Learn About the Medications in an Egg Donor Cycle
As a company, we place a high emphasis on education and so, we want you to be prepared for what medications you might take in an IVF/Egg Donor Cycle. The previous donors on our team have been through this and we are here to support you. Please take the time to review the medications and the videos. If you have questions, do not hesitate to reach out to our team.
Please Note: The following medications are the oral and injection medications we typically see prescribed during a cycle. There is always a possibility that your clinic will follow a different protocol with different medications depending on how your body is responding.
On Day 2 or 3 of your period, the clinic will instruct you to start birth control.
- You will take it for approximately 2-4 weeks.
- Your clinic will give you a date to stop the birth control and a few days later you will go in for your Baseline Appointment where you will have an ultrasound and blood work completed.
- If all looks good in this appointment, you will be given a date within a day to a few days to start your injection medications.
Once instructed by the clinic, you will begin daily injection medications of Menopur with Gonal-F OR Follistim
- Reason for Use: Stimulate Growth and Maturation of the Eggs
- Common Side-Effects of the Above Medications: headache, breast tenderness, bloating, fluid retention, mood swings
- To view videos of mixing and injecting the above medications, watch the videos linked below.
- Menopur is mixed and drawn up via a needle or a Q-cap and then injected subcutaneously.
- Gonal-F is typically prescribed as the Redi-ject Pen or the Multi-Dose Vial.
- Follistim is a pen that uses an AQ Cartridge and dial to inject the medication.
After 4-6 days of administering the stimulation medications, Cetrotide OR Ganirelix are added with the previous injections you are already administering.
- Reason for Use: Prevent Ovulation
- Common Side-Effects: headache, nausea, abdominal pain, skin reaction
- To view videos of mixing and injecting the above medications, watch the videos linked below.
- Cetrotide is mixed and drawn up via a needle and then injected.
- Ganirelix is a pre-filled syringe that you will inject.
OPTIONAL Travel to Retrieval City
If you are a traveling donor, you will travel to the retrieval city around day 7 or 8 of administering the injection medications and you will be there until your Egg Retrieval takes place. (You will be traveling for approximately 7-10 days.)
Around day 10 of injections, you will be getting close to taking the trigger shot which could be Lupron (Leuprolide) OR Novarel (Pregnyl, Ovidrel, HCG)
- Reason for Use: Stimulate LH Surge and Trigger Ovulation
- Common Side-Effects for Lupron (Leuprolide): headache, fatigue, hot flashes
- Common Side-Effects for Novarel (Pregnyl, Ovidrel, HCG): pelvic discomfort, bloating
- To view videos of mixing and injecting the above medications, watch the videos linked below.
- Lupron is injected as an ovulation trigger.
- Novarel can be injected in 5000 units or 10000 units intramuscularly or subcutaneously.
Exactly 36 hours after the trigger shot, the Egg Donation Retrieval will take place. Retrieval day, you will be put under anesthesia and given an IV. You will be fasting (no food or drink) before your procedure. Drink as much water as possible the day before your procedure to aid in getting your IV started since you will not be able to eat or drink anything the day of the procedure.
OPTIONAL Travel Back Home
If traveling, you will typically be able to go back home 36 hours after your retrieval.
OPTIONAL Post-Retrieval Medications
Depending on your bloodwork levels at the time of retrieval, your physician may order you medications for post-retrieval. Any single or a combination of the following medications could be prescribed.
