IVF weekly FSH shot works just as well as daily injections

Daily injections with fertility medications that send the production of Follicle-stimulation Hormone (FSH) into overdrive are one of the least unpleasant parts of undergoing IVF. But if you want more than one egg (and you do), aren't these injections inevitable? Maybe not a new study found that one single long-acting injection may do the trick just fine! The study is actually an analysis for four previous studies, in which a total of 2,300 women took part. The research team concluded that women who received a long-acting weekly shot of FSH instead of daily injections had the same chance of getting pregnant, and no higher chance of complications.

The review is available from The Cochrane Library, and featured 1,348 women who received the weekly FSH shot, as well as 987 women who received daily injections. Dr Jan Kremer from Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands, who worked on the review, told the press that weekly FSH shots appear to be a viable alternative to the daily injections so many women who are undergoing IVF dread. He said: "Long-acting FSH (weekly injection) is a good and safe alternative to daily injections in the first week of ovarian stimulation for IVF." These weekly injections are being used in Europe at the moment, but not in the United States. Still, Dr Kremer pointed out that there is only a limited amount of data available when it comes to certain groups of women and the weekly FSH shot.

Women who suffer from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and those with a lower ovarian response may not be great candidates for the long-action injection of follicle stimulating hormone. We'd love to hear from women who are undergoing IVF, and have received either the daily or weekly shots. What were your experiences? Would you jump at the chance to get the long-acting FSH injections if you could? Come and chat about it on the fertility treatments and drugs section of our forum!