Nurse for doing IVF injections?

[Anonymous]

Is there a private nurse or a service that would do the injections for you? I received my meds today, there is no way myself or DH are going to do it on our own.

[Anonymous]

Call your clinic, they should have names of nurses that they recommend. My friend used one for her trigger shot (intramuscular--hip/upper buttocks). She had to drive to her house and it cost $75.

If you need a nurse for all the shots (even subcutaneous--belly shots) it will be very time consuming and expensive (especially if you have to do 2 shots a day)

The shots really aren't that bad. They look much worse than they are. I did all my IM shots (almost 3 months) myself. Other than a small prick, really no pain (maybe 3-4 times was I close to a nerve so it was a little more ouchy, but not bad)

And the belly shots really, really dont hurt. There is one medication (that I don't remember) kinda burned.

Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

What do you mean by "there is no way"? Do both of you have no hands? Why do you think neither of you will be able to do this? I can assure you, it is much easier than it may seem.

[Anonymous]

The subcutaneous injections and simple and painless. Look at Youtube videos. It looks complicated but it's not. You should have recieved instructions on how to prepare the medications.
If you are triggering with HCG and need to do the intramuscular shot, there are services who will come to your house for a fee. Your clinic should be able to provide recommendations.

[Anonymous]

It's really going to be unfeasible (and annoying) to have a nurse come for every shot through IVF. Imagine 12 days, sometimes twice a day, of someone coming to your house to do a shot. It's really, really not as bad as it seems. The first one sucks but after that it just becomes second nature.

[Anonymous]

There are injection services available (ask your clinic for references), but I agree with the other PPs that the subcutaneous shots are really no big deal, and I was pretty needle-phobic when I started dealing with IVF. The needles really don't hurt, and of the three medications I was on (Menopur, Ganirelix, and Gonal F), only the Menopur stung just a tiny bit, and you can decrease that burn by icing the injection site first and injecting slowly. It will be a huge hassle and extra expense to have a nurse showing up once or twice a day every day for 10-14 days to do these injections for you. The only one that I would have considered that for was the HCG trigger that is IM, and that would be more out of fear of hitting a nerve than anything else.

[Anonymous]

Contact a home health agency. Home health agencies do stuff like this.

[Anonymous]

Do you know any nurses socially that you could ask as a favor? I asked a girlfriend of mine and offered to pay but she refused. She did the first two or three and then I was on my way. I sent her a restaurant gift card because I really appreciated her help. Maybe this would be a good medium?

[Anonymous]

0841 here again...I remember how overwhelming it seemed when I received my box of meds, with all the additional syringes and needles as well. It really isn't nearly as bad as it looks, promise!!!

[Anonymous]

Did you take the injections claSs at your clinic? It really isn't so bad doing it yourself! Like a pp said it's just not feasible to have a nurse do your shots every day (and quite expensive too).

[Anonymous]

it's really not as a bad as it seems. agree that you should check out youtube -- tons of IVS women showing how easy it is!

on a scale of 1-10 how much the shorts hurt, with 1 being doesn't hurt at all to 10 worst pain of all -- tummy shots are a 1, sometimes a 2. butt shots are a 3-4. at first i asked a nurse friend to give me my trigger. but since i've moved on to nightly butt shots, my husband does it.

i promise you that it's not that bad!!!

[Anonymous]

icing the injection site for 30-45 seconds before the shot is the lifesaver to not having them hurt. you can do it!!!

[Anonymous]

My clinic had classes to learn how to do the injections.

[Anonymous]

Are you both scared of needles? I'm terrible about it, so DH did my shots. If your DH has issues as well, maybe ask about whether they can give you a guard so he doesn't see the needle going into your skin. I researched it pretty extensively, and it was just not practical to have a nurse do all of the injections given the timing of them, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are injection services available (ask your clinic for references), but I agree with the other PPs that the subcutaneous shots are really no big deal, and I was pretty needle-phobic when I started dealing with IVF. The needles really don't hurt, and of the three medications I was on (Menopur, Ganirelix, and Gonal F), only the Menopur stung just a tiny bit, and you can decrease that burn by icing the injection site first and injecting slowly. It will be a huge hassle and extra expense to have a nurse showing up once or twice a day every day for 10-14 days to do these injections for you. The only one that I would have considered that for was the HCG trigger that is IM, and that would be more out of fear of hitting a nerve than anything else.

As a person with an actual needle phobia, I highly doubt that you were phobic at all by the clinical guidelines. I also highly doubt that OP and her DH are either. If the issue is just disliking needles, IVF should acclimate you pretty well to them, meaning they will get easier every day.