Depo-Provera: asking the FDA to investigate

Top 349. Jan 22, 2006 8:54 PM

» Candace38 - Re: Re: Re: Re: Depo-Provera and Teen Depression

In response to Re: Re: Re: Depo-Provera and Teen Depression posted by harley_39:

Thank you for your response
and I am sorry to hear your daughter
is going through this.
My daughter (just before she left) said to us
that she would go upstairs to her room each night
and get depressed and cry.
She was really moody, or lethargic and tired, unable to go to shool in the morning.
I just can't see where teens who already
have so many problems these days with their parents, peer pressure and school can benefit by
having a drug introduced into their body which can cause depression? Where is the sense in that?
I hope you can get your daughter off the shot and perhaps look for natural methods of easing cramps..When I was a teen, I recall how really bad mine used to get, too, it's no fun, but the tradeoff resulting in potential depression is not worth it.
My best to you and your daughter..

-- posted by Candace38

Top 350. Jan 22, 2006 9:04 PM

» Candace38 - Re: Re: Depo-Provera and Teen Depression

In response to Re: Depo-Provera and Teen Depression posted by Nothappyjan:

Thank you for your post..
So glad you won't continue receiving additional
"depression" injections..!
I agree with you, it is harmful at any age, and especially to teens who already are under enough pressure. What a terrible element to add into the mix.
My daughter, ironically, is seeking therapy where she is now located.
I only hope her doctor will
contact me and I can at least advise him that she is taking this shot, as I am sure it will not be
considered during the discussions they have.
Thank you for the sympathy, too..
It sounds like you have been though this stuff
or know someone who has..

-- posted by Candace38

Top 351. Jan 22, 2006 9:13 PM

» Candace38 - Re: cramps

In response to cramps posted by Naturalhoney15:

Since I am still learning about Depo, I can't say if what you described are symptoms of the shot itself, but if they continue, you should certainly get checked by a doctor to rule out anything else..
Take care..

-- posted by Candace38

Top 352. Jan 22, 2006 9:49 PM

» megbbad - Depo Shot

I have also had huge problems with Depo Pervera. How do I get information regarding what I can do about it. I still 5 years later still have not had a regular period. I do not ovulate at all, I gained so much weight and have been recently diognosed with Poly Oviarioan Systic syndrom which I belive is a direct reslt of the Depo shot. What can I do?

-- posted by megbbad

Top 353. Jan 22, 2006 11:48 PM

» ljohnson247 - Re: cramps

I was on depo almost 4yrs - went off to have a son for about 1 1/2yrs - now I have been on depo again for 4yrs. I did not have a cycle and I thought the shot was great. I do and did feel the side affects you are talking about. My normal yearly exam Jan.17,2006 I was shocked to learn my doctor has found new information this last year and anyone that has been on the shot more then 2yrs needs to get a bone density test. I just turned 30yrs old and was thinking aren't you suppose to be 50 to get that test. Long story short I have Osteopenia in my spine and Osteoporosis in my hips. They said my hips are so fragile and could break easier then a 50yr old women!!!!! She also said EVERY person she has scanned that has been on Depo-provera injections more than 5yrs is getting what I have. She said we need to warn as many young people as possible. If you get checked now and you have some bone loss or Osteopenia they can probably help you and reverse the damage. When it becomes Osteoporosis you have to take medicine for the rest of your life. If you don't get tested and think - that won't happen to me - when you are 50 it will be to late and you will have broken a bone to find out or have a hump back. This is serious girls! PLEASE don't take Depo and if you have been on it for 2yrs or more you NEED a bone density test done ASAP!!!!!! Your families need you!

-- posted by ljohnson247

Top 354. Jan 23, 2006 3:09 PM

» snowflake79 - your opinion

I have stop taken depo, my last shot was in july and still dosent have any period since, not even spotting, I just want to know if anyone have experience the same?
I also lost a lot of hair, like half of what I had, does anyone knows any solutions to have it back. (beside seeing a dermatologist)
I am in search of a good doctor because mind told me that the only side effect I would have is a weight gain but, I have experience more and really worst side effects. When I ask him if I was loosing my hair because of the depo, he told me it was impossible that it could be related!!

-- posted by snowflake79

Top 355. Jan 23, 2006 4:47 PM

» motorhead - Horrible Christmas

Wow...nice to hear that I am not alone. Sad to hear how many woman are affected by this drug.

Here's my story. I am 25 years old, on birth control, because I am returning to University, and hubby and I really don't want to get pregnant. We have been using condoms for 6 years, but I just really wanted to be sure...boy an I sorry!
I am currently only on my first month of my second shot. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. A week before Christmas I went to get my second shot, and talked to the doctor about some side effects I was having. He explained that my side effects were totally normal. The two most worrysome side effects I had was the depression/anxiety (to the point where I called my mom bawling my eyes out - and I don't cry EVER - one morning telling her I couldn't get out of the house to go to work, cause I was hyperventillating...and my heart was pounding. Now I knew that I was having a panic attack, cause I have had some before, but NEVER this bad...I didn't even sleep that night thinking about how I wasn't feeling well, and I wanted to cry all the time.
The other side effect was the low libido! - I mean, NO SEX DRIVE ladies. My poor husband. And when I do give in, most of the time it hurts like heck!
Again, doctor told me totally normal...and as long as it's not affecting my everyday life, then not to worry. So I decided to take my second shot! - What a mistake! I really should have trusted my gut feeling.
I had the worst Christmas ever. I had my family at my house (our first home). I spend two days in the washroom...hyperventillating...having MAJOR panic attacks. Crying, waking up at 2:00 in the morning convulsing...shaking, diarhea. I didn't even eat Christmas dinner. I lost 7 pounds from the anxiety nervous stomach. Well after that week was done, I have been hungry all the time, eating like a horse (just like I normally do when I am stressed) - I am only 140 pounds...but don't want to gain weight.
So for the last three week, I have had the following;
pain in my stomach...maybe ovaries
headaches, migraine that lasted 3 days
no sex drive
real real vivid dreams
trouble sleeping
tired all the time (need a nap by 2:00) everyday
excessive anxiety
mood swings
some form of depression (not severe)
excessing sweating at times...

So now I wait. I wait to see how long it takes for the side effects to wear off. I have my yearly physical with my doc next week and I am letting him know that I am not taking my third shot...

-- posted by motorhead

Top 356. Jan 24, 2006 5:40 AM

» beccabussa - Re: Depo Provera Class Action and Lawsuit Status (Canada and USA

My own story is a little different from everyone else's story.
At the age of 16, I got on the Depo Provera shot. My periods were *always* normal before, and I had effectively taken oral birthcontrol pills for 6 months prior to the Depo.. With my first shot, I never bled excessively, and the first month was the only time I had a period. From then on, I was seemingly symptom-free (although hindsight shows me that I was MUCH more depressed, and much more emotional while on Depo then I was once I got off of it.) I was on Depo for almost 5 years.
It was around this time, right before I turned 21 that I began to bleed two weeks a month. I knew something was wrong, and I was unnerved about, so I chose to go off the Depo for awhile and let my body try and 'correct' itself. I wasn't sexually active at the time, so I didn't use another form of birthcontrol yet.
I was supposed to get my next shot in February, and chose not to. I got my first period sans Depo at the end of April, and met my current boyfriend around this same time. I then chose to go back on birthcontrol, and was SO surprised to find out about all the side effects of Depo, and how I lost SO much calcium in my first year of Depo, which I never knew. I was planning on going back on the Depo, till I found out about all the side effects and realized all the problems people were having while on it.
And then, my own problems started.
My doctor put me on Ortho-tricyclen, which had worked well for me previous to Depo. After the first month, I realized something was wrong. My period came at the end of the placebo and lasted throughout the next week of active pills. The next month, it was a little earlier, but not much. Then, the third month, my period came right in the middle of my pack, only two weeks since my previous period. Months 4 and 5 were the same, so that my periods weren't happening during my placebo, but instead, during mid-pack while I was taking the active pills. During this time as well, I'd become horribly sick, vomiting and nauseous to the extreem, and then my period would start and it would all ease up. I had not missed a single pill. In the 5th month, I went to see my gyno again, who agreed that the ortho-tricyclen wasn't working as it should. We both agreed it had a lot to do with the Depo and how my body wasn't adjusting to the new hormones, as well as it probably wasn't used to not having as much of the hormone as the Depo provided. So she put me on Ortho-cyclen, hoping the one solid hormone would regulate me.
I never got the chance to take it.
Waiting for my period to start again so that I could start my new pack, I learned I was pregnant.
I don't blame the ortho-tricyclen as much as I feel the Depo was responcible for my extreem hormonal upset. My body just wasn't sure what it was doing after the Depo, and the pills couldn't work as effectively due to my body already being SO out of whack.
I also gained over 40lbs while on Depo, which I didn't realize was due to that until all of these revelations about it suddenly came out.
Also- my best friend was on Depo for a year longer then I was, though at the same time, and she has yet to stop bleeding. All of her pap smears have come back abnormal (something my doctor told me she's seeing more and more of from Depo users) and she's bleeding 3 weeks out of the month. All the oral birthcontrol they've tried on her hasn't worked at all- she still bleeds, but she also vomits horribly while on the oral birthcontrol now.
I don't think any of us realized the true extent of Depo's effects.. and perhaps we won't until we're all in our 50's with broken bones and ovarian cancer... I'm just too busy right now praying that my baby is at least healthy, especially with all of the problems I've already had.
I hope everyone has a better outcome then I did, and hopefully, we all come out of this ok in the end.
-Rebecca

-- posted by beccabussa

Top 357. Jan 24, 2006 8:07 PM

» Heather82 - What has Depo done...

My name is Heather Walls. I am a proud mother of a two year old boy. He was born in December 2003. After giving birth to him I decided to go back on birth control. I was on the pill (Ortho) prior to getting pregnant with him and it had taken me a year since i stopped taking the pill to finally get pregnant. So i told my doctor after I had my son, that I didn't want to be put back on the pill for that reason. I didn't want to have to wait a whole year to get pregnant whenever I decided to stop using birth control. My doctor strongly recommended Depo. So I have had a total of 7 shots of Depo since I had my son. I was last due for a Depo shot in October of 2005 and I didn't go in for it. I was planning on having a baby. During Christmas (2005), my fiance and I had planned on trying to get pregnant. About two weeks ago I started having pregnancy signs and I was four days late on my period. I took a test this past Friday, it came up positive. Saturday night I started bleeding heavily, very clotty dark brown, what seemed to be almost black blood. I had extremely bad cramps and lower back pain and a headache with dizziness all weekend. The bleeding finally stopped yesterday and I was concerned so I took another test, now I'm not pregnant. I will be going in to get checked as soon as I possibly can, but I know I miscarried. I had never heard anything bad about Depo until now, and now that I have, I wish I had never taken it. I have literally found thousands of women that the same exact thing happen to them. There have been many things that has happened to me since I have been put on Depo, including rashes that I have never had, my hair slowly falling out, not as bad as most I have read about, but still. I have had many problems with my joints, back, and teeth that I never had before. I WAS completely healthy. I was wondering if anyone could help me in any way. I have read articles that Depo is being investigated in Canada and elsewhere. I am just hoping that this one miscarriage isn't going to lead to others. This is the most depressing time of my life...I am at an emotional loss with this...I can't take it...I was so happy to be pregnant again, and now...I'm not. Do I have to look forward to this every time I get pregnant? What if my body is messed up as bad as some of the women I have read about? Please Help...

In desperate need of answers

-- posted by Heather82