Understanding Your Injectable Fertility Medications

Injectable fertility drugs are commonly used in most fertility treatments. They work to stimulate different hormones that produce healthy egg cells in women and healthy sperm cells in men. These medications are administered by injection only and in different doses. Injectable fertility drugs are injected beneath the skin or into the muscle. Some of the most common injection sites are the upper arms, stomach, buttocks and upper thighs. These injectable medications are usually started on the 2nd or 3rd day of the menstrual cycle and will be continually given for 7 to 12 days.

There are several different kinds of injectable fertility drugs:

1. Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) –  These fertility medications are usually used along with other kinds of fertility drugs to trigger the ovaries to release the mature egg or eggs. Some examples are Novarel, Ovidrel, Pregnyl and Profasi.
2. Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) – These fertility drugs stimulate the development and growth of eggs in the ovaries.  Some examples are Bravelle, Fertinex,Follistim, and Gonal-F.
3. Human Menopausal Gonadotropin (hMG) – These drugs combine both FSH and LH or Luteinizing Hormone. Some examples are Menopur, Metrodin, Pergonal, and Repronex.
4. Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH) – This hormone stimulates the release of FSH and LH from the pituitary gland. Although these hormones are rarely prescribed. Some examples are Factrel and Lutrepulse.
5. Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Agonist (GnRH agonist) – Examples of these medications are Lupron, Synarel, and Zoladex.
6. Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone Antagonist (GnRH antagonist) – Such as Antagon and Cetrotide.

Common Side Effects

Now these injectable fertility medications have a high success rate of stimulating women to ovulate, of those patients that ovulate 50% of them were able to conceive. Some of the most common side effects of injectable fertility medications are swelling or bruising around the injection sites, ovarian hyperstimulation and increased risk of pregnancies with multiples. It is best to always consult with your fertility specialist about the different fertility medications available today since they would be the most knowledgeable people to talk to regarding your fertility issues. We hope that this post has helped you better understand your injectable fertility drugs.