Day 3 IVF Cycle

Yesterday I started the hormonal stimulants. Up until now it’s been the hormonal antagonist Lucrin (blocks the pituitary gland from releasing hormone making messages to the body).  Now they put back the hormones in the quantities that they want them for optimal egg production.

Lucrin is an easy injection.  Fostimon, which is the follicle stimulating one, is also been pretty easy, but every time the meds change I get a knock out headache.  I am trying not to take any medication.  Usually a headache comes on, tension or sinus induced, and I just knock it flat with prescription pain pills (myprodol/tramacet/synap forte).  This has always been my modus operandi – and something my GP has instructed me to do the last time I ended up in his casualty with a migraine.

So bring on yesterday’s Fostimon induced headache, nay Migraine! – This is how it all went down.

I arrive at 6am for my day 2 blood test at Morningside Medi Clinic who have a 24 hour Lancet lab, and are just up the road from work.  The sister, who withdraws a shed load of my blood, refuses to give me the injection – they are not insured for that.  I injected myself at 6:30 am in our office basement, in my car.  I try playing it cool, but by 9 am I pop my first panado, thinking lets nip this in the bud.  1 pm rolls around and I am really in a lot more discomfort so I pop 2 panados and eat my lunch.  2pm and I want to die, but not on the roads, so I excuse myself from work and head home while I can still drive myself home. I am thinking a heat pack and a sleep will sort this out, and I will be able to work on the couch tonight while hubby is at tennis between the neighbourhood barking dogs and the burglar alarm going off next door I didn’t get ANY sleep and the heat pack didn’t help either.  5pm I can see, but I have to pick up a set of keys from a friend down the road who is off to visit her sister in Asia. Off I go, hold baby drink tea… even baby cuddles from the cutest aren’t helping. I drive home.  I cry.  I ring my husband who is supposed to have a tennis game tonight and ask him to please please come home first.  He tells me to have a hot bath – I do.  The head rush from the bath makes it worse when I stand up. I can’t walk or move or bend down without the pain searing through my brain. I am so miserable and curl up on the bed in the dark trying to manage the pain by praying in tongues. 7pm Hubby arrives, takes one look at pathetic me and puts me in the car and off we go to Sandton Medi Clinic. I pull my hoodie over my eyes all the way – the lights form the passing cars are excruciating and when we arrive I huddle in the darkest corner I can find while hubby fills in the damn paperwork.

The triage nurse is learning how to operate the computer system and the super modern blood pressure machine.  He has to leave the room and ask for assistance once or twice, but he is a good medical practitioner.  After what felt like too many questions I get taken through to the ward, find a bed and see a doctor almost immediately.  The doctor prescribes a migraine IV, and I have a small freak out.  I don’t know, with all the injections I have been having what I can take or not.  I make him phone the after-hours emergency number on my BioArt meds schedule and he comes back saying it’s all good and the nurse hooks up the line and gives me an oxygen mask.  A bit later he comes back to say he has decided to add another pain killer – IV paracetamol to the mix.  

It took about half an hour before I felt any pain relief, and when we left the hospital at 10 pm I still had a minor headache behind one eye.  So today, although I woke up pain free - I took myself off to see my trusted Physio, Wendy.  Oh the wondrous touch of trained hands – she is amazing.  Possibly the most painful session I have ever had with her. But really do feel like she sorted out some of those troublesome knots.

So my conclusion is that the Fostimon induced a minor headache but tension in my back and shoulders caused it to spiral out of control.

I start the Menonys tomorrow.  I am seeing my friend, a Dentist, to give me the first one, and we will take along an orange for hub to practice on.  We have been given the use of a house at the Vaal dam for the long weekend – so he has no choice – he has to inject me in the butt with that big huge flippen scary needle.

Oh… and I decided not to go on with reflexology treatment, but that’s a whole other post all on its own.