depo provera- chronic bleeding hmmm??

[sacausa]

I was on the depo shot for 4yrs from age 14-18.... and while on it I had chronic bleeding so I also took a low estrogen pill everyday which effectively took away the bleeding. Originally I went on the depo shot because I had SEVERE cramping with my period which basically had me in bed for a week before and the week of my period. Nothing would help the pain (not even prescription muscle relaxants or vicodin etc....) so my gyn decided that other than doing a laparoscopy which she didn't really want to do on a 14yr old, that getting rid of my period was the best option... She first tried putting me on ortho tricyclin lo and yasmin which didn't help my periods whatsoever so the she ended putting me on depo.

Last spring though I went off depo because it has been shown to contribute to osteoporosis etc... so my gyn put me on yasmin again but I had chronic PAINFUL bleeding on that so she put me on a couple of others (successively) and I have continued to bleed continuously on all of them... I tried each one for about 3 months and none of them have gotten rid of the bleeding (which is fairly light but still painful and annoying) which is now almost lasting a YEAR!!!! She tried putting me on ovocon, yasmin, and others (can't think of the names) and now I'm on Junel......

I had a papsmear in December and the results were normal... but I did what no one should ever do and I googled causes of chronic bleeding and two main things came up in my mind, one was depo side effect (chronic bleeding) but how long would the depo continue to cause that???? and the other was ovarian cancer which I thought that the papsmear would have ruled out since it was normal but apparently papsmears are not good detection devices of ovarian cancer... sooooooooooo now I'm officially freaked out.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? I guess now that my IC is under control I'm paying more attention to whatever my uterus is trying to tell me

[sami4]

Hormone mess

My God, what suffering for someone so young? I assume the Depro and all the shots were for Endo? I wonder if they could shut down the bleeding with a MIRENA medicated IUD? This would keep the uterine lining down and stop endometrium bleeding, but depending on how bad the Endo is, I am not sure about the pain factor. I had Endo once and know the pain during bleeding can be just horrible. If you want to PM me at [email protected] I will share with you what stopped my Endo, and perhaps might help with yours?
Sammi

[sami4]

Forgot

Sorry honey I forgot to ask if you ever had an ultrasound and what it showed? The PAP only tests for cervical cancer, to test for ovarian cancer you can take a blood test, and an ultrasound may also detect some abnormal size in ovaries, but the blood test is the better.
Sammi

[sacausa]

I'll definitely find out about the blood test! I had a vaginal ultrasound done when I was 14yrs old (horrific experience, by the way) and it didn't show anything... but then again, I didn't have these symptoms yet.

I think I'm just going to have to find a gp here in the Miami area where I go to school to test me (I hate student health services)....

[RAS6]

sacausa,
I am going through a similar issue with beleeding on Depo. And I have very few options. I have agenetic blood clotting disorder called Factor 5 Leiden and cannot have ANY Estrogen at all, not even the low dose pills b/c I could throw a clot. Because of this I have struggled to find birthcontrol that works for me. I had an IUD (would not recommend it...) and that was when my IC symptoms started to be honest. Then last year I went on Depo-provera. I didn't have any issues at first, because I was active and exercising back then I didn't even gain weight. I hadn't had a period for over a year untill about 5 weeks ago. It started with spotting, then got FIERCE, went back to spotting, and is strong again this week. My Ob/Gyn said that while it isn't necessarily normal to start spotting after being on the shot for over a year, it can happen. He called it a "bump in the road". Some bump! Having a period for 5 weeks sucks and since my IC is not under control, the bleeding has made that worse too. My only other option would be having my tubes tied or going on the minipill. I know many girls who have gone off of Depo because the bleeding drove them nuts and interferred with their lives. With your other health problems it may not be the Depo, but I know firsthand you can start bleeding out of the blue while on Depo, even if you have been on it for a while. Hope you get some answers soon...

[sacausa]

Rachel, that's atleast a little reassuring that it's possible to bleed a year after stopping depo and not necessarily something serious. It's weird that you mentioned a clotting disorder because it made a light bulb go off in my head... over Christmas break my general practitioner mentioned that my chronic bleeding could be due to a clotting disorder (but I think one where the blood doesn't clot or something like that) but she said the blood test for it would be inconclusive if I was on birth control (I think it was the birth control, it could have been one of my other meds).... and that I'd have to stop the med for 3 months before they could test me for it...

[RAS6]

Might be something to look into. I know there are two types of Factor 5. My type (leiden) causes thick blood that can clot too easily. I have always had rough periods with large clots and lots of crampling and it makes sense now that I know about the disorder. I also have had very long and very irratic periods before I went on the depo. There is another type of factor 5 as well(along with many similar diseases) that causes very thin blood.I hope you can get to the bottom of this soon. It would be very frustrating to finally have IC under caontrol and new problems always popping up!

[sacausa]

I'm definitely going to look into it but other things other than depo or cancer are becomming more apparent.... like the clotting disorder and I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis which is basically low thyroid, and I just remembered that it can cause irregular bleeding... hmmmm things to think about... I'm sure everything I'm experiencing is related somehow, it's just figuring out how

[sami4]

Ultrasound

I had a regular ultrasound once too, and it was a horrible experience. I only have vaginal ultrasounds now and they can see the ovaries with that, just insist on a vaginal or another type of scan if you are worried about your ovaries.
Sammi