posted
I was supposed to get the Depo shot last month, but I decided to stop the shots. I have just started my first period in 6 months. It has been a bit odd so far. What should I expect from the first period after Depo?
Posts: 1015 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
I know that the level of the DepoProvera stays elevated in the body for awhile, so your period may be spotty or irregular. It isn't a medication I have proscribed, so I don't have firsthand knowledge of it. Additionally, I expect individual variations would be significant, as it is stored in fat.
Maybe Theca or the pharmacists would be more useful to you. WOuld you like me to look up a link for you?
Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
The periods can be really weird for several months after quitting depo. I really can't help without more information. You could email me if you want.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
allegra, I know you're reading this thread so can you IM me, my aim thingy won't let me click on names. it's not about this thread, just feel like talking.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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1. I normally use tampons and if this period is not going to be steady I probably shouldn't
2. I have a lot of things to do this week and I wanted to know if it was going to be worse then usual or last longer.
Yesterday I was having diarrhea, but I often have that around my period. I was also having cramps in the morning, but they weren't too bad.
Posts: 1015 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Allegra, I'd suggest you change the title of the thread to flag the pharmacy folks here (Alucard, Speed, Kwea, JenniK) and email Theca. Someone with direct experience will likely be able to help you better, and I want you to get the best help possible.
Hope you are okay.
Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I think it is probably quite uncertain exactly what will happen this month, if anything. This is likely something you won't be able to predict, nor will anyone else, unfortunately.
Glad you are okay!
[ January 09, 2005, 06:11 PM: Message edited by: Sara Sasse ]
Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
I don't think it will be too bad. There is no reason for alarm. I was just wondering what to expect. I will post or e-mail Theca if things get bad.
Thank you for your concern Sara and Theca. Posts: 1015 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Yeah, this month will be a surprise for you. I suspect you_might_have a light period this month and have irregular and gradually heavier periods over the next few months. But there is no way to know. Depo is a great choice for many women but so many women hate it or hate the unpredictable nature of it that I only use it reluctantly for patients after a long discussion of pros, cons, and alternatives.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I wanted to go on it because I had to go on birth conrol because of ovarian cysts and I couldn't remember to take the pill. While I was on it I would get uncomfortable pressure and boating in my pelvic area. I also noticed the change in hormones. I finally decided it wasn't worth it. I am now concidering Seasonal (SP?)* or just not worrying about it. The cysts were not dangerous or painful.
*What do you think of it?
Posts: 1015 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Seasonale really is nothing special. It's like three regular months of the pill with the placebo week (the fourth week, the one without the hormones) removed until the end of three months. That keeps the period from coming until after that. Four periods a year is considered enough for women to have healthy uteruses. Unfortunately many women have spotting in between, and I haven't had enough patients on it to get a good feel for how it is working for most women. It isn't on most insurances yet. And you're still stuck with remembering to take it every single day. Not that I am against it. Just, it isn't a wonder drug.
The patch is a possibility, you put that on once a week, but unfortunately some women have trouble keeping the patch stuck on long enough.
My new favorite is the nuvaring. You put it in the vagina and take it out three weeks later, then have a period, then put a new one in. Pretty cool. There are women on hatrack that use it, I think. http://www.nuvaring.com/Consumer/index.aspPosts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
And yesterday some patient on the pill paged me and requested the morning after pill and I don't do that. She was on the pill but forgot it for a couple days this month and got worried. I tell most people when I put them on birth control that I don't do abortions or the morning after pill but she had already called a couple of clinics who also said no, and planned parenthood is closed on weekends, so she called me. We talked about options...I feel terrible about it. I didn't give it, tho. Ugh.
I suppose I'm going to get slammed now. Maybe I deserve it.
posted
Yikes. That can’t have been a fun conversation.
Random note – I have a nuvaring in my refrigerator. I don’t plan on using it, so I’m really not sure what to do with it. It’s in the lettuce drawer.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I have a size large speculum in the front seat of my car. It's still wrapped in plastic, I guess I could just take it back to work.
(BTW I usually try to stay out of threads directly posted to Sara. I made an exception this time, since it's an important subject. And probably mostly because I couldn't help that girl yesterday.)
posted
IMO, the patch is lame. They sell it to you by saying something like "Now you don't have to worry about taking the pill everyday" but instead you have to constantly worry about whether or not it's still stuck on. I could never get it to stay in place the whole week and I live in a dry climate with no serious sweating problems. I hated it.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I only posted it to Sara because, although I do not know her well, I know her better then any of the other Hatrack medicos.
Theca: I am glad you decided to post.
With the patch you are supposed to use it for three weeks and take a week off. Could I used it every week for 3 months and have a week off then like some people do with the pill?
Posts: 1015 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Allegra, it may be cheaper to buy a different brand of birth control pill and throw the packs out ever three weeks instead of every month. That's what I'm doing right now.
Theca, my gynecologist doesn't seem to think that I need to stop taking the pills four times a year. How definite is the research? I don't want to take a break if I don't have to because I have extremely painful periods--even spotting can hurt like crazy. But I also don't want to do damage to my body.
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I'm not a doctor, but my understanding is that the most important reason for shedding the uterine lining is to prevent bacterial infections. I guess for the uterus to be a hospitable place for implantation of an embryo, it also will provide safe harbor to bacteria as well. And since it must have an opening to the outside for fertilization to occur, there's always a route by which bacteria can get in, which isn't the case for most other internal organs. Since I've always been prone to infections, anyway, I'd never choose the 4 a year option, but would stick with at least one a month.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
It was pretty well accepted that healthy menstruating women who are not on any birth control medications ought to have four periods a year, or more, or their chance of uterine cancer goes up. All that blood, sitting around for months, irritates the uterus. Kind of like the way tobacco smoke irritates the lungs. Or so I was always told. That is why PCOS women need four periods a year.
That may not be true for anorexics or for women who have that exercise syndrome (going blank on the name) because I think they actually are not producing blood in the uterus. Hence, not irritating the uterus. Of course they need medical help for the illness, but don't have the risk of uterine cancer.
So whether women on the pill need four periods a year, I have a feeling there is controversy on that. I think I need to do some reading and I'll ask a GYN friend who just took her oral boards last month. She would be extremely to date on this subject.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I love the ring. I don't feel the emotional rollercoaster I rode on the pill and my periods have never been so predictable in timing, duration and flow rate.
posted
I have an alarm on my watch that goes off at the same time every night and reminds me to take my pill. I've missed a couple because I was somewhere where I couldn't or didn't want to take it, but overall it's worked very well for me. You could try that. My periods are much shorter/less painful now and I don't get horribly depressed the week before like I used to. I'm on desogen, which has another advantage as it's $11 a month. Posts: 4655 | Registered: Jan 2002
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quote:Depo is a great choice for many women but so many women hate it or hate the unpredictable nature of it that I only use it reluctantly for patients after a long discussion of pros, cons, and alternatives.
I tried Depo several years ago (when it first came out) and hated it. Not only did it totally kill my usually-very-high libido; but I also immediately gained about 25 pounds. And only after the fact did the doctor say "oh yeah, that's a side effect - weight gain" Well, duh, you could have warned me.
Even though I went off of it after less than a year or so on, it seems to have change my metabolism slightly. And I'm still fighting to get those pounds back off.
posted
Yeah, my gynecology friend emailed me (really brief email!) from Cancun and agreed that PCOS women need four periods a year if not on hormones or the risk of uterine cancer goes up. As long as they have four real periods a year, four ovulations a year, that should be fine. She says it's really the unopposed estrogen that creates the uterine cancer risk. I'll interpret here and say I think she means that ladies with PCOS who have irregular periods are actually ovulating less and have less progesterone present. No progesterone is present without ovulation. The unopposed estrogen is what raises the risk of uterine cancer. Four periods a year creates enough progesterone to be considered fairly safe from uterine cancer.
So with birth control pills (which always contain progesterone) there is no real need to have any periods at all! I actually have some lucky patients who stopped having periods on birth control after a few years of use, and that is safe. However, if you take the birth control pill for a whole year and skip ALL the placebos most women will have breakthrough bleeding. So they constructed seasonale to give ladies four periods a year and hopefully avoid most breakthrough bleeding that way.
She told me another way to take birth control with as few periods as possible is to take the birth control without placebos until the breakthrough bleeding occurs. You then stop the birth control for 5 days, then just resume it. So how many periods you have a year depends entirely on how many times you have breakthrough bleeding. And that should get less and less with each year I would guess. OTOH, that is less predictable for the first year. I mean, on the pill, you know when your period will come. You can't predict the breakthrough bleeding. Of course you should ask your doctor before doing this.
The depo shot IS progesterone so that is why you don't have to have periods on depo.
posted
I'd like to be clear on this: Women who don't have PCOS don't need to take the placebos four times a year so long as the breakthrough bleeding doesn't occur or isn't a serious annoyance?
Thanks for doing the research, Theca! Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Well, women without PCOS and women with PCOS, so long as they are on birth control, can ALL do fine without any placebos, yes. Other than possible breakthrough bleeding.
I still say ask your doctor first. (I'm going to regret posting this subject aren't I. I'm not your physician, I just find it fascinating, and couldn't help posting it, that's all.)
posted
I use the ring, as well, and love it. I could never remember to take a pill everyday. However, I have noticed that introducing a foreign body into my vagina seems to be causing some issues. Hmmm.... I could get dirty with that, but I wont. Anyways, I never had a yeast infection in my life until I started the ring, and now I get them quite regularly. And thats no fun. I'm not sure if it's caused by the ring or not, and I've never been on birth control before this so I dont know if that is normal, but I dont think it's a coincidence. I dont know. But, I have had minimal weight gain, and very little fluctuation hormonally, so I'm happy with it.
Posts: 499 | Registered: Mar 2004
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