Progesterone in oil injection- how horrible is it?

[Drearystar]

Hi Ladies,

I am doing IVF for the first time. I am not to the stage of using the progesterone in oil injection yet but I will be very soon. I am terrified of this shot!!!!! The needle 22g 1 1/2" looks HUGE! I have read that it is painful and knots form etc. I am feeling sick to my stomach about it. Have you had these injections? How bad was/is it and how did/do you cope? I appreciate it your replies!

 

[amazingLife]

Hi Ladies,

I am doing IVF for the first time. I am not to the stage of using the progesterone in oil injection yet but I will be very soon. I am terrified of this shot!!!!! The needle 22g 1 1/2" looks HUGE! I have read that it is painful and knots form etc. I am feeling sick to my stomach about it. Have you had these injections? How bad was/is it and how did/do you cope? I appreciate it your replies!

Like you i too dreaded PIO for weeks before ivf.Yes 22g needle is huge and it takes time to get used to it.you also get 18G 1 1/2" needle with it which you only use for drawing up in syringe.you may have sore muscles for first couple of weeks then your buts get used to it .then its not that bad.i used to sit on heating pad for 10-15 min before getting injected and hold a warm wash cloth after injection at injection site. Some days the shots were very bad and some days i wouldnt feel much..so its matter of couple of weeks getting used to it. i completed my full 8 weeks of pregnancy with PIO but unfortunately miscarried.So have to go through the complete PIO phase again in couple of months when i attempt FET again. Life is hard.Good luck for your IVF.

 

[Drearystar]

Hi Ladies,

I am doing IVF for the first time. I am not to the stage of using the progesterone in oil injection yet but I will be very soon. I am terrified of this shot!!!!! The needle 22g 1 1/2" looks HUGE! I have read that it is painful and knots form etc. I am feeling sick to my stomach about it. Have you had these injections? How bad was/is it and how did/do you cope? I appreciate it your replies!

Like you i too dreaded PIO for weeks before ivf.Yes 22g needle is huge and it takes time to get used to it.you also get 18G 1 1/2" needle with it which you only use for drawing up in syringe.you may have sore muscles for first couple of weeks then your buts get used to it .then its not that bad.i used to sit on heating pad for 10-15 min before getting injected and hold a warm wash cloth after injection at injection site. Some days the shots were very bad and some days i wouldnt feel much..so its matter of couple of weeks getting used to it. i completed my full 8 weeks of pregnancy with PIO but unfortunately miscarried.So have to go through the complete PIO phase again in couple of months when i attempt FET again. Life is hard.Good luck for your IVF.

Amazinglife,
Thank you so much for your reply. I will definitely try your suggestions. I am so sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine what you are going through. You must be very strong and I admire you for your willingness to try this process again, knowing how hard it is. I wish you lots of luck on your next attempt.

 

[Northernmonke]

Hi, it hurts and sometimes I cried but it was more from the thought of it that stressed me out. Its not horrendous and just remember its a means to an end, it doesn't last for ever and if it gwts you your baby/babies its worth it. Good luck!! X

 

[CanadianMaple]

I actually prefer them to the subq injections I had to do. I found that the one day I didn't put ice to it right after, it was a bit tender, but they don't seem to even hurt going in. I just put the vial in my bra for a few minutes before drawing it up, it seemed to make the oil flow easier.

 

[Drearystar]

Northernmonke, Thanks for your reply. I have also found in this process that things are never as bad as I have in my mind. I know you're right. I have to focus on why I'm doing all this.

Canadianmaple, Thank you for your advice. I will try warming the oil and using ice.
It makes me feel better to hear that the needle isn't too painful going in.

 

[BBbliss]

My first PIO was traumatic, my DF shot me kind of low and I think he got my sciatic nerve, I couldn't sleep all night and had a limp the next day. That WAS the worse case experience. So I did some research and decided on ice for 15 minutes before the shot and I put the heating pad around the syringe for a few minutes also. The ice numbed the area and didn't feel anything going in, then I laid on heating pad after for another 15 minutes and it helped the oil get absorbed and I never got lumps or bruises. It did take 30 minutes every night but I was so traumatized from the first night that I couldn't even try it any other way after this worked for me.

Good luck.

 

[vkj73]

I opted for the vaginal gel.

If you have the option, it might be worth checking out.

Good luck

 

[amy8686]

Don't fear! As the other girls said, you'll get used to it. I did the vaginal suppositories before and I MUCH prefer the injections. Things that have helped me:

1) Have your nurse draw circles on your back with a sharpie, and just keep darkening them as they wash off. No guessing, no stressing about whether it's the right spot, and no risk of going in the wrong place and hitting a nerve.

2) Ice before, warm the oil a bit, massage for a good minute after it's in (my husband does this), and then lie on a heating pad for a few minutes. I haven't had any lumps this way, and with the icing, sometimes I don't even feel the needle.

3) Depress the plunger slowly, rather than trying to force out the oil as quickly as you did the sub-q injections. My husband did it quickly one time and it felt much worse.

4) Our nurse swapped out the 22g needles for 23g. You could ask if that's an option. I'm sure it hardly makes a difference, but mentally I was thrilled to get a "smaller" needle.

 

[3chords]

I did them for 6 weeks before my MMC was diagnosed.

The shots actually weren't horrible at all, and I was able to self-administer. Go VERY high on the right upper quadrant. Like basically very close to the hip bone, then it hardly hurts. Lower down in the butt cheeks is bad.

I developed a very bad allergic reaction to it where both cheeks were swollen with golf-ball sized red, burning knots. Really terrible and then was diagnosed with MMC a couple of days later so actually I got to stop the shots cold turkey. Still took at least a week for the swelling to go down.

So my advice is that they are ok if you don't develop an allergy to the oil. If you do, it can get pretty nasty.

 

[L.Ann.V]

Just did my first progesterone shot tonight about an hour ago. I was more worried about DH passing out than the injection itself. He did ok though. I'm proud of him

While it hurt more than the subcutaneous shots, I definitely think the mental torture before hand is worse. It did burn a little going in and my butt is sore now, but I put ice on it for a couple minutes after.

I like a few of the other ideas suggested on here as well (like ice before and heat after). I'm going to try that next time. Thanks!

Baby dust

 

[CanadianMaple]

I found that the heat on it after made a difference too! I'm thinking about doing my own first two shots next weekend instead of cutting my camping trip short on my last week of summer break. I usually have a nurse friend do it and am nervous. I found that some made me feel more sore than others, but it really wasn't as bad as I had myself worked up about.

 

[lanet]

I just finished 9 weeks of those and I'm so glad to be done! But really the injection is no big deal, sometimes I didn't even feel it, but I would get sore, and sometimes bruised or knotted after, but that was after several weeks. I was just running out of places to inject.

 

[L.Ann.V]

Last night: I put an ice pack on it first for about 20 minutes. Then a heating pad after while I watched TV. It went very well. Thanks for the ideas ladies I do worry about running out of spots to stick it. Ha-ha!

 

[HisSweetheart]

Hey All...

baby dust to all....

I'm not sure if this is the right thread bcoz I'm bumpin in with my question.. As u ladies have been through IUI/IVF u wud have a fair knowledge abt many of these things...
Wud be of gr8 help if someone can help me with some answers...

I've foraged the internet abt progesterone and everything abt it.. But is it actually possible to fall pregnant with less than 10 ng/ml of progesterone??.. I've got my CD21 serum progesterone tested for 2 cycles n its been constantly b/w 6-7ng/ml (my FE had not prescribed it, I got it done for curiosity sake). I believe it needs to be around 15 ng/ml for the implantation to happen. So my FE has prescribed me the prog. suppositories of 200mg per day. I'm just wondering if my prog issue is the one due to which I'm not able to fall pregnant all the while?.. I asked my FE but she says that it may not be "THE" reason.. thats it. But I'm still curious to know bcoz, though I took the suppositories this IUI cycle, AF arrived rite 14 days after the IUI. That means I got AF when I was still on the suppositories. Can this actually happen?.. I'm somewhat not getting to-the-point answers from my FE. Can anyone help me with ur answers?

I have been dx with mild endo (due to a seemingly 1.7x1.3cm endo cyst) otherwise unexplained.. To confirm endo, lap needs to be done, which my RE is not keen on... And, I read somewhere in a forum that IVF bypasses all the problems posed by endo!.. can that be true?..

Has anyone of you been through prog. issues or endometriosis before and found success through IUI/IVF?

 

[lanet]

Are you sure you're ovulating? I would think progesterone that low wouldean ovulation didn't occur, thats usually why they do the day 21 check.

 

[Drearystar]

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. I have been doing my injections for a week now. I use an ice pack first and roll the oil in my hands to warm it. My DH injects me as I lay on my side (injection side up) and then he massages the muscle. I then sit on a heating pad for an hour. This all seems to work. I didn't feel the first one but was sore the next day. The second injection hurt going in and my muscle pain was so bad the next day I could hardly walk. The rest of my injections so far don't hurt much but I always have sore muscles the next day but not as bad as that second time. I had my estrogen and progesterone checked and all is good so at least I don't have to up the dose. I don't know if it's the PIO or the estrace but I have been feeling tired and nauseous since I started them. Good luck everyone.

 

[haleiwamama]

Girl, the shots suck especially when husband hits a nerve and your butt is sore non stop after... BUT! Just to keep things in perspective... we do all this, all the shots, blood draws, ultrasounds, so we can give birth! This is a tickle in comparison! Just focus on the big picture!

Hope that helps!! xoxo

 

[haleiwamama]

Ladies, I have a question about progesterone! Im on 4dp5dt today and my nurse just called with my leel, which is 70.2. She told me to drop my dosage from 2CCs to 1.5CCs. Any opinions on this? We transferred 2 embryos and my RE is hoping that only 1 implants, even though I've consistently told him I want both to implant, so there's a lack of trust there... I dont want to risk losing one of the embryos because of this doctor...

 

[lanet]

I think that progesterone level is higher than just the shots would give, so that's why they are having you drop it, bc you are producing plenty on your own. You don't necessarily need enough progesterone for 2, just enough to keep your lining intact. My progesterone was 31 and my dr was happy with that and kept me at my regular dose. I'm 12 weeks pregnant with 2!
This is just my opinion however and you have to do what you feel comfortable with