https://persian--girl.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] persian--girl.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] vaginapagina2011-10-12 05:22 pm

Dilemma!

I haven't had a period in over 12 months. I was diagnosed with PCOS. The doctor told me to go back on the birth control I was taking (Diane-35). I asked how I was supposed to start taking it again, when in the instructions it says to take your first pill the first day of you period, and I'm not getting my period. So she prescribed me 'progesterone.' (I think. I am pretty sure this is the name of the pill I was prescribed - something she said I take for 5 days, then after a couple days I will start to bleed.)
Well apparantly progsterone is on back order and there wont be any in supply of all of Ontario (where I live) for at least four months.
I'm in this back-and-forth 'calling the doctor's receptionsist then calling the pharmacy game,' getting pretty fed up with it, and decided to ask you fine people before I call my doctors office back (because the lady on the phone was rude and I want to know more information before calling her again).
The doctor's receptionist already said, before I was informed by the pharmacy that the drug is need is out of supply for months, that my doctor said the 'other option' >insert some name I have no idea what she said< would not work in my case, so they didnt prescribe an alertnative.
Are there alternatives? The pharmacist said that there were other things they could give me, and to ask my doctor. *SIGH* So I guess I just want to know if anybody knows of alternatives, particularly the names so I can research them, or if anybody has any advice on what else I should be doing here.
I am pretty sure after a year of not having my period Im going to start putting myself at risk of something bad here.. so I dont want to wait another four months, if they even get it in four months (they arent even sure if it will be there in that time).

[identity profile] gatehorse.livejournal.com 2011-10-12 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Did your doctor give you a specific reason for starting the pill on the first day of your period? Generally the reason this is recommended is because it's effective against pregnancy immediately if you start it on the first day. You can start it when you're not bleeding, in which case it will be effective against pregnancy after 7 days of taking it. For you, since you are using it for period regulation and not pregnancy protection, it shouldn't matter when you start it (though if you also intend to use it for pregnancy protection, just be aware of the seven day rule).

[identity profile] gatehorse.livejournal.com 2011-10-12 10:25 pm (UTC)(link)
As far as I can tell, your pill is a combined pill, which means that yes, there is a 7 day rule. I can't find anything to contradict that, and I don't see a reason it would be contradicted, because it is a combined pill. If you wanted to be really safe to make sure you've gotten back into the habit of taking it, you could use backup while having sex for a month instead of 7 days. But after those 7 days (or a month if you're really worried) you will be protected as protected as if you'd started it on the first day of your period.

[identity profile] gatehorse.livejournal.com 2011-10-12 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
LOL no worries. Odd that I can't find much info about it online, but yeah, I'm fairly certain it's like any other combined pill, with the 21/7 rule

[identity profile] paraxeni.livejournal.com 2011-10-13 04:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I take Dianette, which is the UK version of Diane, and it's only when you've missed more than one pill that you have to start a new pack. A pill has to be more than 12 hours late before it can be considered 'missed', so you have some leeway if you accidentally forget. (just checked info for Diane35 and it's the same) The only time it's recommended to start a new pack is if you miss an active pill in the last seven days of the active (usually beige) pills in the pack. If that happens then you carry on with the pack, but instead of taking the placebo pills you start a new pack of active pills instead and skip your placebo week.

In addition, you can start it now. The progesterone your doctor prescribed won't give you a period anyway, just a withdrawal bleed. If you start the Diane now it'll be seven days until you can safely have sex without using another method too. I use Dianette for PCOS (for about 14 years now) and took it without having a period on three or four occasions.