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Serious Health Risks? OK, What Are They?

LostAngeles

Penultimate Amazing
L
Joined
May 22, 2004
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Oops. I may have just been given an irreversible shot that maybe I shouldn't have been. Of course, this is considering that on the list of contraindictions, the thing that I orginally went in to see the doctor for is listed second. The shot was kind of an afterthought. "While I'm here..."

Now, the thing I went in for is listed by WebMD to be a result of either an infection or abnormal growths (cancerous ones are rare). So as far as potential infection or cancer, I would doubt that this would have an effect, especially when studies show that there's a decreased instance of cancer with this drug.

Ok, but it still says "serious health risks" and I'd like to know what they are. Hitting the maker's website does nothing. FDA's produced the same results.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I'd like to know how a big a hole I should be tearing when I call.
 
What on earth are you talking about? I mean, name names here if you want any answers.

Rolfe.
 
It's Depo-Provera. I did manage to find a number I can call for the manufacturer (Pharmacia, now Pfizer). Otherwise, I think I'm going to have to call the place I went to.

I do have my suspicions on maybe why I was allowed to take the shot. One means there's factors in the contraindiction I'm not aware of, the other implies apathy and presumption on the part of the doctor.
 
Soapy Sam said:
Well, at least you won't get pregnant.
Click to expand...

Ha! That's contraindiction #1. Being Preggers.

Pfizer seemed mildy perturbed but not, "get thee to a hospital," and everyone at the place I got it is busy. I'm presuming that massive hemmoraghing and massive pain is pretty much what I'm looking for and not "brain tumor."
 
Human-type injectable contraceptive. I can tell you why not to take it if you're a bitch! :D

Seriously, unless you're going to share about why they gave you the injection, even the medics around here aren't going to be able to say anything very sensible. (As far as I remember, at the time when there was concern about the stuff, it was a long-term concern, not anything really about a one-off dose.)

Rolfe.
 
Assuming you're female here, LostAngeles, but if you're a dude... well, I'd never be one to advocate suing doctors but, you might want to call-up Johnny Cochrane.

Otherwise, ditto Rolfe. Why was this even considered in the first place? Did they not do a pregnancy test before administering? Are you concerned you may be pregnant? Are you a bleeder? (If so, you can just take estrogen on top of the shot until it runs out.)

In the meantime, if you're in the U.S. (assuming you are), it's only "irreversible" for about three about months. Some other countries (I've heard, namely in South America) have formulations that last a year!

-TT
 
They gave it to me for contraception. I got sick of the pills.

The problem is, is that I went in for "undiagnosed vaginal bleeding" after uh, extra-curricular activities. That could be any number things running from "eh" to "I get to kill someone" to "...crap." and picking out a wig. (mild infection, STD, cancer)

I know all about the beagles. I found that and that and that and that and then some more about the beagles. God forbid I actually find any of the papers on the studies right?

Edited to add: I'm suspecting that if they didn't find anything in the pelvic, then I don't have something that would be a concern with Depo. Alternatively, they looked at me and said, "Uh huh, long-term monogamous relationship. Sure." To the defense of that one though, certain STDs never present or incubate for a nice long time. Also, the bleeding did seem hormonal at first, it just stopped seeming that way and that's where my concern is.
 
LA- All I know about the stuff is from a radio program I heard at least six years ago. Such concern as was expressed was the old one of evil pharmas testing drugs in the third world that they were not yet allowed to test at home. The experimental patients all seemed pretty pleased with the stufff. I had wondered occasionally why we haven't heard more about it in the west.
 
TT, Lost Angeles is female.

Reading the OP again, she went to the doctor with a medical complaint. The doc decided just to give her the contraceptive shot while she was handy. Now she sees that her original complaint is #2 in the list of contraindications for the injection.

I think.

My colleague Irma says there should be a law against patients being allowed to read the patient pack inserts! (Her father never takes any prescribed medicine, because by the time he's read the pack insert he's too afraid to take it.) I'd take a modest bet there's little practical concern here.

Rolfe.
 
Soapy Sam said:
LA- All I know about the stuff is from a radio program I heard at least six years ago. Such concern as was expressed was the old one of evil pharmas testing drugs in the third world that they were not yet allowed to test at home. The experimental patients all seemed pretty pleased with the stufff. I had wondered occasionally why we haven't heard more about it in the west.
Click to expand...
All I know is that back in the 1970s it was used in bitches for a short time, and vastly increased the incidence of pyometra. A nasty condition bitches get, but women don't, or not in the same form or for the same reasons.

So it was pulled from the veterinary lists, though I think it might be back now in a reformulation. I think there were some human-type concerns too, but I don't remember what. Though nothing relating just to a single dose.

Er, storm, teacup, and back to the perennial vet-and-medic whine of "can't we ban all patients and their owners from accessing the Internet?"

Rolfe.
 
Go the whole way. Ban patients entirely. Think how peaceful your life would be.You could spend all day reading about bioelectromange , ticks, typos...
 
Rolfe said:
TT, Lost Angeles is female.

Reading the OP again, she went to the doctor with a medical complaint. The doc decided just to give her the contraceptive shot while she was handy. Now she sees that her original complaint is #2 in the list of contraindications for the injection.

I think.

My colleague Irma says there should be a law against patients being allowed to read the patient pack inserts! (Her father never takes any prescribed medicine, because by the time he's read the pack insert he's too afraid to take it.) I'd take a modest bet there's little practical concern here.

Rolfe.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's exactly it.

I figured some of the doctor's here would know of where I could find some studies, hence my inital vagueness. I'd have hit Lexis Nexis, but that would require time travel in o rder to get to my school's library while it was still open.

You're actually right on both counts, there and that makes me feel better. Logically, I can't imagine it interfering with an infection, and if my pelvic exam was good, then that pretty much leaves polyps or cancer I guess. Considering that the packet said that the risk of cancer (non breast) is slight to none it might actually be a good thing.

So suffice to say, I think that if I don't start bleeding massively or double over in pain, I'll probably stop worrying. I don't know how good that is considering that I stopped worrying about "What if I have cancer?" by rationalizing how I'd have to drop a couple of classes to work in all the stuff that would need to be done...

Patients... we really are terrible, aren't we?

ETA: I wasn't actually running about panicking either. It was more of a "Gee, I really probably should look into this." I freak out more about my cats. Then again, I'm also on painkillers still... hey, what's that shiny thing...
 
LostAngeles said:
Yeah, that's exactly it.

I figured some of the doctor's here would know of where I could find some studies, hence my inital vagueness. I'd have hit Lexis Nexis, but that would require time travel in o rder to get to my school's library while it was still open.
Click to expand...

Well there are plenty of abstracts over at www.pubmed.com But I couldn't find anything useful (depending on your defintion of useful "Depo-Provera" limited to clinical trials and items with abstracts only produced a bit over 600 hundread hits. Not much use from my point of view.
 
Disclaimer, "IANAD" (IAAV!). But this doesn't sound like an area of major concern. There's a load of stuff on package inserts because of legal requirements, which doesn't amount to a hill of beans in practical terms.

I honestly doubt very much if there's anything to worry about.

Rolfe.
 
Well, I did manage to find out what it was.

Because Depo can cause bleeding, if you haven't been SEEN BY A DOCTOR FOR IT, it might cause a misdiagnosis of the problem. As in, "Ah, must be the Depo."

So long as it's not going to aggravate anything, and that was my concern.

Patient Information Packs... Really. These things are a BAD IDEA, especially for people like me who like to read them out of curiosity.

So, thanks for all the input, folks. I appreciate it. It was very soothing.

(Note to self: Just become a doctor yourself next time.)
 
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