Just had another read through of your info Ouchy and you say that your friends were given Provera pills to bring on their periods but I have been told they were giving me the pills to stop mine... I wonder if these could be different drugs after all?
Well, Depo Provera and Provera are taken entirely differently, so they're different drugs in that case--one a shot, one a pill..and the duration of both. If you are taking just Provera---pill form, here is some more info . I think it depends on how you take the Provera pills, and I think it is based on how the progestin in b.c. pills works--how many days you take the pill and when you hit the placebos and have a withdrawl bleed.
Here. I found a link about Provera to bring on a period. It's from a university medical website.
www.utmb.edu/whcg/gynecology/medroxyprog.htmHere is also from Pfizer's .pdf of the proscribing information for Provera---
NOT Depo Provera.
"Provera brand of medroxyprogesterone acetate tablets
INDICATIONS AND USAGE
PROVERA Tablets are indicated for secondary amenorrhea
and for abnormal uterine bleeding due to hormonal
imbalance in the absence of organic pathology,
such as fibroids or uterine cancer. PROVERA Tablets
are also indicated to reduce the incidence of endometrial
hyperplasia in nonhysterectomized postmenopausal
women receiving 0.625 mg conjugated estrogen.
DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION
Secondary Amenorrhea—PROVERA Tablets may be
given in dosages of 5 or 10 mg daily for 5 to 10 days. A
dose for inducing an optimum secretory transformation
of an endometrium that has been adequately primed
with either endogenous or exogenous estrogen is 10 mg
of PROVERA daily for 10 days. In cases of secondary
amenorrhea, therapy may be started at any time.
Progestin withdrawal bleeding usually occurs within
three to seven days after discontinuing PROVERA therapy.
Abnormal Uterine Bleeding Due to Hormonal
Imbalance in the Absence of Organic Pathology—
Beginning on the calculated 16th or 21st day of the
menstrual cycle, 5 or 10 mg of medroxyprogesterone
acetate may be given daily for 5 to 10 days. To produce
an optimum secretory transformation of an endometrium
that has been adequately primed with either endogenous
or exogenous estrogen, 10 mg of medroxyprogesterone
acetate daily for 10 days beginning on the 16th
day of the cycle is suggested. Progestin withdrawal
bleeding usually occurs within three to seven days after
discontinuing therapy with PROVERA. Patients with a
past history of recurrent episodes of abnormal uterine
bleeding may benefit from planned menstrual cycling
with PROVERA.
Okay. So, yah. it works like the pill. When you quit taking it, you have a "withdrawl bleed." Sounds like he's going to have you use it much like the b.c. pill to hopefully stop your bleeding. In anovulatory women, it's used to bring on the "period"--actually withdrawl bleed so they can hopefully go on to an anovulatory cycle.
Make sense now?