From: collene@unisql.UUCP (Collene Pearce)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: depo provera LONG
Date: 9 Nov 92 18:55:10 GMT
Organization: UniSQL, Inc., Austin, Texas, USA

In article <83246@ut-emx.uucp> llama@pooh.cc.utexas.edu (sine nomine) writes:
>Steve Dyer (dyer@spdcc.com) wrote:
>
>: Depo-Provera has long been approved for purposes other than its use as
>: contraceptive.  My understanding is that it was approved for
>: contraceptive use last week, but I wasn't paying too much attention
>: either, because I was at Interop in San Francisco.
>
>i'm really curious about how it's used as a contraceptive. i've got
>polycystic ovaries and periodically have to take provera to induce
>periods (without medication, i'd only have one a year or so). the
>usual pattern is to take it for five days and then stop, with bleeding
>starting a couple of days later.
>for contraceptive purposes, do people just take it that way every
>month (for five or ten days only)? or is it a 21-day thing like
>traditional oral contraceptives? or is it a daily pill?

In layman's terms:

It is injected in some sort of mineral oil solution (my doctor said).  
Usually in the hip.  The solution is thick, so the shot is a little painful.  
The shot lasts for 3 months (longer for some people).  (It is not cheaper to
use than birth control pills.  It's more expensive and the doctor receives
all payment, instead of splitting it with a pharmacy.)  

My doctor recommended this because he thinks I am too old to continue
with birth control pills.  ;-)  Before accepting this method (on a trial 
basis), I asked my doctor exactly how it worked.  He told me that it is
the progesterone (sp?) in birth control pills which puts the body into a 
state of false pregnancy (thus preventing ovulation).  He says the estrogen
in the pills is primarily to insure that you have a period.  The depo provera
is just the progesterone.  The estrogen is the nasty stuff he wants me to 
stay away from (mumble, mumble, grrrh!).

One of the possible side effects of the drug is that you have no period.
Another side effect is that you have "break-thru bleeding" occasionally
or continuously.  I have the former and I don't consider this is an adverse
side effect.  ;-)

This may sound strange, but after taking the drug for some months now, I can 
tell when it is time for another shot.  The problem is, I don't know if I 
can tell because I am no longer protected or because I am just gettting close
to that point. It would be nice if I knew for sure.

Ages ago, when I was younger and was just starting to take the pill, I could
have told you exactly how this stuff works.  Today, I no longer have the
interest in medicine that I once did, so you're just getting the non-technical
"general patient overview".  Perhaps one of the doctors (or whatever)
on the net will explain exactly how it works.  (If they do, I promise I
will save the article for posterity.)  ;-)

-- 

********************* #include <std_disclaimer.h> **********************
* A. Collene Pearce (512-343-7372, x114) * Organization: UniSQL, Inc.  *
*                                        * Austin, TX                  *
* unisql!collene@cs.utexas.edu           * 512-343-7297 or 7383(fax)   *
************************************************************************
Newsgroups: sci.med