Egg Stimulation, The $300+ Nightly Injections

Below are photos of me preparing and administering my evening dose of egg stimulation medication. If you have a weak stomach or don't like graphic photos, I suggest you skip this blog. I post this information and my personal experience to educate those who are considering or going through similar fertility treatments.

As much as I was excited to start my egg stimulation, I was tense, shaking nervously, and worried I would make a mistake or somehow mix the medicines wrong.

Due to my inability to produce eggs, my dose of Follistim and Repronex was probably higher than most.
<----My daily dose of Follistim & Repronex. I gave myself this injection for 9 days.





I begin by placing everything I need on a clean surface.

<----Sharps container, Repronex and Follistim along with my syringe and proper injecting needle.








<----Inside the Follistim Pen. The evening this was taken, I had run out of Follistim and was changing the cartridge.










Here, I've drawn up my Repronex dose and am tapping the air bubbles out. ---->






<----I carefully measure out my Follistim dose, and inject it into the Repronex I drew up in the syringe.







A final tap to release the air bubbles and it's time to inject. Due to a tummy tuck I had 4 years ago, I tend to try to give my injection in the "knumber" areas of my belly. Once I find the perfect spot, I grab onto my stomach, and inject the needle. I asperate the needle to assure I haven't hit a blood vessle (if blood enters your needle, you've hit a blood vessle and need to restart).




After finding the right spot, I wipe it with an alcohol pad and injecting the needle. ->








<----Dispersing the medication.
I feel a sting with the initial poke and start of the medication, but the real burn begins about 1/2 way through the injection and lasts several minutes after I was finished.


If you feel as though you can't give yourself an injection, your mate can do it for you.

My husband gave me my first Lurpon injection and after that I said, "Forget it"...I'll do it myself. There was something about watching him, that freaked me out and I decided from that point on to administer them myself.

The first morning after my stimulation injection, the site was very tender and red. I wore sweats because the top of my jeans irritated the area worse. After calling my Dr. and doing some research online I found out that this is a perfectly normal reaction and that Follistim can burn due to it being kept in the refrigerator.

After that, I decided to warm the injection a bit by holding it in my hands, administering the medication and then apply an ice pack. After Day 3, I no longer had bright red spots and no longer needed to use the ice pack to help with the discomfort.






<---- The morning after my first stimulation injection. The redness and tenderness went away approximately 24 hours later.


On the 4th day of my injection, I had an E2 test. According to pinelandpress.com the ideal result is 100+ pg/ml, mine came in low at 58.

My Dr. called me that evening and doubled my medication dose. This meant I didn't have enough medication to get me through the rest of my IVF cycle. Even though I was a bit nervous to find out how much more Follistim I would need and the expense of it, I knew it would be worth it.


As I stated, I stimulated 4 follicles in 9 days. The number of follicles was very low and caused initial concern. You can read about that in "Not enough eggs".