[babydoll00]

me and my dh just started bravelle this week. after 2 days we realized we were doing it wrong. we were suppose to take 3 a day instead of one. anyways the first nurse we spoke to the day we decided to do bravelle told us we'd be using im needles in the thigh or buttock. then we recieved sub q needles from the pharm. 2 days into the injections we noticed this and the the amount we had been doing was not what we were intially told to do. so i called my dr office. i got an unfriendly nurse who told me that subq needles were fine but that we needed to be taking the shots in the stomach. honestly i am not thrilled about that idea. i have a hard enough time keeping my hand steady to do them in the thigh. anyway i am confused because the day we decided to do the bravelle the dr office gave us a paper saying you can do the subq injects in the arm, thigh or stomach. now this nurse tells me stomach. so i was just wondering if anyone has had the bravelle injections and if so where did you inject at? im afraid to call the dr office b/c i don't want someone telling me arm next time. thanks

[casb77]

Sounds like things are pretty confusing for you without a consensus from your dr's office. Can they give you some written instructions?

I've only ever heard of subQ shots being given in the stomach or outer side of the thigh and IM shots given in the upper part of the buttock. We did almost all of my subQ shots - and there were a lot for IVF - in my stomach. We tried a couple in my thigh and it hurt like the dickens. There were a couple in my stomach that hurt, but less than the thigh shots, and some that I barely felt at all. For example, I just gasped with the stomach shots that hurt whereas the shots in my thigh made me swear.

Based on my experiences I definitely recommend the stomach. Just lightly pinch a chunk, make sure the bevel of the needle is pointed up, take a deep breath, and inject while you exhale. The needle should go all the way in, then push the plunger.

It won't be as bad as you're imagining it to be - really. Good luck!

[babydoll00]

thank you so much. how far from the naval did you inject?

[Kell77]

Our last IUI I had two Bravelle injections, both subQ and in the stomach. I pinched my stomach about 3 inches from the navel and my dh actually gave me the shot. You give the shot at an 45 degree angle. Good luck. I numbed the area with ice before hand, made me feel better

[babydoll00]

thank you so much. i believe im gonna try the stomach injection this evening. thanks again

[casb77]

You can inject at either 45 or 90 degrees. We did 90 so just straight in.

We got a handout with the injection sites shaded on it. I found this illustration since I can't describe it very well. Kineret (Anakinra) patient information - prescription drugs and medications at RxList Scroll about 2/3 of the way down. Our illustration just showed the spots to the sides of the belly button, not under it. They didn't tell us we could inject in the arm. The shaded ares of the thigh look like the spots are on the front, but it's really on the outer side, like where the seam of your jeans are.