Talk to me about injectibles..

hi ladies after my Lap im moving on to injectibles.

What drugs did you take?

How were the side effects?

How many follicles are "normal" for an injectible cycle?


BTW- i'm "needtohide" ;)

Im out- on here

Message edited 1/21/2011 3:39:55 PM.

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

I tried injectibles first so I have no experience with oral drugs.

I tried Gonal-f and bravelle for IUIs. I had two follicles at the most but I am a poor responder. I never had any side effects and generally haven't had any reaction to IF meds at all (other than the progesterone or estrogen suppository hell that I'm in now )

Good luck and welcome - now that you're out.

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

I don't have any experience with injectables but I just wanted to welcome you!

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

This is my first cycle on injections and I'm only on CD5. I don't have any side effects at all, maybe a slight constant headache, but I think that is from stress or Femura.

Good Luck on your next cycle.

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

Hi. I have done 4 injectable cycles. I got pregnant my first cycle (but miscarried at 10 weeks). I have unexplained IF. I was always on Gonal-F (150 iu) as a stim. I was on Ganirelix also but then switched to Lupron for my last 2 cycles, and Ovidrel to trigger.

The Gonal-F was to stimulate my follies. The ganirelix was to suppress me (so I wouldn't ovulate on my own). The RE wants to be the one to control your ovulation (hence the trigger shot) so that you have the most mature follies possible. I switched to Lupron because prior I had a lead follie and then several smaller ones which took a little longer to catch up. My RE likes to have a few mature ones close together. The lupron is taken for much longer (almost the entire time of the cycle) as opposed to the ganirelix which is right round when you ovulate so they can control a lot more with lupron.

I was always considered a good responder. The goal is usually to have 3-4 mature follies. They don't know if each follicle has an egg in it, but they have to assume so. This is why the risk of multiples with injectables is so high.

I was lucky and never really had any side effects from the drugs with the exception of the occasional Lupron headache. Sorry I wrote a whole novel here, but I hope this helps! GL!

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

Hi there and welcome. I am 38 and DH is 47. I have a 14 year old daughter from a previous relationship. DH and I were TTC for 1 1/2 years. After all testing done by RE we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. We decided to go ahead full force with IUI and injectables on our first cycle. I began with Lupron (it made my AF come late by almost a week and I was freaking out at the time), after AF finally arrived I started Bravelle (slow reaction and needed an extra two days on it to mature my follicles) and finished with the Ovidrel shot. At the time of the b2b IUI's I had 3 matured eggs and 1 other about to mature.

I did not test before the 14dpiui at all....I don't know how I did it We got our BFP at 14 dpiu

I am now 7 weeks pregnant. Just had our first ultrasound and RE found 3 heartbeats Hopefully at least one will stick. So far so good : )

Good luck to you!!

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

Hey there!

I remember you from LIW :)

I used Gonal-F for my injectables cycles and had ZERO side effects (literally). It was really nice.

In the first cycle, I had 2 mature eggs but we did not get pregnant.

The second cycle, my body completely over-responded and I had over 18 eggs so we converted to IVF.

The goal during our injectables cycles were 1-4 mature eggs.

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

there are a huge range of injectable meds with different uses.

for my stim cycles i used follistim. my doses ranged from 37.5-150 for timed intercourse cycles (we never did IUI), and up to 300 for IVF. i had all sorts of different results from producing nothing with low doses, to upping the doses and hyperstimulating. every body and every cycle is different. just because you respond one way once doesn't mean you will always respond that way. often times doses need to be changed several times during a cycle or from cycle to cycle. IVF aside, my response to follistim ranged from one follie to over 10. when it was over 10 the cycle was cancelled. there is no "normal" response for a cycle, it depends on your body. due to the risk of multiples many REs wont trigger you or do IUI if you have 5 or more follies, but it depends entirely on your doctor and your response to the meds.

ive used ganirelix as a GnRH antagonist, which basically means it lowers LH and prevents ovulation. i used it in non-IVF cycles although i have found that to be uncommon for most people.

ive used the ovidrel trigger several times. this is a once-a-cycle HCG injection that releases mature eggs for ovulation. ive also used novarel HCG for a trigger since the dose can be varied and ovidrel cant. and during IVF i used a lupron trigger to prevent OHSS, but again thats more of the exception than the rule.

ive also done lovenox and PIO injections but you prob dont need details on those just yet.

out of 6 non-IVF injectable cycles i had the following results - 1 hyperstim where the cycle was cancelled (we werent in a position to switch to IVF since it was my first injectable cycle and i had no infertility insurance coverage at the time), 2 BFN cycles, 1 chemical pregnancy with a very low beta, and 1 chemical pregnancy with an OK first beta that didn't rise and m/c at 5w2d.

as far as side effects, i found injectables to be better than pills. pills have a whole bunch of added stuff as the pills break down through your digestive track. injectables are much purer and go right where they need to go instead of having to travel through your digestive system to be effective. my most common side effects were bloating and bruising at the injection site. otherwise i didnt experience too many side effects. i did have mild OHSS more than once but that isnt so much a side-effect as much of a reaction to hyperstimulation.

Message edited 1/22/2011 4:08:00 PM.

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

Posted by Dolphinsbaby

Hi. I have done 4 injectable cycles. I got pregnant my first cycle (but miscarried at 10 weeks). I have unexplained IF. I was always on Gonal-F (150 iu) as a stim. I was on Ganirelix also but then switched to Lupron for my last 2 cycles, and Ovidrel to trigger.

The Gonal-F was to stimulate my follies. The ganirelix was to suppress me (so I wouldn't ovulate on my own). The RE wants to be the one to control your ovulation (hence the trigger shot) so that you have the most mature follies possible. I switched to Lupron because prior I had a lead follie and then several smaller ones which took a little longer to catch up. My RE likes to have a few mature ones close together. The lupron is taken for much longer (almost the entire time of the cycle) as opposed to the ganirelix which is right round when you ovulate so they can control a lot more with lupron.

I was always considered a good responder. The goal is usually to have 3-4 mature follies. They don't know if each follicle has an egg in it, but they have to assume so. This is why the risk of multiples with injectables is so high.

I was lucky and never really had any side effects from the drugs with the exception of the occasional Lupron headache. Sorry I wrote a whole novel here, but I hope this helps! GL!

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

Welcome!
I don't have injectible experience with IUI's only IVF and high doses of stims. But like Flowerwife said (and from my experience) every cycle is different and your body can react differently as well. There are risks and side effects to every drug that I'm sure your RE will talk to you about but I think overall just listen to your body. If something is off, take note and mention it to your Dr.

Best of luck

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

I don't have any experience with injectibles (yet) but I just wanted to say Good Luck!!

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

thank you for the replies- and especially thank you for the detailed ones- thank for taking the time to write.

any other experience would be great..thanks!

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

What drugs did you take? I took Follistim; I beleive it was 75/ml per shot (1x a day @ night). I used the Pen and I think they are soo much easier to use.

How were the side effects? Absolutely None for me

How many follicles are "normal" for an injectible cycle? I made 3 mature ones; but I also didnt get PG. : (


As silly as it sounds; I actually looked forward when it was time to give myself the needle. You just pinch your belly so it hurts less and inject the needle (which is sooo tiny in thickness) and inject the syrum.

I dont know why; but I only did one month of Injectibles. After 2 rounds of Clomid; and then one round of Injectibles; 3 months in a row........all BFN'S; I just couldnt do any more! Mentally, I was done and needed a break. That was 2 years ago; and here I still am!

Re: Talk to me about injectibles..

Last month I moved on to injectables.
Femara 5mg for 5 days
Gonal-F (injectable) 75 for 3 days.
My U/S showed 2 good sized follies 22 & 24. I really didn't get any side effects last month, but I actually felt when I O'd, kind of like mild cramping.

This month:
Femara 5mg for 5 days
Gonal-F 150 for 3 days
We go in for an U/S tomorrow morning and hopefully trigger. I am still convinvced that this annoying headache I have had for the past 2 days is because of the increased dose of Gonal.

Good luck!!!!