Sunday, February 27, 2011

Crinone

If you've been reading my story for any amount of time, you know I tend towards luteal phase defect and my RE always gives me extra progesterone supplementation after ovulation. For my final IUI, he changed things up and prescribed Crinone instead of my usual suppositories. This is a progesterone gel that is delivered vaginally via pre-filled applicator like yeast infection creams.

I've seen quite a few other bloggers and tweeps who used it, but they usually just refer obliquely to ickiness, build-up and discharge. I hadn't really seen any practical suggestions for minimizing the ick. So for the benefit of anyone who hasn't taken this form of progesterone, but wants to know, here are the tips I got from my IF Twitter girls. If you have experience with Crinone, feel free to leave your own tips & tricks in the comments! For anyone else, this may be TMI in a big way. Consider yourself forewarned!

  • Wear all cotton underwear, and not your nicer selections.
  • Wear a liner if you don't mind them.
  • There will be build-up. Be pro-active about removing it.
  • You will need to go in and remove the build-up yourself. Do this in the shower.
  • Your insides will feel very strange indeed.
  • No douche allowed. 
  • Side effects include: sore boobs, constipation, bloating, headaches and more. 
  • You may have to wait a few days for CD1 if you get negative beta and stop taking the medicine.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting... going to file this away for the future in case I need this!

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  2. I used Crinone this past cycle and my boobs were killing me, I had cramps and migraines. Fun, fun, fun! In my case, I got my period despite still being on it. That's how much like clockwork AND how annoying my period is. It's like, "Crinone - Shminone! It's day 28 and that's my entrance!" Anyway, thank you for posting this as I agree with all of it. Liners, liners, liners!

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  3. This is v useful. I think Crinone has just come to the UK, my doc was talking about putting me on it for IVF #2 instead of PIO shots which were sooo painful. Will bear this stuff in mind, thanks :)

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  4. This was very helpful. Thank you for posting. I am 7 weeks pregnant and have been on crinone the whole time. It causes quite a bit of build-up and gets to be a little uncomfortable. Removing it in the shower definitely helps.

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