First time with Synarel and also on Valium, Panadeine Forte and Nurofen for injury

Hi all,

I am a bit of a lurker - you guys all seem to be so knowledgeable about this whole infertility thing that I feel I don't really have anything useful to add so apologies on that up front.

Instead I am asking for advice and perspective - Tomorrow AM I have my first appt to start Synarel for my first ever IVF cycle. Problem is, about four weeks ago I woke up in agony and after some investigation discovered that I have a bulging/slipped/torn/herniated disc. Whilst I am using osteo to treat it, my usual Doc has also prescribed Valium, Panadeine Forte and Nurofen and "bed rest" (hah!) to manage the pain.

What I want to know is if anyone else out there has begun or even gone through an IVF cycle with this sort of injury and more importantly this combination of meds? Am I going to get there tomorrow and they are going to send me away?

My husband wants me to postpone as he thinks I am trying to do too much all at the same time to my body but at my ripe old age of 38 I feel I can't afford to wait any longer.

I am also about to start hypno to cope with my stress and anxiety not just about IVF but in general and he thinks I should wait until I have done that. He could have told me earlier than 11 hours before the first appointment but there you go! Men! :)

Does anyone have any experience in this type of situation? Any insight would be very much welcomed.

Thanking you in advance

Lily
Me: 38 DH: 36
TTC seriously for about three years

Honestly can't say about the valium, but I do know that the panadeine forte is ok. The bad news, the nurofen is most definitely not ok during an IVF cycle.

It's probably best to discuss the injury and your medications when you go in and see them. Good luck!

BW

Thank you for the advice BW. I will talk to them when they get there this morning. Perhaps there is an anti-inflam substitute or perhaps they will just tell me to wait until the injury settles down.

On the plus side the valium makes me feel like nothing is a problem! ;)

Cheers and the best of luck with your journey. Your journal is an inspiration.

Lily

Thanks, Lily, but I'm just human - like the rest of us!

You'll find that any of the non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs are right out - this includes nurofen, naprosyn, celebrex, mobic, etc... If you need anti inflammatory drugs, you're pretty much stuck with the steroid kind. I'm on prednisone for my rheumatoid arthritis and that's ok - I'm just not sure if they work on inflammation from injuries.

Here's to a quick and speedy recovery - especially if they say to wait!

BW

Hi

My FS and clinic said panadol and codeine and thats it.

Good luck!!:)

*** child and pg mentioned

Hi Lily,

I don't know that this is what you're wanting to hear, and I certainly don't want to scare you, but I feel that you should be fully aware of the worst case scenario.

I suffered the same injury about 6 years ago (the year before my DS was born), and whilst it does resolve itself in most people, it can often result in ongoing flare ups. I struggled on and off with it before I got pregnant, and surprisingly carried my DS really well with no problems, but three weeks after he was born, when all my ligaments relaxed, I had a really bad bulge again, and ended up back in hospital.

I lived in absolute agony for four years because I was totally against having surgery to fix it because I wanted to have another baby, and didn't want to wait. I started seeing a FS and commenced with Metformin followed by Metformin/Clomid cycles. I couldn't really take much in the way of pain relief or anti-inflamatories because while you're doing AC, you're either growing follicles, or waiting to see if you're pg, and I certainly didn't want to risk taking meds while potentially pg.

In the end, the decision was taken out of my hands (thankfully) and I had to have the surgery because it got so bad that my whole leg was numb and my surgeon said that if it got any worse, I would end up with permanent loss of control of my leg, and even my bowel and bladder.

I was a bit unlucky because three weeks later, it bulged again. Apparently it is really uncommon to re-bulge, but I had the surgery again, and everything went well.

The reason I am thankful that the decision was made for me is that I cannot imagine having to go through IVF whilst dealing with chronic back pain. And now that I can be really honest about it, I was really quite worried about being pg and going through labour with my back the way it was.

The good news is that I had my surgery at the end of Dec 06, and was back to TTC in March 07, so for all that time that I was putting it off because I wanted to have another baby, it only cost me 3 months.

As for your situation, it's hard to tell which way your back will go at this stage. It also depends on where your bulge is, as the different levels affect different nerves. Surgery is only required in extreme cases, but if your bulge doesn't resolve itself, I believe that this is the only true way to find relief. And that's coming from someone who was dead set against it for 4 years!

If you see a specialist and have an MRI, that may be able to give you an indication of the size of the bulge, and they can even tell (by using contrasting dye) if the pain is being caused by inflammation, fluid from the disc, or from the disc pushing directly on the nerve. My surgeon told me that if a disc bulge is going to resolve itself, it will usually do so within 6 weeks.

If I were you, I wouldn't postpone your appointment, but I would discuss it with your FS. If he/she is concerned about waiting any longer to start IVF, then maybe you could do a stim cycle and freeze some eggs, then deal with your back.

I really hope that I haven't upset you with this information, but I know how painful this injury is, and long-term, if it becomes chronic, it can become a cause of depression.

Good luck with your FS appointment, and I really do hope your back will recover by itself with a few weeks of rest.

Lisa

*** Note some sad stuff ahead re kids - please don't read if this may upset you***

Thank you everyone for your input - and Lisa I very much appreciate your story. I am so sorry you had to go through so much.

At this point in time (according to Dr and Osteo) my bulge is not terrible and they are not overly worried. It's only one disc (L5) but we won't know how bad until after the CT scan which of course we are not doing until after my next AF (hopefully THAT won't happen)

The nurses at the clinic called my FS and he said it was ok to start and also the valium was ok, the Panadeine forte was ok just not the nurofen. But I haven't been taking the full dose of any of them anyway for a couple of weeks now and the pain has not been bad at all. SO I have been nurofen free since starting the Synarel. In fact it is more stiffness and no flexibility with the odd twinge now. Not much sciatica either. And definitely no bladder issues.

It is not a bulge related to a specific injury either - I have had a very stressful couple of years (long illness and eventual death of a 4yo nephew last year amongst other things) and they tell me that my body was/is operating at such an incredible level of anxiety for so long that it just basically said "I've had enough!" and this is my wake-up call. So I need to learn to manage my stress, anxiety and grief properly and in doing so be vigilant about the state of my spine and not do anything which could cause this to happen again - provided it all goes back to normal.

So I am off to have hypnotherapy (first session tomorrow) to begin to create a better, stress and anxiety reduced environment for not only my spinal discs but the embryos my DH and I hope to create in a few weeks.

On the plus side, I am not having one solitary side effect (yet) from the Synarel but that could be the low doses of the valium and panadeine forte I am taking. I have to say I am not comfortable doing that whilst TTC but the FS tells me that although not ideal there is no evidence to show that it is a problem.

I truly appreciate that you have all taken the time to answer my questions and tell me your stories. It is very comforting. I wish you all the very best. I truly do.

thankyou
lily

Hi lilybella,

I'm so glad you're able to keep going with your cycle.

I must say, I didn't really find any side effects from Synarel or Gonal F other than bloating. The thing I found had the worst effect on me emotionally and mentally was crinone. I'm usually okay for the first 4-5 days, and from then on, I just moped about and cried, or just felt really down.

I'm so sorry about your nephew, that must have been very difficult. It's funny how stress can impact your spine though. My mum was suffering from terminal cancer when my back completely packed it in, so that doesn't surprise me that stress has made your condition worse.

Hopefully you can have a smooth ride with the IVF stuff and that will give you something to smile about at the end.

Lisa