Back on the infertility trail

Well, we started off things to do a cycle in December yesterday. Due to our Thanksgiving travels, I wasn't able to get my progesterone draw done until yesterday. It came back at...0.56. That little fantasy that Dr. RE and I had about me maybe spontaneously ovulating is shot to hell. Oh well, no big deal, it's what we expected.

Now that we have the all-clear, I've started on my lovely Provera. God, how I hate that stuff. I was reading the patient information sheet from Target, and do you realize that this stuff is used to treat cancer? It looks like such an innocent white pill.

After feeling like absolute crap this morning, I started to think about how I would rate the overall cruddiness of infertility meds. Let's do this Letterman style, shall we?

6. Gonal-F: Other than the whole sitting on the toilet shooting yourself up bit, it really isn't that bad. A sub-q injection. Since the last time that we did this, they have that new-fangled pen that you can use to adjust the dose. I actually enjoyed my visits back to my good 'ol lab days in college.

5. Provera: Usually not too bad, as for the drug itself (although I think I need to blame the lovely wave of nausea this morning to it), but the end result periods are usually horrible. Now, granted, since I am a PCOS patient, I'm not used to "normal" periods, but when I have a Provera induced one, all I want to do is crawl under the covers with a heating pad and stay in a fetal position until it is over. Oh, and have the largest bottle of Advil that they make.

4. Metformin/Glucophage: Prior to this go-round, this would have ranked higher, but it hasn't been too bad this time around. My regular doctor originally wrote the prescription for bumping up the dose over a series of three months. Normally I would agree. This stuff sends my entire digestive system into an absolute revolt, especially for the week that I up the dosage. However, it seems better this time, so I'm going to try to go up to 1000mg on Friday and see how it goes. On the cycle when we conceived Son, one of the members of my category over at TLOL gently urged that I really should stick with the Met, since it really can make a difference in the number of follicles that you get. I begrudgingly listened, and lo and behold, my response to the Gonal-F perked up immediately. I still think that I owe Lauren for the advice and kick in the rear.

3. Bravelle: O.M.G. Hurt like hell going in, no response (at all) for all of the hell.

2. HCG Trigger: The trust that the administration of this shot requires is monumental. Husband, armed with one huge gauge needle, gives this bad boy to me. Where I can't see what he is doing. I hate it. He was initially too scared to give it in my "hip", afraid for some reason that he would hit bone. (If anyone has ever seen my "hip" they would understand that it is probably anatomically impossible, but thanks for the vote of confidence Hon.) He would do it in my thigh. Hurt going in, and the noticeable limp for the next three days didn't help. He finally got brave after we did the thigh shot, with our cleaning lady vacuuming the hallway outside of our bedroom, and he didn't pull it out fast enough. Enough pressure built up that when he finally did, oh so slowly and carefully removed the needle, that we had a fountain of blood that shot up a good six inches in the air. He instinctively put his finger over it, looking like the nursery rhyme about the dam, with a terrified look on his face. While it was scary at the time, we both laugh about it now.

1. Progesterone Suppositories: I HATE these things. I know that I need them, but I HATE them. They are so irritating, messy, you name it. With Son, I had to keep using them until I was 12 weeks. Almost four months worth of these things. I had so much fun with the irritation that developed into a four alarm yeast infection and being in the first trimester and feeling crappy overall. I grew a new appreciation for any child that is left in a soggy diaper for longer than they should be. YUCK. The other alternative is PIO, and there is no way that I am doing that unless I have to. IM's every day for weeks? For those of you that have had to do it, I salute you.

So, there is my list. Contribute if you like.

If I don't keep a sense of humor about all of this, I'm sunk. At least I learned one thing from the four years of trying to get Son.