Going through IVF treatment is hectic as well as emotionally very stressful.
To add to the stress is the daily overdose of hormones which start to play havoc with your mood. I think during my IVF cycle I would have snapped at my husband much more than he actually deserved ;-) And I used to realize that I am being irrational in my out bursts but during those 10-15 days I would explode at just about anything and everything.
My doctor had prescribed me DHEA, to be taken for about 3 months before we even started the IVF cycle. When the IVF cycle started, there were many more medicines that were going into my body everyday (first ivf attempt). I am susceptible to migraine when I get stressed. After I started to take my hormone shots, the first 2-3 days were going all good, however for some reason on 4th or 5th day of my IVF treatment cycle I started to have headache. I had headache for 3 days continuously, and I refused to take any medicine lest it interfere with my IVF medication. Thankfully the headache disappeared on the fourth day morning when I woke up. I knew I am being super cautious about not taking any other medicine but I didn't want to take any chances.
All through the rest of the days of the procedure, I kept praying that I should not get hit by any other migraine attack.
I read somewhere that headache is one of the most common side effect of fertility drugs. I was lucky I did not experience any other serious side effects, though who knows what is happening inside our bodies all the time!
The other part which caused lot of stress was the trip to the clinic to get my daily hormone shots. It is a barely 5 mins job but the clinic is almost 45 mins drive one-way. So after few days of going to a nurse who can give me my hormone shots, I decided that I will try to administer them myself! I checked with the doctor if she was fine with me administering the injections to myself; and she said she was OK till the time I knew what I was doing. These are subcutaneous shots and don't need the expertise of finding a vein or anything. Easier said than done ;-)
I asked the pharmacist to give me an extra set of syringe so that I will be able to experiment first with a mock trial. The mock went fine, I tried to poke my thigh with the needle and was able to. But when I tried the actual shot, it didn't happen as desired :-( I filled up the syringe as instructed, sanitized the part of my abdomen where I planned to give the shot, pinched a small part of it, then I tried to insert the needle BUT it just wont go in. Maybe I was tensed and scared and was not applying the right amount of pressure. So I tried one more time, a little away from earlier spot as it was hurting and this second time it thankfully went in. Next day I noticed that I had a bad dark blue bruise where I had tried the first time. I thought thats it; I would rather make the travel than get my stomach full of bruises because of my stupidity. So after that incident I made up my mind that no more experiments, I should rather go to an expert rather than trying it myself.
I had watched this video "Subcutaneous Injection" to get the technique, but I guess it needs little more practice and patience.
I wish rather than injections, these come in the form of tablets which I can swallow and get done with it ;-)
To add to the stress is the daily overdose of hormones which start to play havoc with your mood. I think during my IVF cycle I would have snapped at my husband much more than he actually deserved ;-) And I used to realize that I am being irrational in my out bursts but during those 10-15 days I would explode at just about anything and everything.
My doctor had prescribed me DHEA, to be taken for about 3 months before we even started the IVF cycle. When the IVF cycle started, there were many more medicines that were going into my body everyday (first ivf attempt). I am susceptible to migraine when I get stressed. After I started to take my hormone shots, the first 2-3 days were going all good, however for some reason on 4th or 5th day of my IVF treatment cycle I started to have headache. I had headache for 3 days continuously, and I refused to take any medicine lest it interfere with my IVF medication. Thankfully the headache disappeared on the fourth day morning when I woke up. I knew I am being super cautious about not taking any other medicine but I didn't want to take any chances.
All through the rest of the days of the procedure, I kept praying that I should not get hit by any other migraine attack.
I read somewhere that headache is one of the most common side effect of fertility drugs. I was lucky I did not experience any other serious side effects, though who knows what is happening inside our bodies all the time!
The other part which caused lot of stress was the trip to the clinic to get my daily hormone shots. It is a barely 5 mins job but the clinic is almost 45 mins drive one-way. So after few days of going to a nurse who can give me my hormone shots, I decided that I will try to administer them myself! I checked with the doctor if she was fine with me administering the injections to myself; and she said she was OK till the time I knew what I was doing. These are subcutaneous shots and don't need the expertise of finding a vein or anything. Easier said than done ;-)
I asked the pharmacist to give me an extra set of syringe so that I will be able to experiment first with a mock trial. The mock went fine, I tried to poke my thigh with the needle and was able to. But when I tried the actual shot, it didn't happen as desired :-( I filled up the syringe as instructed, sanitized the part of my abdomen where I planned to give the shot, pinched a small part of it, then I tried to insert the needle BUT it just wont go in. Maybe I was tensed and scared and was not applying the right amount of pressure. So I tried one more time, a little away from earlier spot as it was hurting and this second time it thankfully went in. Next day I noticed that I had a bad dark blue bruise where I had tried the first time. I thought thats it; I would rather make the travel than get my stomach full of bruises because of my stupidity. So after that incident I made up my mind that no more experiments, I should rather go to an expert rather than trying it myself.
I had watched this video "Subcutaneous Injection" to get the technique, but I guess it needs little more practice and patience.
I wish rather than injections, these come in the form of tablets which I can swallow and get done with it ;-)
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