Well, today was the day it begun. My friend had offered to help with the needles as she'd been through it before, but I'd gone through it all with the nurses so I was fairly confident with what to do. I'd been told to do it early, and at a consistent time so I woke hubby up early because I wanted someone there in case I did mess up but I thought it I had too much fuss or people around then I might freak out.
I know I shouldn't complain. Both of my grandmothers and my paternal grandfather have had to use needles everyday for Diabetes or what have you, so there's no reason I should get so worked up about needles for a couple of weeks, right?
Yeah, but I've never been fond of needles. One time when I was younger, we were lining up for vaccinations at school and my head went all hot, my stomach was queasy, my vision went black and dizziness enveloped me.
I was too embarrassed, or perhaps stubborn to ask for help so I played it cool and slid down against a brick wall, like I was tired of all this standing around nonsense.
I was able to get up a few minutes later and stumble into the nurses office, hearing my voice sound so far away when she asked me if I was fine with needles.
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| How I actually felt at the time |
I lied. Me and my distant voice lied so hard.
Over time, I've gotten a bit better about it... I still hate watching needles entering skin on television or movies but I can watch it now. I didn't have much choice about getting over needles, the amount of blood tests I've had in the last six years alone! It's still weird to think about doing it yourself though.
So what did I do and why?
Bemfola is a medicine containing follitropin alfa, and is used for numerous reasons regarding IVF because it basically stimulates the ovaries to produce more than one egg at a time, thus bettering your chances of having a keeper.
It comes via prescription only and in prefilled pens that you dispose of afterwards.
If you're male, you can also take it for a rare hormone deficiency disease called hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism, and it can help you produce more sperm along with hCG therapy.
As always, there are risks. Obviously, you shouldn't use it if you are allergic to it but it should also be avoided if you have tumours of the pituitary gland, or cancer of the breast/womb or ovary. It's advised not to use it if there's no chance of an effective response, or an enlargement of an ovary or a cyst caused by anything other than poly-cystic ovarian disease or unexplained vaginal bleeding.
A major risk is something called ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome, where the ovaries get overstimulated - as you might assume from the name. It come in mild, moderate or severe levels.
It's basically a collection of fun issues like abdominal discomfort and/or swelling, feeling bloated, nausea, weight gain. It can happen straight away, or it could be delayed. If you get pregnant and have it - it can take you up to ten weeks to feel better, as opposed to the fortnight or month it would normally take. If you get the severe classification like 1-2% of women will experience, you may require hospitalisation and constant monitoring to avoid complications like blood clots, pain, twisted ovaries, kidney or liver issues or worst case scenario, termination of pregnancy.
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| Don't be this guy |
Thankfully the most common side effects are pain, redness or bruising at the injection site or headaches.
This is why we take the time to read the short novel about important information that they include in the box of medication.
Boring as it is, and tediously full of maybes and other stuff, if it applies to you later you will wish you had taken the time to read it!
Better yet, keep it in mind, don't dwell on it or stress, but make sure you speak to your doctor if you have anything resembling any of the above, do NOT just write it off.
Bemfola is kept in the fridge, and it's recommended to take it out at least 15 minutes prior to injection. If it's frozen, forget it!
You pull out the needle body/dose itself and the separate needle attachment and an antiseptic wipe.
Peel off the tab from the needle attachment and attach it to the pen. Once it's in, you can then remove the outer and inner protection caps.
I struggled with this part initially, and had to do it twice because it didn't seem to attach the first time.
Then you hold the pen upright, and tap/flick it to make any bubbles rise. The dosage knob should be at the stop/or little arrow marker when this happens, and a small amount of liquid will pop out. If this doesn't happen, don't use the pen.
If it does, then you can turn the dosage knob until you get to the dose you require. Make sure you've cleaned the area you want to inject with the swab.
I found the initial touch to my skin painful, but surprisingly the needle itself didn't seem to hurt at all.
Hubby said I was probably overthinking it, and he's more than likely right. The injection button can now be pressed, but only slowly and continuously, no quick and flick here. I found it hard to push the button down initially, but then I got the hang of it. After it goes down all the way, wait five seconds and then you can pull out the needle.
The whole things should then go in a sharps container and you should wipe down the injection site again with an antiseptic/alcohol swab. The unused medication can go back in the fridge, and you can go on your merry way (or back to bed in my case) knowing that you got this, and everything is going according to plan.
More information about Bemfola including injection diagrams HERE
More information about OHSS (Ovarian Hypserstimulation) HERE
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