metformin and provera

[bethers]

hi girls
i have a question!
i was diagnosed with insulin resistance after a miscarriage and d&c - the surgeon gave me a referral to her gyno clinic at the hospital (i live in australia, so going thru the hospital means it's free, which is great for me). before that, i'd always had my pcos dealt with by my GP - which basically meant he did nothing except put me on the pill.

anyways - so i've been taking the met, and increased slowly from 500 to 1500 a day. i started the 1500 last week.

i also took provera a month ago now to induce a period since i hadn't had one since my miscarriage 2 months before.

now the gyno wants me to take provera on day 16 to 24 of each cycle (ooh that reminds me, that was yesterday, whoops better start it again). just because my cycles are very irregular, and to shorten them i guess - i am also very low in progesterone so she said the boost of that would help?

anyways, since i started the 1500mg of met, i have been VERY tired and very nauseous! it's horrible, i feel so sick. and exhausted. so i'm not sure why? is it the met? or could i be pregnant? i'm on cd17 but my period was brought on by the provera. i did an hpt before i took it just in case and it was negative, but that was a while ago now. if you ARE pregnant, would you still get a period if you took provera? i'm a bit confused!

my specialist doesn't want me pregnant for 6 months so i can lose a few pounds and hopefully that and the met will help sort out my hormone levels.

what do you think?
i'm sick of feeling sick. ugh.

[skusisto]

You can get pregnant while taking provera, but I would not expect a full period. Maybe some light spotting. If the period was significantly lighter than usual, then it would merit at least testing before you start it again. Provera is known to cause birth defects if taken while pregnant (though if you have a negative result before starting it, it should be too early to impact a baby, or so I've been told). I would encourage you to talk with your doctor about what they think taking provera every month will do for you... it may give you a standard length cycle, but it's not intended to induce ovulation. So to me, it sounds like it would be doing similar to bcp... giving you the feeling like you're having a "normal" cycle, but it's just the meds forcing it to happen. Also, I would suggest that maybe prometrium would be a safer alternative, since it is safe to take during pregnancy (so if you got pregnant, no harm would come to a baby).

[bethers]

hey thanks for your reply.
i think she wants me to take it because it will give me a regular cycle. she wanted me back on the pill but i said no.

in the end i've decided not to take it again as i want to see if my body will work on its own you know? plus i went back to my naturopath last week and am on a liquid herb formula and i can't take provera while taking that. plus she's giving me stuff for my hormones which should help the situation anyway.

she said it's the meds that is causing the nausea. also since i've been taking the herbs - my diahrroea has gotten SOOOO much better! i'm so pleased, it was so draining. i have a lot more energy back too. so i'm very glad.

thanks for your reply though. :)