IVF Medications - Down Regulation

Down Regulation is the first stage in a long protocol round, it is my understanding that its aim is to shut down your cycle to zero so that when you start the stimulation phase everything grows nicely all together. 

We were given the choice of a drug that you sniff 3x a day or an injection once a day, regardless of which we chose they had to be done at the same time. The injection was slightly cheaper and I only had to do it once every day so we chose to do that. 

I was so nervous when the day came round. We filmed it to send to my mum and we both look terrified! My OH isn't so good with needles so we agreed the first few I would do to get used to it in case I had to do it alone. I drew it up, then again to be sure, then I had to do it again as I accidentally pressed the plunger! Turns out when I'm nervous I'm clumsy! 

Over and over in my head I'm going draw - pinch - plunge - wait! Got the syringe all ready, at the correct dose eventually. Got my tummy out, deep breath, curse a little, don't look at OH squirming, deep breath again! Pinch an inch (luckily I have a couple spare!) Slowly needle in - thats not as bad as i thought, plunger down, count to 5, out! Done! Phewww! Next time remember to breathe!

Definitely not as bad as I'd worked up to be, even got to the stage with these where I was happy to do them out and about when I needed to and although some of them were a bit pinchy they didn't really get any worse.

Next up I'll cover the stimulation drugs - gonal F!