Fertility Stimulation Gonal F and Menopur (What a Combo) and Side Effects

Written by: Sam K.                 For questions or comments, please contact me.

Statistics: Age - Turning 37 Baseline Stats: AMH - Between .7 - .9 FSH  6.7 LH 3.4 E2 15.4  

No DH to speak of yet. DH in the fertility world stands for Dear Husband. Not giving up hope yet. 

Before I took the plunge to sign on the dotted line for the egg freezing process, I did some research on the internet on the success of embryo freezing vs. egg freezing. It gave me conflicting answers. Some sites said that egg freezing was nearly as effective in producing a baby than embryo freezing, while others said entirely the opposite. What I gathered over my three months of research is that embryos are hardier than eggs and that there is a risk on losing more eggs than embryos from dethawing. However, as technology is improving so is our ability to freeze and unfreeze both without fear of killing the cells. I honestly was not ready to give up on my dream to have the father of my unborn, not yet created baby, be a known entity to my child. I still wanted it all. I checked YES to start the process and bought the $4500.00 of drugs I was prescribed.

Prior to my egg retrieval cycle, I was put on Desigin BC pills for 21 days was off them for 3 days prior to starting fertility stimulation injections. I started them on day 2 of my period. I had cramps medium to severe from period, but not the drugs. I had a lot of trepidation about the fertility drug injections. I was not scared of putting a needle in my body, it was the mixing of the drugs and dosage amounts that petrified me. It really was not that bad at all. I watched the video by a professional nurse coordinator from NYU and felt confident that I was ready to mix my dosages of Gonal-F (225 iu) and Menopur (150 iu) on my own. I had a q-cup and used the 27 1/2 gauge needle to assist me in the process. Do not use the 22 ones. I flicked out the bubbles with ease and even remembered to not shake the containers when mixing. I merely rotated them around. All in all, it was a successful 1st day with my egg freezing process. I had no immediate side effects that night. 

Cetrotide on lt; Syringe in middle with Menopur and
sodium  chloride; Gonal F Pen on rt.

The next day I immediately developed a dull headache that lingered the whole day. I felt really confident when I did my shots on night two. No major hiccups to note. During the first week of stimulation injections, I had a hard time going to sleep, but I did not feel overly emotional or any pain from the drugs. I think I have a higher tolerance of pain than most. By the 7th day, I started to develop   a little bruising from the drugs. I am sure that if I went to the beach, people would think I was doing heroine subcutaneously from my abdomen area. It was not a pretty look. Luckily, I was not dating anyone serious at the time. I did go on some dates which I will blog about that separately.

Cetrotide is a drug that prevents the LH surge from happening. This is necessary to prevent ovulation from coming too pre-maturely. Everything has to be timed perfectly to make the magic happen.

So, the Cetrotide stings slightly directly after the injection and for me, created a red circle around the injected area. I used small ice packs to soothe the pain and minimize the itchiness and redness. I am hoping that my body will get used to the shots and that I will no longer get the red areas every time.

Stay tuned for more on  Egg Freezing  .... True Confessions

Eggfreezing101@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments.