Hi all,

I was diagnosed with PCOS in January, and my doctor put me on Provera (the generic name is medroxyprogesterone) to take once every 2 months for five days. It is supposed to force my period to come. I'm using it now for the first time since seeing her (I was having my period with an abnormally heavy flow when I visited, so no need to use it in Jan!)

My question is for anyone who has used it before: how did it affect you and your weight loss?

Right now, I'm feeling bloated, and I can tell I'm retaining water. I'm preparing myself to not see a drop on the scale because of this, but it would be nice to hear from some other folks on the same medication.

My period itself isn't supposed to start until after I've finished the course of Provera, so I have this horrid feeling that I'm going to have a week with no loss because of the meds, and then a week with no loss because of TOM. Hopefully this isn't the case! I guess all I can keep doing is exercising and counting my calories!

So, anyway, if you have Provera stories, please feel free to share them!

At various points in my life I've had to "reboot" a period by using a round of Provera. But typically after that I'd go on monophasic birth control pills for a more consistant dose and because I desired the BC. I took breaks from the pill for various reasons (ex: wanting to conceive, nursing, etc.) but whenever I'd want to go back it's Provera time.

I haven't used it like you are -- to keep rebooting every other month.

It comes in 5 day withdrawal or 10 day withdrawal, but I go with 5 day version and usually get it by the time its up. There's the bloaty PMS-y feelings and then once I got period, it was usually heavy and dark blood since I hadn't had one in a long time and that is why I was rebooting.

Then after settling into the BCP, periods were lighter, more regular and more bright red rather than dark, old blood.

As for weight loss, I'm content on BCP -- I take generic Orthocyclen since monophasics tend to to work better for PCOS me than triphasic. Other than some mild bloat right before TOM, I feel infinitely better on BCP as part of my PCOS management.

HTH!
A.

I took provera for 10 days to reset my cycle. I ate healthy within my calorie range and exercised regularly and I did see my weight drop off. So don't loose hope and keep trying. The more you lose weight, better would be your chances of avoiding PCOS related problems.

Here's a strange symptom: I'm less hungry on Provera. Yesterday whenever I ate, I felt like I was doing it just because I needed to get in the calories, but I wasn't really hungry. In fact, I ended up only eating 1200 calories though I had budgeted for 1500 simply because I just didn't want those extra snacks. Normally I eat all my calories without thinking about it - I'm hungry at the right times.

So I guess these are the things I'm noticing:

- Loss of appetite
- Bloating
- Sleepiness (I'm never this tired in the morning)

I haven't had cramping or any of my "usual" PMS symptoms. In some ways it's kind of exciting - the weight loss/eating healthy has allowed me to be more in tune with my body and realize when things are different. So when I see my gyno and/or therapist, I'll be able to tell them about the changes the medication brought.

I noticed severe bloating and loss of appetite as well. It took 13 days for AF to show up. Blech.

The good thing is the side effects are short lived and as soon as I started I was back to feeling normal.

I take provera every other month- 1tab x 10 days. I've been doing this for years. I really don't notice any symptoms. I really recommend taking it as directed. I use to take it once every like 4 months.. when i wanted to have a period. But then i developed uterine polyps from not having a period regularly that i had to have surgically removed. they were clogging up my uterus which wasn't helping with my infertility. Provera hasn't helped me get pregnant.. and I really didn't notice a weight loss in relation to it. I have lost 50+lbs on my own. Still working on it! Good luck to you!