Frustration, Confusion, Progesterone
In above mentioned order:
Friday I was briefly overwhelmed by embarrassing frustration brought on by learning of someone’s pregnancy announcement. I hate that such a wonderful time for someone else, results in me becoming a ball of crying mess, hovered on the bathroom floor for over an hour.
Ultrasound saturday didn’t reveal any measurable follicles. 15 and 20 small on each side but nothing above 10mm. At first the disappointment was overwhelming but I’m now trying to embrace slower developing higher quality follicles in our future. The injectable protocol makes everything new and the uncertainty of how my body will react is frightening. I fear a cancelled cycle and desperately want to know what’s going on in there… We continue to shoot me up until my next ultrasound on Tuesday.
Procuring progesterone suppositories has been a nightmare… First we had no idea that this product would come in a compounding kit, that the pharmacy would need to make and then we would need to refrigerate… Once we got over this shock and visited 3 different pharmacies to find some in stock… We were then shocked by the sticker price. I had responsibly called my insurance pharmacy line and I was quoted a 5 dollar copay per 30 day supply… Well when we found a pharmacy that carried the compound in stock the price was going to be closer to 80 dollars.
I know many don’t have pharmacy coverage at all and gratefully we do… So we would have just paid for it but I got concerned that we were getting the wrong thing and began to doubt all of it. After many calls to my insurance company it was determined that they had quoted us for progesterone oil used with intramuscular injections not suppositories. So now we have a dilemma… Do we pay a higher cost for suppositories or do we ask for a prescription for the injectable kind… Can we even handle the injections? They involve an entirely different realm of needles compared to our little tummy ones… The intramuscular ones are huge and scary. What do we do? Any advice or notable experiences with either option?
The suppositories are quick and painless – I would definitely opt for those. I had to do one a day, in the morning and they worked like a charm. Why give yourself evil shots if you don’t need to? I have some leftover Cri.none that I was using. Let me know if you want them – whiptailz at gmail dot com
you know i have never had to deal with this. If i had to pick, it would be the suppositories for sure. i hope that it will all work out in the end for you!
I’ve used both. Both have draw backs. The suppositories are kind of gross in my opinion – i used to get up an hour early to use them and then went back to sleep to avoid some of the “mess” they can make. The shots weren’t bad. If you do them just massage the area afterwards so the oil doesn’t build up into a hard bit. If money is the deciding factor go with the suppositories. Good luck!
Well, I’m speaking from the experience of having done 8 straight weeks of IM shots with 2 weeks left to go and IM shots are a MUCH bigger deal than the small stomach ones. The needles are huge and they can really hurt. I can’t give them to myself (because I can’t contort that way) and, well, have I mentioned how huge the needles are? I’d go the supp. route, if I could.
I had the suppositories, and they do create a bit of a mess (look for the term “Grease stain” on my blog if you have any doubt.) However, even though I have no issue with needles and a fairly high pain threshold, the suppositories definitely seemed to be the less invasive option. The cost difference is bizarre, but if it makes a huge difference to you, maybe you could talk your insurer into giving you a break?
I also had a ton of leftovers– already given away or I would offer them to you– you might be able to get some from your ttc connections if you put the word out.
This is advice from TTCers that i saved to my computer….
“There are different protocols but as I remember the injections give a
more accurate reading than the suppositories do when they test you, so
they/you can be sure you have enough to sustain a pregnancy.
The injections suck, to be sure. But I found that warming the medication
(holding under very warm tap water) first helped a lot–it’s much easier
to inject, not so viscous. I think my needle was a little thinner than
standard, and that worked fine with the warmed oil.
There’s also a prescription numbing cream you can use, I think the name is
Emla. I had decided that it wasn’t so bad, I didn’t need the Emla, but
then after a week of injections I changed my tune and would have gotten
it, except then I wasn’t pregnant and didn’t need it.
There are some other tricks that others may remember better than I do…
massaging area after-wards, putting ice on it. I would wear yoga pants and
tuck a small ice pack into them so I could still move around.”
” I asked my RE for a prescription for EMLA cream. It’s a topical anesthetic cream. Put a dab on an hour before the shot, and cover it with a square of Saran wrap (a bandaid is a little small and can irritate the area after multiple shots). It numbs the skin and underlying tissue. I never felt any shots at all. I also warmed the PIO slightly (tuck it in your bra for a few minutes) and split my once daily shots into an am and pm shot. This way I did not get a painful lump, which can occur. It didn’t matter to me if I did 2 shots, since I didn’t feel any of them.”
” I always do them in my thigh, and the nurse can show you the best way to do that. I know a lot of people have had success shooting themselves in the butt, but I was just never able to do i”
Those are all the ones i saved. Hope they help:)
I’ll put in my vote for asking for Crinone — it took a little getting used to, but it worked great and didn’t have too much “leakage”. The Crinone is a little different from the progesterone suppositories — our RE described the suppositories as kind of like having a candle melting in your who-ha all day! HA! The Crinone is a gel in a pre-filled applicator and I didn’t have any real “leakage” from it — I would just get kind of “clogged” up after a few days and would have to go on a few search and recovery missions to get the old stuff out…..sorry….probably gross to read. But anyways….my insurance covered the Crinone so long as I was using it for infertility and pregnancy. I was on it for 10 weeks, so I feel like it really did its job and I wasn’t terribly bothered by it. I’d certainly research the Crinone before signing onto the progesterone oil injections — I’ve heard those are pretty painful. Good luck ladies!! This is your month!!
Thank you for the wonderful advice! I called to get prices on this drug and it’s covered! Called the doctor and they said they prescribe it interchangeably with the suppositories! It’s just as effective, cheaper and best of all pain free. Perfect. Again this wonderful community comes to the rescue!
I just looked at the side effects of this drug and hope your RE has prescribe it knowing you are NOT at risk.
Having never used the suppositories, I am of no help to you at all, but I can understand your reluctance with the injections and just the total confusion and panic brought on by trying to figure out what’s going on inside and what the best decision to make is. As for ’embarrassing frustration,’ I think every one of us has felt that way. I am embarrassed because I have already felt that way on numerous occasions and I have just begun this process! It’s an unbelievably emotional and difficult ride no matter how you slice it-Be kind to yourself! Wishing you lots of wonderful good luck this month!