Progesterone shots.. HELP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Some ppl said to ice before the shots, and some said no. Which is it?

It's personal preference, unfortunately. The PIO is kinda thick, so I throw it in my bra to warm the vial up a bit before doing the shot. I then hold the skin taut and inject. I do not get the lumps some people complain about--maybe they are from icing the area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Some ppl said to ice before the shots, and some said no. Which is it?

Probably personal preference. Same with heating pad. I did nothing. Just pulled the skin taut and injected it (myself through 6 IVF cycles and one FET). If you have the option, I found PEO (progesterone in ethyl oleate) to be slightly easier to inject; it's not as thick as PIO.

[Anonymous]

OP, after I switched to 1" needles the pain from the shots decreased significantly. I still had my husband massage the area and I used a heating pad but like others have said, using ice and heat is probably personal preference. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just take the suppositories. Studies show the shots are barely more effective

OP here. RE said that for frozen cycles specifically, the success rate is 30% higher than the suppositories.

I've heard completely different. There was a recent SG study that showed there was NO difference. This is why I chose to go with suppositories. Fwiw I had a recent successful Fet with suppositories.

I thought this recent study showed lower success rates with suppositories. That's why they eliminated that study arm in August.

OP - another option is PIO every 3 days and suppositories the other days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just take the suppositories. Studies show the shots are barely more effective

OP here. RE said that for frozen cycles specifically, the success rate is 30% higher than the suppositories.

I've heard completely different. There was a recent SG study that showed there was NO difference. This is why I chose to go with suppositories. Fwiw I had a recent successful Fet with suppositories.

I thought this recent study showed lower success rates with suppositories. That's why they eliminated that study arm in August.

OP - another option is PIO every 3 days and suppositories the other days.

OP here. That's exactly what my RE recommends.

[Anonymous]

OP, can you ask for progesterone in ethyl oleate? It's a little less viscous than PIO, and it hurts less. I could not stand the PIO (despite having had few issues with 3 fresh cycles of subcutaneous shots and multiple meds per cycle). I was walking with a limp after my first failed PIO.

The progesterone with ethyl oleate was a little better, though it also started to hurt. It is definitely more expensive...but both are sooooo much cheaper than a fresh cycle I did not mind.

For me, heating was better than ice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just take the suppositories. Studies show the shots are barely more effective

OP here. RE said that for frozen cycles specifically, the success rate is 30% higher than the suppositories.

I've heard completely different. There was a recent SG study that showed there was NO difference. This is why I chose to go with suppositories. Fwiw I had a recent successful Fet with suppositories.

I thought this recent study showed lower success rates with suppositories. That's why they eliminated that study arm in August.

OP - another option is PIO every 3 days and suppositories the other days.

Interesting. Does anyone have more information on the study? I thought it showed both methods were equivalent.

[Anonymous]

Walking around for 5 minutes after the shot helped distribute the oil thru the muscle more quickly. That's the advice my nurse gave me and it worked well. Indeed, because I did my shots at night before bed, I sometimes skipped the walking around and started to develops lumps, which went away after I resumed. walking. Massaging the area immediately after injection seemed to help too.