The needles are hurting... Any tips???

Big hi to everyone. I hope we all do well this month and get our longed for sticky BFP!!

Kim is on CD4 now so Day 4 of Lucrin and Day 1 of Gonal F. She is on 225iu of Gonal F and starting a day early because she is normally a slow grower. Last time she was only on 150iu of Gonal F, so hopefully she will get more than 7 follies. She is on Lucrin this time instead of Synarel, because the sniffing didn't work for her, she ovulated before egg pick up last time. So we went with the Lucrin because it will work for sure according to our Dr...

So every morning I have to give her 2 injections. One small syringe for the Lucrin and the Gonal F pen injector. The first day she said the Lucrin injection was painless. But every needle since then she says has hurt. Maybe i am rusty with giving the needles, so do you guys have a method so it doesnt hurt so much??

Hoping you guys have some handy hints on injecting issues...we have our first blood and scan on Tuesday so another 5 days (ten needles) until we see the Dr and possibly another ten needles after that!!

Cheers
Megan

Sorry, don't have any tips on injecting. You could try different areas to inject - skin maybe sentisized. You can get EMLA cream (an anaesthetic) cream from the pharmacy to apply before injecting to help ease the ouch factor. GL.

I always found it best to do my own injections but each to their own.

Another little tip is to freeze a 20c/50c coin and apply it to the injection site beforehand to numb the area. Worked a treat for my trigger shot which was particularly ouchie!

Hi Megan,

I find that some areas on my tummy hurt to inject into more than others, so got to know them and don't inject where I know it will hurt more. I find that closer to the belly button and on the outer edge of my tummy hurts more too. The other thing I do is just jab in it quickly (but not with too much force of course!) and don't hesitate, if you stick the needle in slowly it tends to hurt more. Also make sure that you alternate injection sites, if you go back into the same spot it hurts more too I reckon.

I'm also diabetic, so still doing injections :rolleyes: and will be forever, but this is what works for me all the time and also did when I was doing IVF :) HTH and heaps of good luck!

I found the GonalF to be pain free but the other one to be both painful and actually sting-y. I posted at the time as I wasn't sure this was normal, and found out that this was not uncommon. Apparently the shot to stop ovulation hurts many people more than the GonalF pen.

For me too, it was less painful when I did it myself than when my DH gave me the shot. I also found that if I pushed the non-GonalF shot slower (not the actual insertion, that should be fast, but the pushing of the liquid in), it hurt less. It still wasn't pain free, but at least it didn't hurt as much.

I was just coming in to give a tip about the cold coin but Willow beat me to it. It works and is a trick that has been going around for a while. Give it a try!

And yes the trigger shot is the most ouchie.

as has been said, needle in quick, stuff in slowly

i found doing my own injections helped me to stop any pain - if it started hurting, i just backed off on the injection - others can't read that for you. i had a few times the nurse injected stuff for me cos i was there and had to have them at that time - and those ones always hurt more! maybe get DP to do her own injections for a day (you still help get it organised so you're a part of it) and see if it is less painful for her

I know that it is easier said than done but relaxing helps as well.

I am another who found doing them myself really much less painful.

Also here is a trick a dr friend told me. Get two wooden skewers and hold them both in your hand so they are about 2-3mm apart and then poke them around your tummy. Practice some time when you aren't about to inject so that you can relax and go with the sensation. Sometimes you will feel two pokes from the two skewers and sometimes you will feel only one. When you feel only one that is a good spot to inject because there are less nerve endings there. She uses it on kids and gets them to "find a good spot" themselves before she injects them when she has kids on long term hospital treatment. Apparently it is part science and part distraction but seems to work.

Good luck :)

Thank you so much everyone, i think the coin in the freezer thing is making it better. Plus i am jabbing faster, pushing slower, and that seems to help too. Hey thanks girls for all your help.

Hi - first up, good luck with this pick up and cycle :goodluck::crossfingers:

I generally found that no matter who did my injections - me or DH, the lucrin hurt but the Gonal-f did not...to me the lucrin stung like a bite or something similar - ouch!

I never tried the ice or the creams, but when DH does the injections he makes me wiggle my toes so I'm not focused on the injection. It does take the focus off the immediate sting and also reduces the aprehension as you are focused on something else...anything helps!

Most recently i have been having heparin injections and have been putting a warm (but not hot) heat pack on the injection site afterwards as that seems to help.

Good luck.
FG

I did the coin trick, and one day just used a piece of ice.

If you get Kim to gently blow on her skin while you are injecting/pushing needle in, i think it helps with the skin stinging plus, you know she is breathing calmly and not holding her breath.

Another tip I got from a nurse, was to make sure, if you are using alcohol wipes, that you let the skin is dry after wiping and before inserting the needle.She said it is a common mistake people make, you wipe the skin with alcohol,then break it with a needle, so of course it's going to sting that little bit more.

I also read suggestions for rubbing the injection site after withdrawing the needle - remember alcohol wipe will sting if you use it.

Also, I started on one side of my belly and slowly moved across my belly each morning when I injected. this way, if you get a sore spot, you move over a bit and let it heal..I think BG may have given me that advice?

Goodluck
Nic

Are you storing your needles in the fridge with the injectible?

Because that might be causing pain.

Just store the needles in a drawer and keep them seperate from the cold stuff!

Sue x

No i only stored the lucrin bottle in the fridge, the rest is room temp. We seem to be going better with the quick jab/ slow push thing. The lucrin does sting her afterwards. Oh well hopefully all for a good cause :)