Menopause after Depo-Provera

I would like to know if there are any studies about what happens when a woman hits menopause after long-term use of Depo-Provera?

I am only 25, but have been on the Depo shot for 8 years now. My mother is starting menopause, and as I read about the mechanics of it, I began to wonder how I might experience menopause later on. Information on Depo explains that the egg is prevented from maturing and passing through the natural reproductive cycle. Are these eggs 'saved up', since they are not being expelled? And how would this affect menopause, since this begins when there are no more viable eggs in the woman's ovaries?

[Machelle Seibel, MD]

It would be helpful to understand why you have been on Depoprovera for 8 years at age 25. But to answer your questions, the eggs are not saved up. They continue to be produced but do not mature. It should not affect when you go through menopause. However, if you are on Depoprovera, it will be hard to know when you go through menopause because you probably don't have a period and it will affect your other hormones which are measured to tell if menopause is near. If a woman stays on Depoprovera for a long time, sometimes her period will not return, even if she comes off of it. Be sure to discuss this with your doctor.
Machelle M. Seibel, MD