don't think I had any side effects. Sometimes the injections hurt and sometimes they didn't. I found the biggest thing was t get the needle at the proper angle.

  There's a specific angle?  I have just been sticking it in straight... help! What should I be doing? For gonal F I just shoved it in and it was ok.

[bronxgirl]

Mar 16, 2013 13:17:00 GMT -5 changedname said:

Mar 15, 2013 19:44:26 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

I don't think I had any side effects. Sometimes the injections hurt and sometimes they didn't. I found the biggest thing was t get the needle at the proper angle.

  There's a specific angle?  I have just been sticking it in straight... help! What should I be doing? For gonal F I just shoved it in and it was ok.

Are you using a syringe?  With a pen needle you do it perpendicular, but with a syringe in your stomach it should be at a 45 degree angle, but I have had better luck with a slightly lower angle.  You kind of have to play around with it to see what feels right.

[changedname]

Mar 16, 2013 13:32:17 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

Mar 16, 2013 13:17:00 GMT -5 changedname said:

  There's a specific angle?  I have just been sticking it in straight... help! What should I be doing? For gonal F I just shoved it in and it was ok.

Are you using a syringe?  With a pen needle you do it perpendicular, but with a syringe in your stomach it should be at a 45 degree angle, but I have had better luck with a slightly lower angle.  You kind of have to play around with it to see what feels right.

  Oh great thanks! Yes, am using a syringe but was just doing it how they taught me with the gonal F pen which was perpendicular. I will try at an angle tomorrow and hopefully that makes a difference. Thank God for you guys.

[mae141]

Mar 16, 2013 13:32:17 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

Mar 16, 2013 13:17:00 GMT -5 changedname said:

  There's a specific angle?  I have just been sticking it in straight... help! What should I be doing? For gonal F I just shoved it in and it was ok.

Are you using a syringe?  With a pen needle you do it perpendicular, but with a syringe in your stomach it should be at a 45 degree angle, but I have had better luck with a slightly lower angle.  You kind of have to play around with it to see what feels right.

The pharmacist told me to do it at a 45 degree angle because I don't have much fat on my belly. I told the nurse at my RE that and she said there's no reason to do it that way and to go in perpendicular. I guess you could probably do whatever feels more comfortable. 

[bronxgirl]

Mar 16, 2013 15:40:39 GMT -5 mae141 said:

Mar 16, 2013 13:32:17 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

Are you using a syringe?  With a pen needle you do it perpendicular, but with a syringe in your stomach it should be at a 45 degree angle, but I have had better luck with a slightly lower angle.  You kind of have to play around with it to see what feels right.

The pharmacist told me to do it at a 45 degree angle because I don't have much fat on my belly. I told the nurse at my RE that and she said there's no reason to do it that way and to go in perpendicular. I guess you could probably do whatever feels more comfortable. 

I'm so jealous!  My RE's office gave ne a website  www.fredommedteach.com that has tutorials for all different IF meds.

[degal99]

Mar 16, 2013 15:43:46 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

Mar 16, 2013 15:40:39 GMT -5 mae141 said:

The pharmacist told me to do it at a 45 degree angle because I don't have much fat on my belly. I told the nurse at my RE that and she said there's no reason to do it that way and to go in perpendicular. I guess you could probably do whatever feels more comfortable. 

I'm so jealous!  My RE's office gave ne a website  www.fredommedteach.com that has tutorials for all different IF meds.

That's the website my RE gives too!

For the most part a SubQ injection is at 90 degrees.  For children and exceptionally skinny people you can lower the angle.  But, you don't want to go too low because the risk is that the medicine will end up sub-dermal instead of subQ.

[speyedr]

I was taught in nursing school 45 degrees for a subq injection unless you can pinch an inch of fat on your abdomen, then 90 is fine! 90 degrees for a subq on someone who is small and has little fat tissue will put the injection into the muscle and affects how the medication is absorbed into your body. I should add that if you do the pinch and inch technique, pinch up an inch of fat and hold it while you inject. 

[changedname]

Ok thanks guys. Yes, I am "pinching an inch" before I stick the needle in then I let go and push the liquid in to my belly. I'm going to check out that website. Thanks everyone.

[mae141]

Lol, I'm skinny but I can definitely pinch an inch!

I just watched the video on the PIO shots. Wow. I am not looking forward to that. The Menopur hurts bad enough.

[bronxgirl]

Mar 16, 2013 18:54:39 GMT -5 mae141 said:

Lol, I'm skinny but I can definitely pinch an inch!

I just watched the video on the PIO shots. Wow. I am not looking forward to that. The Menopur hurts bad enough.

Menopur hurt for me and I wasn't sure if it was supposed to or not b/c none of my other ones hurt.  Glad I wasn't doing it wrong.

[changedname]

Mar 16, 2013 18:54:39 GMT -5 mae141 said:

Lol, I'm skinny but I can definitely pinch an inch!

I just watched the video on the PIO shots. Wow. I am not looking forward to that. The Menopur hurts bad enough.

    Right now my protocol says I am doing crinone and not PIO which I am happy about as I was dreading it.  What makes them give some people crinone and others the PIO? Or is it just dr's preference?

[mae141]

Mar 17, 2013 9:54:42 GMT -5 changedname said:

Mar 16, 2013 18:54:39 GMT -5 mae141 said:

Lol, I'm skinny but I can definitely pinch an inch!

I just watched the video on the PIO shots. Wow. I am not looking forward to that. The Menopur hurts bad enough.

    Right now my protocol says I am doing crinone and not PIO which I am happy about as I was dreading it.  What makes them give some people crinone and others the PIO? Or is it just dr's preference?

I was reading about this last night. I think it's just doctor preference, although I did read that in Canada PIO is not used very often. From what I saw, it seems like there might not be much of a difference between the two, but my doctor insists the PIO is better. I would cut off a toe if he told me it would get me pregnant, so I don't really question him.  

[changedname]

Good point. OMG DH and I were looking at the freedomtech video for the trigger shot last night - he has decided he wants to pay for a nurse to come and do it because he is scared of needles and is scared he will freak out the night of and screw it up.
I'm not sure I would be able to do an IM shot myself... I think it's a good think PIO isn't in my protocol right now!

[mae141]

Yeah I was definitely Googling how much it would cost to hire a nurse to come to my house for the PIO shots after watching the video. I can't figure out where I would hire one from though. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing I want to get off Craigslist.

[electricmayhem]

Lupron gave me headaches, and those started after I had been on it for more than a week. I also felt like I was starving all of the time, but I don't know if that was due to the meds or something else.

I did my shots as close to my bikini line as possible. Sometimes they hurt (and bled like a mofo) and sometimes they would be completely clean and painless. I was never able to quite figure out what I was doing that caused one result over the other.

[changedname]

Update - since I have been doing them at an angle, they are a breeze! No pain at all! So glad I have you ladies!
mae141 - I admit I looked on craigslist for a nurse... when you google they are just nurses for old people. My MIL is actualy a nurse but we havent told family so that is a no go. I think I am going to try to do it myself to avoid a DH needle meltdown but holy crap that needle looks long on the video.