Your Guide To Infertility Injections

Learning about infertility injections really helps as these are prescribed next if previous fertility treatments failed to work. IVF Infertility medications are mainly responsible in getting sufficient follicles and eggs in preparation for the in vitro fertilization process. The female is stimulated with infertility injections to develop multiple follicles.

Generally speaking there are two kinds of injectable medications used in IVF drug stimulation protocols. The first type is given to suppress or inhibit ovulation from occurring before the eggs are harvested and the other type is used to stimulate multiple egg development.

More About Infertility Injections

Gonadotropins, as stated previously, are hormones that function by stimulating the ovaries to produce follicles each which contains multiple eggs. Gonadotropins are released by the pituitary gland. The pituitary produces two types of gonadotropins- luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone. Both hormones act on the ovaries and work together and develop ovarian follicles.

Given the advances in medical technology, gonadotropins are now obtained either as a purified product from human sources (hMG) or are the results of genetic engineering and biotechnology (recombinant FSH). Examples of hMG that contains FSH with variations in the amount of LH are Bravelle, Repronex and Menopur. Gonal-F and Follistim are types of genetically engineered gonadotropins and contain only FSH.

These infertility injections are administered via injections. There are two kinds: subcutaneous injections which are injected under the skin and intramuscular which are injected deep in the muscle tissue. These infertility injections stimulate the development of follicles if ovulation does not occur naturally.

There are several side effects associated with infertility injections such as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, weight gain, tender breasts, bloating or swelling, headache, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and depression. Despite the above-mentioned side effects, many women still turn to infertility injections as it is found effective to help achieve pregnancy.