Lovenox - First time tips

Today was my first day taking the lovenox after our IUI. Which by the way went very smoothly, I'll write about that in another post. Over the past few weeks I've been doing my fertility injections and honestly those were a breeze with the only thing mildly hurting was putting the needle in, even then it wasn't anything bad really.

Today I had to overcome another mind hurdel and inject a new medication. Because I'm a person who really likes to read reviews and ensure I'm doing it right I hit up YouTube and a few forums. I was struck with how many women and men said that it hurt. Some describing it as "It took my breath away." I remember the type of pain that took my breath away over the course of our journey and needless to say I was intimidated to know I'd be inflicting that pain on myself. Ultimately hearing this freaked me the heck out. Then they also offered some amazing tips. After my first shot I have to say that while it stung a bit it didn't take my breath away. Doing my research perhaps paid off in a bad first time experience.

Here were a few things I did that perhaps helped minimize the pain. (Bruising I'm not sure of yet but will update later).

1. Ice before the shot (2-4 minutes till it feels on the numb side) - some women have found that adding ice can sometimes make their skin 'tighter' but I personally did not experience it this first go around.

2. Let the alcohol dry.

3. Pinch the piece of skin you just iced. Some women have noticed that they bruise a lot more if they pinch the skin. So some prefer to not pinch, but in not pinching they did admit the injection was a bit more painful.

4. INJECT SLOWLY! Many will want to just get it over with and inject as fast as possible. I think that this is perhaps where the breathless pain comes from because it's all at once. I found that injecting very slowly while it stung a little bit it was done in tiny increments. The injection maybe took me 30 seconds. After I pulled out the needle I only had minimal pain.


I realize this is my first time and perhaps everything was a fluke. For now this will be my sound advice to first timers and perhaps those looking for ways to possibly decrease their pain.

Thank you to all of my supporters. Your encouraging words truly help.