Meds-Related Unpleasantness

Due to the nature of IF treatments, you can never really predict how you will react and which meds and procedures will be quick and easy and which will be horrendously unpleasant.

For many women, the HSG, ERs and even Menopur injections can be really painful. For me, these were a breeze and I would take subcutaneous injections all day long if I could avoid an intramuscular one.

This FET has been pretty easy so far, but I must admit that today was the beginning of some mild unpleasantness. On the mild side, I started taking the antibiotics and the steroid Medrol. Blech. I know this sounds insane, but those pills taste so freakin' bad. They taste like that stuff that you paint onto your nails to stop nail biting - just burning wretched bitter. I have tried a bunch of different ways to take it without tasting it, but it's tough. It even begins to break down in your mouth when it touches the water and just fills your mouth with that taste. It's just awful.

I also had my first PIO shot this morning. C had to give it because a.) I had to get it before noon and my cousin wouldn't have been available, and b.) we're not really sharing this FET with many people, just in case it fails. Therefore, he had to do it. Since my only IM shots in the past were triggers, I have always had my cousin do it. That was easy enough because I only needed it once per month. I will need these PIO shots each day, so it was time that C learned how to do it.

Last night, we watched some videos on the Freedom Fertility website and some amateur YouTube ones so that he would know what to do. I also walked him through it since I have experienced it quite a few times.

Because C had to work today, we had to do the shot at 7am before he left. There was a bit of a learning curve in drawing up the oil - apparently it's not as easy as drawing up water-based meds. I went through two syringes trying to get it right. By the time he got his crap together and I drew up the meds, he was running late, so he was hurrying me, which is exactly what I feared would happen. It really wasn't bad, though.

Within the next few hours, I could still feel the injection site despite C massaging it in as the directions dictated. Even though the injection wasn't as bad as I had feared, I can see how this could get pretty bruisy and painful with repeated daily injection. Yuck.