Depo Provera (birth control shot) concerns

[happyflower]

After being on depo provera for 1 year, I decided to discontinue use and switch to the pill. I decided to be single (and not sexually active) for a while, so I decided to wait until I got my period to start taking the pill. The only problem is that I STILL haven't had a period! It's been 6 or 7 months since I stopped getting the shots. I had normal periods while on the shot, and before I was on the shot, but once I stopped getting it my periods vanished...



I went to the doctor and she put me on provera tablets, 10mg once a day for 10 days, and said I should have a period a few days after they were gone. No such luck, no results. I'm due for another trip to the doctor on friday.



She said it could be hormones and I was billed for labs including TSH, FSH, and prolactin. I thought thyroid related tests were a blood test? I did not recieve any blood tests... Please correct me if there is another way to test, without a blood lab.



Has anyone else experienced my problem after having depo shots, or know what might be causing me to have no periods?



It might also be helpful to mention that I've had swelling in my lower abdomen, like bloating before a period (but for months and months), and it is definately not weight gain/fat. I used to wear a size 5, now I wear a 7 or 9. I am NOT pregnant, bulemic, anorexic, overweight, underweight, athletic, or sickly in any way. I had a c-section when I was 15 (I'm 18 now).



Sorry about the long post, I'm just so worried that I might never be able to have another child sometime later in life. Thanks for reading!

[happyflower]

I asked my doctor if it was normal and she said it wasn't. She said that it was normal for about 3-4 months, and after that to at least have some spotting here and there while your body gets back on track. She wants to do an ultrasound. My mother had 5 cantaloupe sized fibroid tumors (benign) in her uterus, and had to have a hysterectomy. Am I too young to have fibroids, or to go through early menopause? I'm only 18!



I read on other posts involving women with somewhat different symptoms after depo, that they took a high dose birth control pill and after about 6 months they got their periods back. Would it be worth suggesting to my doctor?

[cugirl]

On the package insert it says the it can take Depo 12-18 months to get out of your system once stopping it. But every person varies.  When I stopped taking Depo I went directly on BCP's....to regulate my period.  I aked my OB/GYN and pharmacist and they said it was fine.

[Captivating]

I went to the doctor last monday. I received the Depo shot last November before a sterilization procedure that I had in December. I was told that I needed it to "arrest" my cycle so that it would not present during the surgery. To my surprise, I may have had the procedure for nothing because the one-time Depo shot may have thrown me into early menopause. My doctor has given me a script for Provera. I will have it filled tomorrow. He also gave me a script for lab work. I'll keep you posted. Thank God I'm 38 with two beautiful kids. Otherwise, I think that I would have been an emotional wreck. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

[Janilyn]

You girls have to discontinue Depo Provera at once and I highly recommend never putting any hormones into your bodies ever again.  I have experienced a living nightmare from Depo Prover for the past three years.  After I got the Depo shot I went home and researched on the web about the drug.  I cried for three hours in fear that that could happen to me.  What happened was worse.  Five days after the shot a menstrual cycle started that would not cease.  It wasn't a normal cycle.  I was hemhorraging profusely with multiple massive clots.  I have been a patient at a leading medical institution ever since.  The hormones in the Depo stimulated what tiny fibroid tumors that I had (which were not causing any symptoms) to grow.  I was bleeding incessantly every day.  They had to use double doses of very high birth control pills to try to override the Depo to get the bleeding to stop.  I still experienced breakthrough bleeding.  I had to take the estrogen for over a year becasue if I stopped the bleeding would immediately continue.  My physician at this Clinic told me that Depo Provera is an oil-based drug and it has the potential to stay in your body for the rest of your life.  I finally had to have surgery this year to remove the tumors.  For the past three years this drug ruined my life.  I could no longer exercise because I was always bleeding and severely anemic.  I couldn't sleep because I had to use double protection and had to go to change myself every 20-30 minutes throughout the night.  I have been a very healthy regular girl prior to the Depo.  I am a triathlete but couldn't train or race for the past three years.  Now I may never have children.  The surgery was quite extensive because of the amount of tumors.  Because of the remaining scar tissue and an adhesion I probably won't be able to have children.  My life is forever changed.  I am depressed because I have no hope of ever being the way I used to be or being able to have a child.  This drug has destroyed my life and I don't want this to happen to anyone else.  These doctors and drug companies are pushing these drugs.  They are using women as guinea pigs. What you need to know is that it is excesses of estrogen that creates fibroids and makes them grow, i.e. the birth control pills that doctors push.  I am shocked at the statistics I hear of all the young girls in their early 20s getting fibroids nowadays.  It is because of excess estrogen in our drinking water supplies, food supplies, and because everyone is on the pill.  I eat an organic diet now with lots of fruits and veghetables.  This helps your liver to function better at filtering excesses of estrogen.  All I can do now is pray.  I will never trust the FDA nor drug-pushing physicians.  And I want to help inform other innocent women so that they don't encounter what I have.

[dejana66]

I was on Depo for 6 years. I loved it! I did not get a period for about 9 months at a time. I did however, gain 40 lbs without changing my eating habits.



I decided to get a tubaligation at the age of 38 and stop Depo. I started almost immediately getting my period every two weeks. My physician felt that this will take awhile before my periods regulate. It's still going on after almost 2 years.



I have never had a problem with my sexual organs and in the past two years I've had: 2 breast fibroadenomas, fibroids, ovarian cysts, endocervical thickening and cervical cysts. I'm seeing my gynecologist soon to determine, what I believe, if Depo is the cause for all these problems.



I also developed osteoarthritis and chrondomalacia in both my knees. If Depo use could cause osteoporosis, could it also have caused these problems as well?

[dejana66]

I was on Depo for 6 years. I loved it! I did not get a period for about 9 months at a time. I did however, gain 40 lbs without changing my eating habits.



I decided to get a tubaligation at the age of 38 and stop Depo. I started almost immediately getting my period every two weeks. My physician felt that this will take awhile before my periods regulate. It's still going on after almost 2 years.



I have never had a problem with my sexual organs and in the past two years I've had: 2 breast fibroadenomas, fibroids, ovarian cysts, endocervical thickening and cervical cysts. I'm seeing my gynecologist soon to determine, what I believe, if Depo is the cause for all these problems.



I also developed osteoarthritis and chrondomalacia in both my knees. If Depo use could cause osteoporosis, could it also have caused these problems as well?

[Mrs Oxo]

happyflower i feel your pain i had one baby and i went on depo............ my doctor failed to tell me about the side effects.............i took one shot last august and.... i haven't seen a period till this day............. now i'm married and i want another baby and it seems impossible.........i have gained over 50lbs and i have no sex drive.. what am i supposed to do know??
Mrs Oxo

[kristin82]

no period in 3 years from depo....... i cant take it anymore!!!!

[sjn1002]

I meant SHOT, not PILL in this sentence
" I think my hormones are all out of whack because of this pill.. " <