Question about self injection

SnowLady1019 · May 2013

Can anyone tell me why Ovidrel is a self injected shot? I understand what the purpose of Ovidrel is and what is does. I am just not sure why I have to self inject VS a medical professional administering it. I am extremely uncomfortable with the idea since I have a debilitating fear of needles. I told RE I would not be able to do it and he said DH or someone else could do it. I never thought to ask RE WHY I had to do it myself, and I plan to at my next appointment, but I didn't know if anyone here had any insight as to why it is self injected.

scbedi · May 2013

I am really not sure. the only thing I can think of is that I had to give myself mine at 9:30 at night. I have heard some ladies say that the nurse at the clinic gives them theirs after their monitoring appt.

BlueEyedDreamer · May 2013

It's self-administered because you usually need to take it in the evening when the doctor's office is closed. I truly hate needles, too, so I just get my husband to do it so that I don't even have to watch. It's so small and easy, it's really not worth getting a medical professional to administer it anyways.

Good luck! You will do fine!

SnowLady1019 · May 2013

Thanks, I have read that on here too. I plan to bring mine with me to my monitoring appointment in hopes that I am ready and they are willing LOL!

I guess it might just be a timing thing? I don't know. All I can think of is if I want to prevent the flu, I go to my doctors office and someone gives me the flu shot. But if I want to ovulate I go to the doctors and they tell me go home and inject myself. It just seems crazy to me.

BlueEyedDreamer · May 2013

SnowLady1019:

I guess it might just be a timing thing? I don't know. All I can think of is if I want to prevent the flu, I go to my doctors office and someone gives me the flu shot. But if I want to ovulate I go to the doctors and they tell me go home and inject myself. It just seems crazy to me.

That's exactly what it is. The trigger causes you to ovulate 36 hours later. So if you take it during the day, it may mess up the timing of your IUI since they can't do that in the middle of the night. For example, my RE had me trigger at night and then come in two mornings later to align the IUI with O-time. So it's different than a flu shot - plus it's MUCH easier than a flu shot!

You'll be fine!!

twistsandturnsto2 · May 2013

For the most part, it's a timing issue. If every RE had to administer every injection that every patient had to have, they would be swamped and in office at all hours of the day and night.

I know it's scary to have to do it yourself. I had my H give me all my trigger shots before I had to suck up my fear of shots for IVF. The needle is small and I barely felt it. I know it sucks to have to face your fears, but unfortunately that's how IF works. You can do this!

GermanGirl2007 · May 2013

BlueEyedDreamer:
SnowLady1019:

I guess it might just be a timing thing? I don't know. All I can think of is if I want to prevent the flu, I go to my doctors office and someone gives me the flu shot. But if I want to ovulate I go to the doctors and they tell me go home and inject myself. It just seems crazy to me.
That's exactly what it is. The trigger causes you to ovulate 36 hours later. So if you take it during the day, it may mess up the timing of your IUI since they can't do that in the middle of the night. For example, my RE had me trigger at night and then come in two mornings later to align the IUI with O-time. So it's different than a flu shot - plus it's MUCH easier than a flu shot!
You'll be fine!!

All of this. I hate needles too, and honestly, it wasn't bad at all. I felt it less than all the blood draws at the RE. GL!

SnowLady1019 · May 2013

Thanks ladies!!

If IF has taught me one thing its that I have to face my fear. I literally have to prep myself everytime I have BW which we all know happens alot with IF. I have gotten better, although I still have to lay down and I do still sometimes break out in hives.. The anxiety and stress before BW seems to be less than before IF.

Neesey · May 2013

At your next appointment, ask them if they will teach you how to do your own injection. Having a nurse walk me through it step-by-step did a lot to alleviate my fears. Now the only thing I stress about is mixing it. Injecting has become the easiest step!

Twinkie0612 · May 2013

The reason they have you do it is because, at least for IUI, it has to be timed correctly in relation to your IUI time. My RE schedules IUIs for 40 hours (many REs do 36 hours) after trigger, so since my IUI was 8:00am on a Wednesday, I had to trigger at 4:00pm on the monday before. If I had a later IUI slot, I would have triggered later. You can see that many women may have to trigger late at night depending on when their IUI is.

For TI, I suppose there is no reason why the RE or nurse can't do it, but they may not want to waste time that could be spent on a patient with something that could easily be done by you (or your DH in your case) at home.

herecomesthesun · May 2013

H has a really strong vasovagal response to even just the THOUGHT of needles and blood so he almost passed out just reading the instructions. I grabbed it from him and gave it to myself.

It was no big deal to give it to myself. And it gets easier.

SnowLady1019 · May 2013

herecomesthesun:
H has a really strong vasovagal response to even just the THOUGHT of needles and blood so he almost passed out just reading the instructions. I grabbed it from him and gave it to myself.It was no big deal to give it to myself. And it gets easier.

This is me exactly! I hate it cause I can't control it even though I know how ridiculous it is.

RachC624 · May 2013

My RE's office supposedly charges you a co-pay if you go to them to give it to you. So beyond the other reasons of timing, I don't want to pay a co-pay if I don't have to. Thankfully my mom (who knows all about what's going on) has offered to do it for me if I can't do it myself and DH works overnights.

lorirachel · May 2013

I have gotten it 3 times and the nurse does it at my RE office after my monitoring appointment.

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