Posted by metalflipflop on January 16, 2004, at 9:50:55
In reply to For the females, medication-related. Effexor-XR, posted by Bell_75 on January 16, 2004, at 0:35:05
=/ sorry you are in this situation. when i went on meds (celexa, now zoloft and lamictal) i remember reading that they can (though rarely) cause menstrual irregularities. my periods have been SO erratic lately (i am 21, been on medication since i was 20), and my gyno attributes that to weight loss. my appetite is so lost on these meds, and now i'm a bit too thin. i think it can work either way though--has your weight changed much? have you been consistently stressed, even about this issue? i have read about the stress sort of jinxing ourselves regarding the very reason we are worrying!
i have gone 70, 80 days without a period though usually have had random spotting. i too have felt like i am still cycling somehow, feeling pms and bloating and cramps and all that, but just never actually having my period start! i bet there are so many interactions we don't know about between serotonin-increasing drugs and hormones. what we do know is that hormones definitely affect mood, so why not the other way around? my doc says my symptoms indicate that i am having anovulatory cycles, meaning that i don't ovulate so my uterine lining doesn't build up and shed like normal. my estrogen level is normal, however, so i still go through its monthly fluctuations.
??????
doesn't make a lot of sense to me, really, no matter how much i read about the subject. it is slightly worrisome as i don't want children now but in the future want to at least have the option! i mean, we're young, we should be fertile, right?? i agree that you should go to a female doc (gp or gyno) and have her check your hormone levels--estrogen, thyroid, whatever they can do--as well as ruling out all other possible causes.
our bodies are telling us something, whatever it may be.
good luck,
liz
poster:metalflipflop
thread:301474
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040114/msgs/301559.html