Progesterone is important in supporting the ovaries after release of the egg and progesterone helps the uterus build a better lining to receive the (hopefully) fertilized egg. For some women, this helps make a pregnancy "stick." If I end up being pregnant, I will need to continue on the progesterone. Around the 10th week of pregnancy, the placenta takes over on the progesterone production for the baby.
There are generally 3 ways to take the progesterone - orally, injection (into the muscle), or suppository. I guess they prefer the suppositories because it's easier for most women. I appreciate not having to do more injections - the progesterone injections would be a lot harder since they go into the muscle with a big old needle, not the little sub-cutaneous needle I've been using for the other injections.
The oral version is not as effective, so they didn't even offer me that option.
So, I get the suppositories! When I got my prescription, they told me I need to put them in the refrigerator. No biggie - all of my meds need to be refrigerated to keep them potent, so I didn't think much of that. But the real reason they have to be refrigerated is becayse they MELT.Twice a day, I get to push one of these white, bullet-shaped pellets up in there. Since I've never had a yeast infection or anything, the whole "vaginal suppostiory" thing is not something I have in my skill set. Sure, tampons are one thing, but those have an applicator. No applicator with these. So, there's been a bit of a learning curve to keep it from "sliding" out. I'm afraid of damaging myself if I put them too far up there.
Once I get it in there, I'm supposed to lie down for 15 minutes as it does its thing. Did I mention these things melt? Are you taking the journey with me? My nice warm hoo-ha, at a toasty body temperature, melts them quickly. And then they leak. All day.
I was told by several folks that I should wear a panty-liner all day. It hasn't been that bad, but I don't usually go through so many panty-liners. I feel like I should take out stock in Kotex. Now I regret getting rid of our Sam's Club membership!
Other lovely side effects include:
- headache (check)
- breast tenderness or pain (yes, very much, check!)
- upset stomach (check)
- vomiting (check)
- diarrhea (check)
- constipation (nope)
- tiredness (hell yeah, check!)
- muscle, joint, or bone pain
- mood swings (goodness yes! check!)
- irritability (see above)
- excessive worrying (since worrying is a hobby for me, I wouldn't know if my worry was excessive)
- vaginal discharge (I'm assuming this means the melty stuff)
- problems urinating (thankfully no)
So, today my "Today I feel..." magnet on my office door was switched to "bitchy." I felt so annoyed and irritated by everything. By my third voicemail I was dropping F-bombs. Luckily, most of my coworkers stayed away from me and it let up a bit after lunch. But I'm still REALLY tired.
Sometimes I think all of these tests, poking and prodding, are just really cruel tests to make sure I really want this.
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