Experience with injections

kw0612 · August 2013

New to the forum here and been TTC for 15 months now. I'm currently on my 4th round of Clomid and had my 3rd IUI today with 5 follicles. My RE said this will be my last month of Clomid...the side effects have been rough and he said it usually works in the first 3-4 months if it's going to work. The last 2 months, I have been a complete crazy person. The mood swings have been unbearable as I break down in tears daily over nothing. I can barely stand to be in any type of social situations, and I've also had some pretty bad headaches.

If this month doesn't work, I will be starting injections next month, likely Gonal-F (depending on insurance and cost) with HCG trigger. What are everyone's experiences with injectables? Are the side effects any easier to deal with? I also wonder if they will be any more successful? Since I'm ovulating well on clomid and still not pregnant, I find it hard to believe the injections will work. Any success stories out there to give me hope??

Hopefully this IUI today will work and I won't have to worry about the injections. Let the long TWW begin!

monimu13 · August 2013

My first thought is that I would have been canceled for 5 follicles on a clomid+IUI cycle for risk of high order multiples. That being said, I was a crazy person on clomid as well. My next thought is, if you had 5 follies on clomid, how many are you going to get on Gonal f? I'd be worried about even more follies. Do you have any sort of diagnosis? You probably won't find too many success stories here as we are mostly trying for #1, PAIF would be a great place to lurk for that. I wish you good luck with your cycle

GermanGirl2007 · August 2013

Welcome, but sorry you have to be here! IF is incredibly frustrating but most of the women here can relate, so hopefully you find yourself in good company.

I didn't see you mention in your original post what your diagnosis is? We have Unexplained Infertility and I ovulate fine on my own. My RE didn't see much of a point of doing injectibles since I was responding really well to Clomid and wasn't successful. Has your RE mentioned Femara? It generally has less side effects. If you've done 3 IUI's already, however, I don't know how many more I would want to do before moving on.

In terms of injections, even if you move on you will need to deal with them, so might as well fill you in; Ovidrel is a piece of cake. No side effects for me at all. I haven't used Gonal-F,but have done Bravelle. The Bravelle was a little tougher for me, just in terms of administration, but side effects were minimal- just a little pain at the injection site.

Hope that you and your RE are able to come up with a plan you are comfortable with for moving forward. GL to you!

whoberry · August 2013

Welcome to the board, hope your stay is short and sweet.

I agree with PP, if you have 5 follies on Clomid I don't know that the point of doing an injects cycle would be, unless Clomid was thinning your lining, in which case I would try Femara instead if your doctor allows it. I'm guessing you guys are unexplained?

I did have one insanepsychob*tch moment on Clomid, but other than that I was fine. With pretty much all other injectable meds I've had mood swings but nothing terrible.

Good luck!

kw0612 · August 2013

Thanks! Sorry I left out diagnosis info. I'm told I have ovulatory dysfunction, kinda vague. I did ovulate on my own but not until CD 21-26 and only had a 8-9 day luteal phase combined with abnormal labs. I also have hostile CM, being the reason for IUIs. We really wanted to try something else before going to IVF for financial reasons and he thinks that the injections will give me a slightly higher chance of success than femara. Not feeling very hopeful but want to know that we gave it our all before going to IVF. So we're going to give it a try for probably 2-3 months before moving to IVF. And I've definitely had more than one psychob*tch moments with clomid...hoping they're not as bad with injections! Don't know how my poor husband has remained so patient with me!

vpine · August 2013

Injects with IUI have slightly higher success rates than clomid/IUI. I had bloating, cramping and headaches on injections, had PMS type symptoms with progesterone suppositories during 2WW. I didn't conceive with injects/IUI so I don't have a success story yet.
Good luck!

whoberry · August 2013

kw0612 said:

Thanks! Sorry I left out diagnosis info. I'm told I have ovulatory dysfunction, kinda vague. I did ovulate on my own but not until CD 21-26 and only had a 8-9 day luteal phase combined with abnormal labs. I also have hostile CM, being the reason for IUIs. We really wanted to try something else before going to IVF for financial reasons and he thinks that the injections will give me a slightly higher chance of success than femara. Not feeling very hopeful but want to know that we gave it our all before going to IVF. So we're going to give it a try for probably 2-3 months before moving to IVF. And I've definitely had more than one psychob*tch moments with clomid...hoping they're not as bad with injections! Don't know how my poor husband has remained so patient with me!

I am in a similar boat, I ovulated on my own but it was late in my cycle and my LP was short. But I didn't have any problems with CM. But if you are getting 5 follies on Clomid that's pretty awesome. My understanding was that injects + IUI has a higher success rate than Clomid + IUI because you get more follies with injects. That's why I think if you've got 5 follies on Clomid, injects seem like they might not be worth it. Did your RE say how many follies s/he would be shooting for with injects?

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Experience with injections

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IF, 5 losses, 1 son, 1 on the way.

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