Nerve damage from IVF

[Zoe2B]

I did IVF in jan (didn't work unfortunately) and I'm still suffereing from nerve damage caused by the IM shots in the back of hip/butt area. The areas that were affected for me are on the sides of my hips. It feels numb (like it's "asleep"), but painful at the same time. It's a really awful sensation and it hasn't gone away. I was told by my RE that it would go away in 3-4 months. It's been almost 4 months and it's not going away. In fact this past week it's worse. I'm angry they didn't warn me that this was a possible side effect. I might have chosen suppositories instead. It wasn't until after I had the pain that they said "it's nerve damage'. Anyone else have this, and did it go away? How long did it take?
Thanks!

[MelissaPerr8a]

So sorry to hear that you have this sort of pain.  Bad enough the things we go through during IVF treatments and we have to add to this as well.  I am not of much help though but I am reading along.  Wishing you the best of luck.

[Akaitoki]

2 years later still have nerve damage or something from these shots. Pt 2 rounds. Chiropractor. Pain meds. Nothing helps. It’s so bad. Docs say it can’t be from IVF but it started right after the shots.

[lubh]

Hi, I have my first ivf cycle last April and since then i am having terrible pain on my riight hip, numb right leg, sometime goes to my low back for 3 months now.
Please, does anyone have the same experience? We are investigating but its so frustrate the  fertile clinic keeping saying that has nothing to do with IVF even though I am in pain just after egg retrieve and all those injections. Now I am going to see a pelvic specialist. My GP doctor started to think of nerve damage as my pain is like nerve pain. Please, if you had gone through similar experience after IVF can you tell me if this will go away?

[Zoe2B]

I am so sorry to hear about the negative. Boy, that's so rough. I remember when we went through the same things. I only had one embryo transferred though, so i knew my odds were extra slim. Do you feel the acupuncture helped you to creat more follicles? 14 is a lot! 10 eggs and 7 embies. Wow, that was a great response. You should feel good about that. I only created 2 follicles, and only one had an egg in it. I might as well have not even done the IVF, since I would have produced one egg naturally anyway!

You sound like you are both very tired from all of this. I totally understand. It's the same with us. No, we don't have any children. This would be our first, and it's a total obsession for me right now. It's really all I think about. Try to believe that you still have time so your body can relax. You are 40, which is not that old, contrary to what the doctors tell us. Once you get to 43-44, then it's really tough. But you have a long way to go still.  We decided to take time off from the IVF route, and just try on our own. No luck as of yet, but we're still hoping.  I hope that you guys recover from the pain of this unsuccessful IVF with lots of love and support for one another. It's a diffucult road we are on. I'll be thinkin gof you, and please keep in touch. We can send messages instead of posting on this forum. It's a bit easier.
Take care!
z

[SHP]

I have been using acupuncture.  I went from 7 follicles to 14.  I had 10 mature eggs and 7 perfect embryos.  They said that they appeared to be a super high quality and everyone was so excited.  I guess that I misunderstood on the hpt.  they wanted me to give the blood then take it when I got home before they called me.  I did it before I went in.  It was negative.  The doctor's office called - no there as well.  

Do you have any children at all?

[Zoe2B]

Good luck with the beta today! I'll be thinking about you! I remember that feeling. Starnge that they want you to take an HPT first thoguh. I've never heard that before. Usually they tell you not to because they can be a false negative.
I'm 43 and also have high FSH. I just found a great book called The Tao of Fertility, about Traditional Chinese Medicine treating fertility challenges. Also there is Inconceivable and The Fertile Female by Julia Indochina. She was 41 and had very high FSH, and doctors told her donor eggs would be her only option. She decided to not listen to them and began a lot of research on how to better her body for fertility with the foods she eats, medititaion, exercises, etc. Anyway, she got pregnant and had a healthy baby girl about 4 months later. I think she was 42 or 43 when she had her. Her books are very educational and inspiring, especially for older women, and women with the dreaded high FSH levels. You hang in there!  I will keep my fingers crossed for you today. Let me know waht happens.
Z

[SHP]

Yes sounds like we have the same problem.  The weird thing was that I felt deeply bruised in the sides of my thighs.  I have the opposite problem from you - plenty of body fat.  It still hurts like fire.  I just can't get over how the new injections hurt so very bad.  I am not squeemish and have been able to take shots with no problem my entire life.  I jumped so from the shot my husband gave tonight that he had to start over.  I think that it is the size of the needle and we are scarring or having swelling and that is pressing on nerves.  But yes - I was a month ahead of you and the pain had started getting a little better.  Just take a few shots again and you will remember how bad it was.  I imagine that the swelling will go down someday.  Nerves take a very long time to heal.

Yes - you can give them in the thigh.  I am afraid though because I have heard that is more painful.  That muscle is pretty strong.  

Thanks for the good luck.  I am terrified of tomorrow.  I am having my beta and they told me to take a HPT in the morning.  I don't feel pregnant and I am so afraid.  I have spent so much money and we are so tired.  I am 40 and if we want a baby we have to do it now.  I wish that I didn't have to try so hard - but I also have a high fsh.  I may have waited too late to have my own.  

Good luck to you as well.  I keep reminding myself that I would walk on glass for a child.

[Zoe2B]

Thanks for the post. Everyone at my clinic had a different idea of the "right" place to do the shots, so it was really frustrating for us. But we did what they showed us to do. I am very thin - hardly any body fat,  and I think that must have played a role. From what you know about nerve dmage though, can I expect this to go away at some point?

SHP - sorry to hear about your chemical pregnancy and sounds like you haev similar numbness/pain as me. I stopped my shots in Jan, and the numbness/pain isn't letting up yet. It's awful isn't it!  I empathize with you getting them again with all the scar tissue.  Do the shots have to do in the butt/hip area? Can't you also give them in the thigh?  Good luck with this IVF cycle!

[SHP]

I had no problem taking the shots in December.  We had a chemical pregnancy and so we quit the shots the end of December.  After I stopped the burning and itching started in the area of the shots.  A few weeks later the pain and numbness started down the outsides of my thighs.  Horrible pain.  It only just started going away this month and we have tried IVF again.  The worse problem now is that there is so much scar tissue in the shot areas that I scream each time my DH gives me the shot.  It never hurt back in December.  I have to say though - I would rather deal with this than the horrible slime suppositories.  I always felt like a slime machine.  

[babyprayers]

the lumps are fatty tissue,. your sciatic nerve runs all the way down your butt. the best way to do these shots is to draw an imaginary line like a cross, across your butt cheek and give them in the upper outer corner. i did them my self, I am a nurse, but most people have someone do them for them, if an IM injection is given correctly it should not cause nerve damage. I took them daily for 12 weeks!

[Zoe2B]

Thanks for your post. What are the lumps exactly.... inflamed tissue from the meds? I had a tiny lump, but it went away soon after I stopped the shots. It's the nerve damage that's the problem now.  The area that was affected is not in the injection sites. But I guess it's in the nerve pathway from the area of the shots. I am praying it will go away! I hope your tennis balls get better soon after you stop the shots!

[SDScientist]

I have not stopped cycling long enough for it to go away.  The longest break I have had is 3 months.  I have big lumps almost like half tennis balls on my hip/butt areas.  I have no feeling left and they itch like crazy when I stop the shots-I guess because they are starting to heal.  Then I start all over again.  Sorry I couldn't be more help as to when it will get better.