When you start infertility treatment you are going to be bombarded with a lot of medical information. One of the most prescribed medicines is the Gonal-F Pen, which is usually prescribed as a 75 IU strength all the way up to a 900 IU. If you’re like most, you’ve already done a lot of research prior to seeing your IVF doctor for advice.
However, understanding what part your IVF med plays in the overall goal of starting your family is crucially important. Your body is an elegant combination of hormones, and when it’s thrown out of alignment an imbalance, a disharmony occurs. The role of most fertility drugs is to bring your body back into an optimal range. However, your lifestyle choices, diet and exercise choices also play a significant role in helping you to get pregnant.
At its most basic level, Gonal-F is an IVF drug that is meant to bring that balance back to your body. Here’s how it works.
How does Gonal-F Work and What Can You Expect?
If you’ve been researching IVF prescriptions , then I’m sure you already know the basics about your body producing an egg each month, which is either fertilized or discarded in the normal body. If you’ve been prescribed infertility medications, certainly one of them will be a follicle stimulating hormone to make sure your body is more efficient at producing an egg. Gonal-F, which is also referred to as a gonadotropin, stimulates the follicles in your ovary to produce eggs.
Infertility in women is often the result of poor ovulation. In other words, your ovaries are not producing eggs regularly, or at all. There are numerous reasons why your ovaries might stop producing eggs or produces eggs sporadically. Your IVF doctor will first want to determine the cause before prescribing any medication. After all, taking fertility meds when there is zero chance of your getting pregnant is not only a significant waste of money, but it can be emotionally devastating as well.
What You Can Expect from Gonal-F Injections
Generally speaking, your IVF doctor starts you on the lowest dosage, which is the 75 IU. Depending on how your body reacts, you may have this increased until your ovaries respond. This ivf drug is often given to you in combination with other medications. Gonal-F is an injected medication, so if you are squeamish about giving yourself a shot, or you are not sure how to administer it, here is a helpful tutorial.
Frequently Asked Questions About Gonal-F
Among the many questions you may have about Gonal-F, aside from how to administer the dosage, is what side effects you can expect, how long before it works, and how much it is going to cost. Women who first start taking Gonal-F have some slight side effects. One way to look at this is that the medication is working, and your body is on its way to getting pregnant. While each person’s unique body chemistry is different, the most common, initial symptoms include:
- Headaches.
- Acne outbreaks.
- Slight abdominal pressure and bloating.
- Breast tenderness (sometimes swelling).
- Twinges around your ovaries.
Some women do also have slight nausea, at first, which most often goes away after the first week or so. If you have additional symptoms, aside from these, consult your doctor as you may be having a reaction to the medication, or the combination of IVF drugs you are taking.
How much will your ivf meds cost you? Will your insurance company cover the cost of infertility treatment and medications? Each year more coverage is offered for invitro treatment and medications by insurance companies. However, to date there are no U.S. insurance companies that cover the entire cost of the medications or the procedures. Before moving forward make sure to contact your insurance company, or refer to your policy, to find out what will be covered.
For example, the Gonal-F Pen 900 IU cost can run you into the hundreds of dollars if your insurance company does not cover it. The IVF costs can add up quickly in such cases. This is why doing the research ahead of the treatment is so crucial as it gives you time to find reputable companies offering discounted IVF meds for lower costs than your local pharmacies.
How Fast does Gonal-F work?
Once you begin treatment with the Gonal-F, and your other medications for infertility, you’ll naturally want to know how long it will take before it starts working. It depends on many factors including your age, the thickness of the lining in your uterus, as well as your hormonal level to begin with. However, having said that, most women when going in for scans the week following their first round of Gonal, receive good news. The ultrasound your doctor performs lets him or her know how well your body has reacted to your dosage and if it needs to be adjusted. However, it can take several weeks for your eggs to develop, be measured, and then collected, even when the dosage is correct.
How Long Do You Take Gonal-F?
Do not be disappointed if at first your body does not react at all, as if you’ve just started taking this ivf medication it can take awhile to determine the strength level you need. However, once that ideal Gonal-F dosage has been determined, your ovaries are off to the races. If your body responds, then you can expect to continue the injections for up to 14 days or so. The average is 10 days, but each woman’s body is different, and your doctor will most definitely let you know how long to continue taking it. Never stop taking it without talking to your health care providers.
Ivfprescriptions.com has been partnering with couples for more than three decades, and is one of the primary suppliers of infertility drugs to clinics, hospitals, and fertility clinics worldwide. You can buy infertility drugs directly from us as well. Call today to find out more!