Post egg collection nightmare 😭

[Harlo86]

By far the hardest part of first ivf cycle has been the last 4 days since egg collection. My fertility centre have been wonderful up until this point. They didn't share the side effects from the collection or the days that follow. I'm really glad I'm not working because I've been in tears. I have a really good pain threshold for to heavy periods but this week surpassed that.

After egg collection I was told I'd experience some discomfort and they were right. Sitting, walking, coughing jolted pain into my stomach, vagina and back passage. It took a while for me to be able to wee and when I finally did it was so painful. Everything felt bruised and trying to push down to help myself wee was unbelievably sore. It was like this the next day too. Day 3 I felt sightly better but day 4 it's gotten right back to the first day. I can't walk without pain. It's like I've got constant pressure across my lower pelvis. My ovaries are bloody aching, I've got pain vibrating down into my vagina and urethra. I can't cough without pain. The pessaries have me constipated so badly that I'm full of gas. Passing that is not an issue but any strain is horribly painful. It's like someone has a metal rod and has scraped my bladder. I don't know how else to scolding this horrible feeling. I'm weeing fine. Today I was breathless for a while. I really can't take anymore pessaries if they are responsible for all this. I'm not sure if it's due to egg collection or I'm experience overstimulated ovaries? I did contact my clinic and they just said take lactulose for my constipation. They didn't seem concerned. I'm not taking a pessary tonight. I'm in to much pain and my lining was last at 9mm. I'm told I have fantastic uterine lining so I think I can take a night off. If anyone else experiencing this?? Or knows what it is?? A hot water bottle has helped and I've had paracetamol but I feel inflamed and I don't think I can take ibuprofen 😔

[XOXO13]

Morning,

You couldn’t have OHSS could you? The discomfort you’re describing sounds similar, though I had fairly severe vomiting when I had it but you can get mild OHSS that still feels very, very painful.

Post egg collection, my clinic told me to drink 3L of water and 1L of milk. I didn’t have quite that much but I did drink a lot but I do remember needing to stay in bed a lot due to the pain I was in.

Whilst the progesterone will cause bloating and gas, I don’t recall it causing as much discomfort as you’re describing.

I am assuming you’re going for a transfer in a few days? If so, I think you should push your clinic for a scan or some further check to ensure you don’t have OHSS xx

[Harlo86 in reply to XOXO13]

Morning xx

Thank you so much for your reply. I've been up all night and the pain has gotten worse. It's only on one side radiating until pelvis and specifically my urethra. It's sudden stabbing pain there. Drinking water, taking paracetamol & hot water bottle. Considered going to hospital but my partner thinks the clinic is best so waiting 2 hours xx

[XOXO13 in reply to Harlo86]

I couldn’t manage my pain at home either and had to be taken to the hospital. You know your own pain threshold so if it’s not manageable then listen to your body and give your clinic another call and either by them or the hospital, just get checked over. You don’t want to be going into a transfer in this much pain. Sending love, take care xx

[Harlo86 in reply to XOXO13]

Thank you, will do. I t s so painful 😭 xx

[Dizzyhizzy123]

I wouldn’t stop the pessaries as you don’t want to go through all of this and not be at the perfect stage for the transfer. I dont personally think they are causing this. Use them vaginally if you have used rectally as can cause irritation up there. But you need to get checked asap as something isn’t right here. I don’t think it should hurt that much. Hope you feel better soon.

[Twiglet2]

this isn’t the normal post egg collection Pain and my clinic make sure you can pee before you can leave the clinic so if you had trouble with that and pain something doesn’t sound right I would go to A&E if your clinic isn’t listening! If you intend to transfer still though dont stop the pessaries they aren’t for lining thickness only they are a hormone needed to sustain a pregnancy and need to be taken every 12 hours- a drop in the level of progesterone can cause you to have a period as it signals to the body that you aren’t pregnant at that point in your cycle so you need to keep it up but you should defo get an opinion from a doctor on what’s going on before even thinking about a transfer xx sending you a massive hug this sounds so sore 😢 xx

[Christianbaby]

Your post was from 10 hours ago, and I really hope you’ve been able to get things sorted out and are feeling a little better by now, even if just a bit. It honestly sounds like something wasn’t quite right with your egg collection because it really shouldn’t be that painful. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to go through all that discomfort on top of the emotional toll.

It’s good that you contacted your clinic, but if the pain and other symptoms continue, it might be worth pushing for a more thorough check—sometimes we really need to advocate for ourselves. Overstimulation can cause symptoms like the ones you’re describing, so it could be a possibility.

In the meantime, I hope the hot water bottle is giving you some relief. Hope you get lots of rest and comfort. Sending you so much strength right now, and really hoping things ease up soon. xx

[Tinkertinkerbell]

Hi, I had a similar experience. My first egg collection was fine - a little bit of discomfort the first evening but completely fine. I think this is the norm. So imagine my shock when I got home from my second egg collection expecting the same experience but as the pain meds wore off that evening it got more and more painful until I was crying and almost screaming out in pain because I didn’t know what to do with myself. I couldn’t get comfortable and couldn’t keep still - I was panicking because it was so painful. Almost went to hospital that night. For the next couple of days I couldn’t stand up straight - I was walking slowly bent over because my pelvic area was so painful. I would say though that my pain did gradually improve over those few days. The first night was by far the worst- if I felt it was getting worse I would have gone to hospital. If you feel yours is getting worse you must get seen. I was suprised and concerned because everyone on forums said the egg collections were fine and my first experience was fine. I think I was just unlucky as it seems it’s unusual to be in that much pain. I was fine after 5-6 days. Please get checked out if yours isn’t improving x

[Harlo86]

Update! Thank you so much everyone for your advice and reassurance that this is not normal. I finally got an hour sleep. I took a pessary this morning and my clinic have agreed to take my blood and maybe ultrasound. I'm really not looking forward to the car journey or my stomach being touched. I'll share any outcome. I really hope no one else goes through this xx

[Chel91]

Hi, I hope you are feeling somewhat better. Did your clinic see you? I had the same thing, I had severe OHSS. My clinic just fobbed me off and I ended up in hospital or a week or two with damage to my kidneys, etc. It was awful. It can be very serious don't be afraid to go to A&E and if you need to cancel the fresh transfer don't be upset if it's for the best, FETs work great, a fresh could make it a lot worse xx

[Chel91]

Oh no I'm so sorry!! The hospital I went to were clueless about it too, I think the doctor said he had never seen OHSS and looked it up on a website 🤦🏼‍♀️ At least he was honest! My memory is failing me, but I think they need to do an ultrasound to check for large amounts of abdominal fluid, and also to rule out ovarian torsion. Is your stomach feeling big or tight? Also they should probably be ruling out accidental damage to your bladder or an infection. They need to be checking your cbc, liver and kidney function, electrolytes, etc. They need to be listening to you, so sorry they aren't treating you well, definitely tell them if your pain isn't under control and demand pain management and medicines for nausea if you need it also? Also fyi they should not be doing internals right now it's not safe. I hope they find a bed soon 😥💗xx

[Harlo86 in reply to Chel91]

Thank you for sharing that!! So far they have done the internal and it was fine. Swabs to check for an infection. Urine to check for infection. All came back normal. Bloods came back mostly normal. The consultant examined my pelvis and felt swelling. I feel very full and sore. Managing with paracetamol. They are sending me for a scan today but they've said they think it's mild ohss. I cane into the hospital friday 1130am and got a bed Saturday 4am. Xx

[Citizenerased83 in reply to Harlo86]

So sorry to hear about what you're going through post egg collection. My clinic prescribed fyrmadel injections to calm things down post egg collection as I have pcos and was at risk of ohss. Lots of eggs collected. Perhaps speak to your clinic about whether they could prescribe this or similar to help? Xx

[PinkCat22]

just checking in to see how you are doing now? I had OHSS and it does sound very similar. It’s so horrid and I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Hope you are doing better now. Sending so much love x

[Harlo86 in reply to PinkCat22]

Aw thank you!! It is mild ohss. Still cramping but paracetamol helps. I'm just taking it easy for now. Thank you for checking in xx