off Depo, can't stop bleeding

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-23-2004
off Depo, can't stop bleeding
2
Tue, 07-13-2004 - 9:51pm
I received a depo shot in April and then again in May to stop my chronic pelvic pain. I happened to switch gynecologists at the beginning of June and she took me off of the injection. I was due for it on the 28th of June. I started to spot on the 27th of June and then it increased to a light but painful period. It is still going (18 days). I was referred to a urologist three weeks ago for a possible prolapsed uterus caused by the bladder. ( I don't really understand that one ) but anyway I finally got in today and he didn't want to do the exam because I was bleeding. He made an appointment for next Wednesday. I have got to stop bleeding by then. I go to my reproductive endocrinologist later this week but if he isn't planning on putting me on the pill or something I dont' know when it is going to stop. Please help me. Has anyone experienced this coming off of the Depo shot and if so how long is it going to last? Any info would be so great. Thank you in advance.

God Bless,

Amanda

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 8:22am
I guess I'm a little confused... Depo Provera is a three-month shot. You got one in April, which should be good until the end of June if you got the shot in the beginning of the month, but you got another one in May? So then you'd be good through July...that's a heck of a lot of hormones!! You'd technically not be off Depo yet because of the shot in May, and the effects of the shot can last for months after the end of the three months.

Getting bleeding to stop when it's caused by a hormonal imbalance is tough, especially with so many doctors involved. Each is probably going to have a different opinion! It's possible that just estrogen might stop the bleeding, the pill might stop the bleeding, but it's still possible that you may not be able to stop it with artificial means and your body may be working overtime to try to manage that much Depo and need a break. Bleeding issues are hard! Don't feel bad, lots of women have had problems with rescheduling appointments around bleeding.

See what your RE thinks, that should help you figure out a game plan, I'd hope. Good luck to you, I hope you can get a plan that works!

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control 
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Wed, 07-14-2004 - 10:57am
Hi Amanda. I started taking Depo 4 years ago. The first shot I ever got made me bleed for at least 1 month to 2 months (can't remeber the exact amount of time since it was a while ago!). It was really nasty too, I thought chunks of my insides were falling out! And I was getting weird cramps, which I never used to get with my regular period. So I went back to see my doctor and she told me that it's normal because your body is going through changes and that the bleeding would eventually stop, and it did. I had a friend who tried it at about the same time, and she got freaked out by these side effects so she stopped taking the shot, but basically the same thing happened to her. And just the other day, I was asking another friend about a problem I'm having now with bleeding between shots, and she told me that her friend recently got her first Depo shot 4 months ago and hasn't stopped bleeding since. So I guess it's pretty normal for that to happen, just differences between each woman because everyone's different. But I'm kind of confused about you getting shots a month apart from eachother. I know Depo has other uses as well, like your form of chronic pain, but that probably made the bleeding even worse. I know I didn't really offer any advice to you, but I just wanted to let you know that most people that I know of have experienced crazy bleeding the first time, and that as far as I know, that's to be expected! Just ask your doc what he/she thinks.
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