Question: Who has used Folistem?

megrae12

I am being a straight AW lately, sorry ladies. H and I talked and he wanted to try again this month. Our protocol has changed and my RE wants me to move to Folistem. I have never used it and I just wondered if any of y'all have. What should I expect with this? I will be going on progesterone with this new protocol as my progesterone never got high enough while on Clomid. The highest it got was 12 this last cycle, and well, it didn't end well. AF showed today, so if we are going to do this new protocol, I have to call them today. No rest for the weary in the world of IF. I have to go in every few days for labs and u/s, is this normal for this protocol? If I could just some insight on all of this, that would be wonderful. I am really lost in everything now. With Clomid, I knew what to expect, with this, I know nothing. Thanks ladies for your insight and for your hugs. I really appreciate it. 

megrae12

@NariaDreaming How was it? H is basically using this month to see how I will react before me make any long term decisions on TTC. (I love being everyone's lab rat). Clomid was relatively easy for me minus the F-ing hot flashes!! Did you find you had a lot of side effects with it? 

megrae12

Thanks, Naria. I remember it from in injects class, I am just not happy about all the needles I am going to have to endure. Sigh* My insurance covers as a specialty med and it's gonna be hella expensive. Grr.... 

I appreciate the insight and the honesty. I need to hear the good and the bad of it. 

BunnyBerry

I just want to say, thank you for the question and all the great advice/experience! I'm bookmarking this for next cycle.

@nariadreaming - Good luck tonight! I hope you start feeling better soon. 

Rachaeleigh

I have done 3 IUIs with follistim. The biggest pain was all of the monitoring. I responded fairly quickly, so was in every day to every other day.
Other than that, I didn't experience too many side effects and the actually injections were painless
GL :-)

Eta, I did definitely experience quite a bit of discomfort right before, during, and after O, because of multiple follicles

curve31

I did one round of it. Totally painless. I couldn't even feel the needle. I can't remember having any side effects either. I did bruise though. My belly have quite a few bruises in varying shades of blue and yellow.

mmmKayy

Ditto everything @curve31 said. I can't remember having any side effects and it was sooooooo not as scary as it looked.

Ask your doc if they have samples of it. My RE did, so I actually got mine for free!

lebradford

I agree, I had a much harder time on Clomid. I had some headaches on Follistim, but nothing else. I responded a lot better and actually ended up with fewer monitoring appointments on Follistim even though I was being monitored really closely just because the cycle was shorter. My lining was much better too. I think it's definitely worth it! Good luck!