Remember when I posted the phases of an IVF … well today started Phase
2 ‘Ovarian Stimulation’. This phase is
one of the important ones, well they are all in their own way, but this phase
is when the FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) injections are started. Depending on ones protocol this can mean 2 to
5 injections a day for 7-12 days.
Thankfully I am on a protocol that will only require 3 shots a day, no
complaints on my end considering in the past, I have been on protocols that
required 5-6 injections a day.
There are a few different FSH medications that can be used, but the
one I will be taking is Gonal F, and this is what will stimulate my ovaries to
begin producing multiple follicles. The
dosage of FSH is very complex, your body needs just enough to produce a
sufficient number of follicles, if the dosage is too low you will end up with a
poor response but too much and you could get OHSS (ovarian hyper-stimulationsyndrome) which can be life-threating.
In order for the doctor to keep a close eye on my progress blood work and u/s's are done every few days during the early part of treatment, then will
go to every other day and towards the end of treatment will be done daily. The blood work will be to check my E2 levels
so he can watch to see how the levels are rising, making sure they don’t
rise too quickly or get too high and the u/s examinations, are to measure the
size of the follicles making sure they are growing close together in size, see
how many are growing and just to make sure all is going as hoped. When there are 2+ follicles measuring 18mm
they will clear me for retrieval … but we will get to that in a a few more
days.
I am so excited to start meds, mostly because it’s a guaranteed end to
these god-awful headaches. Im hoping by
tomorrow night they will have found their way to another poor soul. Its only been 4 hours since adding the
hormone into my system and I am already getting some relief. YAY!
Gonal F doesn’t have any side effects, or at least none that I
experience, other than obvious – extreme bloating. Your body is naturally suppose to ovulate 1,
sometimes 2 eggs per cycle, but the purpose of the Gonal is to turn you into a
sea turtle so you can lay as many eggs as possible, without getting OHSS. So imagine the feeling of each of your
ovaries growing to the size of the ball that drops in Time Square on New Years
Eve. After about 5 days on these meds
you definitely notice that something is going on in those ovaries, you begin
getting twinges, discomfort and bloating.
By day 8 you are more in touch with your ovaries that you ever thought
possible, and you could swear that if they didn't retrieve your eggs soon your
insides were going to pop like an overblown balloon. Good luck trying to run, shoot walking fast
takes effort. I now can understand how those ladies with large Ta-Tas feel when they run, except I can’t hold my ovaries to keep them from bouncing. And any form of intense
activity will be discouraged by your doc especially anything involving twisting
or turning because your insides become so enlarged that intense exercise could
cause ovarian torsion and be very dangerous to the ovaries.
Oh and then the pee cramping.
Yes that is a true thing. You
want to drink water to help starve off OHSS, and in doing so, well ... that
bladder fills up fast because it doesn’t have much room since your ovaries are now the size of the NYE Ball.
When you finally get the chance to shuffle-run to the bathroom to
relieve yourself, your abdomen area cramps up so bad that at times it will take
your breath away, the cramping is caused as your bladder shrinks down to a
normal size and your inners begin to repositioning themselves.
So yeah, really no really 'side effect' from the Gonal F, at least
none that they note on the side of the box.
So here we go – let’s get these follicles growing!!
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