Prometrium Jump Start?

Question

I am healthy and 21-years-old and until recently I had been on birth control pills since the age of 16. My husband and I are trying for a baby. I went off of my birth control pills in August. I had my period on August 4th and then did not have one on my own again. On December 17th I started Prometrium as prescribed by my doctor. On December 30th my period started and lasted for five days. Before birth control pills I was always regular. From what I have read, if you experience bleeding after taking Prometrium it means you likely have estrogen present in your system but you are not ovulating. My doctor wants me to continue to take Prometrium every other month if I do not have a period on my own. I know that Prometrium does not induce ovulation. My mother also did not ovulate when first coming off of birth control pills and eventually her body went back to normal and she has had six healthy kids. My doctor hopes that the Prometrium will “jump start” my body and I will go back to normal cycles and start ovulating on my own. My question is how does the Prometrium “jump start” me? Also, if I am not ovulating will the Prometrium be enough to help or should I look into trying Clomid?

Answer

Last Updated: June 14, 2013
You are 21 and have quite a bit of time to recover from the effects of birth control pills. If you had regular periods before pills, you will probably have them again. It is usually safer to have your own ovulations, rather than drug-induced ovulations, if there is a good possibility you will ovulate on your own. Clomid can make you more likely to have twins, and single pregnancies are easier on your body and have fewer complications. Prometrium will help with ovulation because the high level of natural progesterone in the Prometrium will “feed back” to your pituitary, and in turn help it put out a higher level of your own pituitary hormones FSH and LH. The FSH and LH should eventually stimulate ovulation. The approach of giving the Prometrium every other month is a reasonable one, and will allow you and your doctor an opportunity to see if your own cycles have recovered. If you are not ovulating six months after beginning Prometrium, you may need more of a workup and to try another type of treatment.

Dr. Mary Davenport

Answered By:

Mary Davenport, MD, MS
Mary Davenport, MD, FACOG, an obstetrician/gynecologist from the Oakland Region of California, offers telehealth services over MyCatholicDoctor.com She graduated from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed her residency at UC San Diego. Dr. Davenport is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and serves on the Advisory Board of the California Association of Natural Family Planning.

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