Influencer's Chocolate Technique Reduces IVF Injection Discomfort
Body-positive influencer Chessie King has shared a personal and surprisingly simple method she discovered to cope with the pain of IVF injections during her difficult fertility journey. With nearly 700,000 followers, King is known for her honest content about motherhood, relationships, and intimacy, and she recently opened up about this practical tip on a popular podcast.
A Challenging Path to Conception
Chessie King welcomed her daughter, Auraelia, via caesarean section in July 2021 and is currently expecting her second child after undergoing IVF. She has been transparent about her struggles to conceive again, including discussing a miscarriage she experienced in 2025. Medical professionals recommended IVF as the safest option due to her specific health conditions: her left ovary is attached to her uterus, and she has endometriosis.
The IVF process required King to self-administer medication injections a staggering 148 times, which she initially found extremely challenging. However, during an appearance on Giovanna Fletcher's "Happy Mum Happy Baby" podcast released on March 10, she revealed how she managed the discomfort through a clever distraction technique.
The Sweet Solution to Injection Pain
King discovered that focusing on taste could significantly reduce the pain of injections into her stomach, leg, or thigh. She explained her method: "The best piece of advice if anyone is going through it, or is about to start injections, is pop a bit of chocolate - if you don't like chocolate, a sweet, or something that you savour - and pop it in just before you're about to inject and just focus on the taste."
She described the experience in detail: "It's so weird, you genuinely don't feel them as much. I melted this piece and I'd always have this one specific chocolate and I'd put it in, and it would just melt. And I'd do the injection... all I could taste and think about was what I was eating. It was amazing! It was like my brain was just tricking."
From Discomfort to Appreciation
Despite the initial difficulty, King eventually came to appreciate the injections because they were instrumental in helping her conceive her second child. Her candid discussion on the podcast also covered other personal topics, including managing her husband's postnatal depression and how that challenging period nearly ended their marriage.
This practical advice from King's personal experience offers a relatable and accessible strategy for others undergoing similar fertility treatments, highlighting how simple sensory distractions can make medical procedures more manageable.
