# Extreme swelling and pain with Progesterone injections



## lostinlondon (Oct 26, 2010)

Hi FF,

I started doing the progesterone intramuscular injections on Friday evening (4 days ago) post transfer. I had pain almost immediately after administering the first, and day on day this is getting worse, now to the point of being red and swollen and very painful. As this is my first time of doing this I don't know if this is a normal consequence and I should just put up with it or if I should see a doctor. Has anyone had any similiar reactions or got any advice on this?  

Lil


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## livity k (May 19, 2009)

Hi 

I did have some pain but not extreme, I don;t know if you are doing all this already but a few things that definitely helped me were, 

1) Warming the progesterone first, I put it in my bra for 5-10 mins this gets it to body temp and it flows more easily, 

2) switching to a bigger needle, I know this sounds counter-intuitive but it seemed to require less pressure to get the stuff in, ( I went from blue to green needles- but don;t know what size)

3) switching/rotating sites, ie left buttock, right buttock, thighs ( although I didn't like thighs) so mainly stuck to alternating buttocks, 

4) Check you are in the right area, upper outer bit of your bum, apparently lower is more painful and too central you run the risk of hitting the sciatic nerve

5) We always swapped needles from drawing it up to injecting, one nurse said it was important to do this as gestone on the outside of the drawing up needle could cause irritation on the way in, (another said it didn't matter but we always did it)

6) I always found an area that felt ok to inject and pressed it hard while DH got the jab ready- this numbed it a bit, I know other people use local anasthetic cream and ice, but I found pressing enough, 

Hope some of these are helpful, the first cycle I used it was defnitely hardest 

Good luck

Livity


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## kdb (Apr 9, 2009)

Hi LostinLondon - to add to Livity's fab advice...

Great way to find the right spot to do the jab:

> put your thumb on your hip bone
> point out your index finger so it's like an L shape between thumb and finger
> swing your hand around so your finger is pointing straight behind you
> put your finger on your butt cheek and there you go!

It was higher than I expected but I had much less bleeding in this area.


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## lostinlondon (Oct 26, 2010)

Hi Livity and Kdb

Thank you so much for your advice. I actually went down to the doctors as the swelling got worse this morning and I have got an infection (which is of course not great, but good to know this level of discomfort it not normal!) so I've been anti-biotics (safe incase of BFP) to take. In the meantime I shall swop to my other side and will try all the brillant tips you've given me to try and lessen any pain there. 

Thanks again  

lil


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## ♥JJ1♥ (Feb 11, 2006)

livity k said:


> Hi
> 
> 5) We always swapped needles from drawing it up to injecting, one nurse said it was important to do this as gestone on the outside of the drawing up needle could cause irritation on the way in, (another said it didn't matter but we always did it)
> 
> ...


Another reason to change the needles is that you can blunt the drawing up needle on the glass ampoule hence why you should always change them


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