11 Insanely Helpful IVF Injection Tips That Every IVF Warrior Should Know

IVF injections…one of the necessary evils of the IVF process!

Here’s the truth, sometimes you may be giving yourself up to three injections per day…for weeks. At times it can feel overwhelming especially when you have to fit it into your daily schedule (administering injections in the work restroom anyone?) Since it is a necessity, it’s smart to educate yourself about the best ways to navigate this new reality. There are certain strategies that will ensure your experience is as smooth and as comfortable as possible.

You are going to learn all the best IVF injection tips I have picked up over the course of my journey plus all the insanely helpful tips I’ve gleaned from other wonderful IVF warriors I’ve met along the way. This is all the info I wish I had at my fingertips when I first started IVF.

After learning about and implementing these tips, you are going to feel like a pro and I promise you’ll never look at a needle the same way again!

Table of Contents

Are IVF Injections painful?
Preparation tips
Administration tips
Aftercare tips
What should I do if I miss a dose?

Are IVF injections painful?

OK, first and foremost let’s put the question that often plagues first time IVF patients to rest.

No. IVF injections are not awfully painful.

Can some of them ache and/or sting for a short time after they are administered? Yes.

Can injecting cause some bruising? Yes.

Is it something that needs to be feared? No.

I would describe the after sting/ache as mildly uncomfortable. Four injections in particular may cause temporary redness and a sting that lasts for up to 30 minutes:

• Ganirelix also known as cetrotide, which is used for down-regulation
• HCG trigger subcutaneous injection
• Blood-thinning injections that you may be prescribed after egg retrieval (also may cause some bruising)
• Progesterone intramuscular injection
  

Honestly, unless you have a needle phobia (in which case, speak to your clinic about how they can support you), the actual act of injecting IVF medication is really not as bad an experience as you would expect. It’s the build up to it and the scheduling that can cause some anxiety. Luckily there are practical steps you can take to make the process smoother and easier from day one. You will be surprised by how easily you adapt and how quickly it feels ordinary once you adopt these tips.

Preparation Tips

1. Work with your clinic and pharmacy to ensure that your medication is delivered a few days in advance of your start date. A good time to organise this is on the same day as your baseline scan. When the medication arrives, do an inventory check immediately and ensure any medications that need to be stored below room temperature are put in the refrigerator straight away.
   
   
   
2. Dedicate a space in your home for storing your other medications and supplies (needles, sharps disposal). Since a number of medications needed to be in the fridge, I dedicated an area of my kitchen to this and I administered shots at my kitchen table. Having this corner of my kitchen set up in advance meant there was one less thing to think about and one less decision to make. A good organization system does wonders for minimizing stress.
   
   
   
3. Speaking of an organization system - it’s incredibly helpful to determine a set schedule for your injections with your clinic ahead of time. You will need to work this around your ultrasound and labs. Ask your clinic if they can accommodate booking in advance so you have a higher chance of getting the same time slots for your appointments. Once you have these, you can figure out the times in the morning and evening when it would be most convenient/practical to administer the shots. Once confirmed, set daily alarms for these slots on your phone.
   
   
   
4. If your schedule does not allow you to always inject at your home (because of work commitments, travel etc.), I highly recommend buying a refrigerator cool bag and medication carrier in advance and finding the quietest restroom in your workplace. On a number of occasions, I have had to plan for this and honestly having this handy portable cool bag and discreet medication travel case made me feel so much more calm about deviating from the norm.
   
   
   
5. Once that alarm goes wash your hands and dab some numbing gel such as abnesol onto the injection site. This can help if you are sensitive to the feeling of the needle piercing your skin (will help less so with blood-thinner as the sting comes from the medication rather than the needle). Just remember to wipe it off with an alcohol swab before injecting. For the intramuscular injections, it helps if your body is warm. If you are doing IVF in a cold climate, you can relax the muscle by applying a heat pad 10 minutes before you plan to inject.
   
   
   
6. While the gel gets to work, set up your station by wiping down your surface and placing your alcohol swabs, medication vials, needles and syringes in front of you.
   
   
   
7. Take your time with medications that require mixing. I found it took some tries to suck all the liquid up into the syringe and angling the vial at 45 degrees helped with this. Be patient with yourself if you don’t get this the first few times - there is definitely a learning curve involved. Once you have prepared the syringe and fixed the needle in place, hold the syringe upright to check for air bubbles. Once they have risen to the top, you can gently tap on the syringe to encourage the air bubbles to pop.
   

Administration Tips

8. Choose a different injection site each time. For subcutaneous ones, the best place to choose is the abdomen about 2 inches below the belly button area on the right and left side. I alternated the spot between left and right each day in the section of my abdomen with the most fatty tissue and I found injecting here as opposed to higher up (where there is less fatty tissue) reduced bruising greatly.
   
   
   
9. Pinching the skin is helpful (as is being aware of your breathing - don’t hold your breath while injecting! I caught myself doing this the first few times!). Once the medication is fully released, count to five before removing the needle and placing it in your sharps container.
   

Aftercare Tips

10. Immediately after injecting, massage the area for a few moments. There is no need to cover the injection site with a band-aid. During these few moments, I would imagine the medication reaching my ovaries and the follicles responding. This might not be for everyone but I’m a big believer in the power of visualisation.
    
    
    
11. Be mindful of what you have just done. This is something I only picked up on my third cycle - the importance of acknowledging the moment and the feelings you have about it. I use a IVF journal to write down the time, the medication, the dosage and a few sentences about how I am feeling. I don’t know the neuroscience behind it but I do know taking one minute to jot these things down after administering the medication closes the loop for me and I’ve found this immensely helpful.
    

What should I do if I miss a dose?

Breathe and call your clinic. Unless this is the trigger shot, you have some wriggle room. Your clinic will be best placed to advise the window of time you have to locate another dose of the medication. On the one occasion this happened to me, my clinic advised that they had a supply and were so helpful in organizing a same day courier service.

If you do miss the timing of your trigger shot, call your clinic as soon as you realize. The injection is timed exactly 36 hours prior to egg retrieval so it’s really important that this is administered on time. Still, should you find yourself in this scenario it may be the case that your clinic will tell you to take the injection at a later time and then move your egg retrieval back accordingly. Of course this depends on a number of factors and only your clinic can advise the best course of action.

Additional tip: all clinics will have an out of our hours contact number. Write this number down in your IVF journal and keep it with your medication. Believe me, in the panic of thinking you have ruined your chances, you will be flapping to find this number. Do yourself and your heart a favour and keep it stuck to your medication travel case

There you have it, 11 IVF injection tips from the lips of IVF veterans that will make the process smoother and easier. Remember you are not alone, there are a ton of us women going through the exact same thing - you’re strong and you’ve got this ;)

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