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Period
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Has anyone lost their period for longer than 3 months? My gyno wants to put me on provera for 10 days every 3 months. She says it's important for women to have a period once every three months.
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Re: Period [callie] [ In reply to ]
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Mine is totally all over the place and commonly 3 months between periods. I don't think there is any reason to have a period every 3 months other than to know if you're pregnant or not. I find the provera idea a little silly, but that's holdencain's area not mine. Did you recently go off birth control or lose a lot of weight? Did you increase your training load?

:-)

Jodi
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Re: Period [Jodi] [ In reply to ]
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No, I haven't been on birth control pills nor have I lost weight. I did, however, start doing ironmans in 2006 and have since done 4 of them. My period started becoming irregular in 2007. My blood tests show that my ovaries have stopped producing estrogen so my doctor advises me to take provera to avoid endiometreosis (sp?) cancer. My training volume declined for three months but my period never came back. I am concerned about the side effects of taking provera and would like to avoid if possible. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else experienced this as well and what happened.
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Re: Period [Jodi] [ In reply to ]
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Jodi

What about the loss of bone density?? I thought that if you are amenorrheic it puts you at risk for stress fractures. I'm not sure what the true definition of amenorrhea is. For example how many months do you have to go without a period to put yourself at risk??

I complain about getting my period, but really it makes me feel like I'm doing a great job with my nutrition.

I'm usually like clockwork every 28 days I get my period. Until this month. SO now I'm worried. I've been training long distance for 9 years and have always been on this cycle. I haven't lost any weight ,in fact I've been lighter before and never missed. I am also older 44 so I may just be irregular d/t perimenopause.

Hope some of the MD's get in on this thread and give us the scoop about bone density.
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Re: Period [callie] [ In reply to ]
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Callie how old are you?? Do you have a history of endometriosis??
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Re: Period [PC] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
I'm not sure what the true definition of amenorrhea is. For example how many months do you have to go without a period to put yourself at risk??[/quote]
amenorrhea = 3 months (consecutive).

I know a lot about that, and osteoporosis, but I don't know the answer to how long you have to go w/o a period to have a heightened osteoporosis risk - as soon as you start losing estrogen your bones will suffer a bit I guess. Where's CatisTrining?! Bet she can answer this. You are correct that amenhorrea often means bone density loss and increased fracture risk.

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: Period [PC] [ In reply to ]
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PC, I am 42 years old and do not have a history of bone density or endometriosis. I recently had a complete blood work exam and all my readings were within "range" except estrogen, per my gyno dr.

I am currently increasing my training volume again for another ironman in October so I am a bit concerned about not having a period and/or going on any medication right now. Thanks everyone for all your input!
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Re: Period [callie] [ In reply to ]
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Callie, I am not an expert in this area other than my period used to be very irregular and I was able to get it back to normal cycle by cutting way back on caffeine and by gaining some weight. I am trying to get pregnant so these were choices I had to make to increase my chances. I went from 48+ day cycles down to 35 day cycles, then I did a round of Clomid (causes your body to overproduce estrogen) and since then I am now at 28 day cycles. It was like the drug reset my system.

You could try one month of the medication and see what it does. Hope all is well for you!
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Re: Period [callie] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Callie,

I have been on provera for my last two cycles and will likely be starting my third cycle of it tomorrow. So I have some experience with the drug but let me first say that I'm sure everyone's body reacts differently to drugs. That being said all I have really noticed while on provera is that I get PMS like symptoms. Especially irritability :) During my first cycle I was eating a "regular diet" and I was likely overeating as a result of the PMS - I get food cravings when I get PMS. So I felt fat and gross and overall very unhappy. It was also my first "period" in 8 months. I ended up experiencing some cramping (like I used to back in high school). After getting my period I went on Clomid (my husband and I are trying to get pregnant) - I didn't ovulate that cycle either so I took provera again. However this time around I switched my eating habits to about 60-80% RAW diet - no alcohol, VERY limited caffeine, no refined sugars, no dairy and meat (ie. vegan). Although I still experienced the irritability the second cycle it wasn't as bad as my first cycle. Much more managable. I followed that with a higher dose of clomid (horrible) and still did not ovulate (I'm currently waiting for the blood work phone call to confirm but I'm fairly certain) so I will be starting my third round of provera tomorrow.

All this to say that I do not ovulate naturally but since we are actually trying to get pregant is more of an issue for me. I've spoken to a naturopath on this topic and she recommended (in the beginning, ie. after 90 days of no cycle and before we sought fertility assistance) to take for two weeks, 2 tablespoons of "fresh - ie. do it yourself daily" ground flaxseed, followed by two weeks of 2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds and repeat if require. She also indicated that it could take up to 3 months for your cycle to return. I've also read about Maca powder which apparently helps re-eatablish hormonal balance. I'm going to try it out this cycle as well. I figure that I might as well try the "natural" methods since I'm not ovulating anyways...every little helps hopefully :)

As for our "fertility" treatment, we're moving on to the injectables stage so I likely only have two more cycles of provera in my near future and then I should ovulate through the use of drugs. I'm not too thrilled about using drugs to try and concieve, it just isn't natural....but if my body isn't ovulating I'm not sure what else we can do if we would like to expand our family of two.
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Re: Period [Rika] [ In reply to ]
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why was the clomid horrible if you don't mind me asking?
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Re: Period [tri2tri] [ In reply to ]
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Let me preface by saying that everyone's body reacts differently to the Clomid. I experienced some pretty bad pressure headaches while I was on the Clomid. I felt like my head was an overstuffed ballon that just needed to be popped to release the pressure. The pressure while I was taking the drug was like nothing I had ever experienced. I am also not prone to headaches so IMO it made it more difficult. When the dosage of the Clomid increased the headaches got worse. In addition, there were the somewhat common hot flashes (where I'd wake up soaking wet in the middle of the night) and the inability to "deal" with any type of stress. I definitely did not feel like myself on the drugs.

All that being said, I'm not knocking the drug for those that are trying to conceive. It just didn't react well in my body. I guess a part of me was really hoping that the side effects I experienced were not going to be all for not...but we have a new plan so I'm staying positive!

I think I took this chat a little off topic....sorry.
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