PCOS-MEDICATION Messages for May, 2001: Re: Spironolactone

Re: Spironolactone

From: jodi (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Wed, 9 May 2001 08:48:20 -0500 (CDT)

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Hi Lori

Spiro works by blocking the effect the androgens have on your skin. That means it helps with acne and hair growth (although note that the key word herre is "help"... i don't think anything in the world will make up as hair free as we ought to be without PCOS... except laser, maybe...)

For acne, results are seen much sooner than for hair growth. It can take 4-6 months to see a change in hair growth. Waxing might help you see results faster. It is not a cure, and the symptoms will come back when you stop taking it. It's really best to treat the underlying causes of PCOS in conjunction with the spiro, if you can.

As for the irregular periods... Yeah. When I went on spiro last fall, i read the pharmacy leaflet that came with it and it said "inform your doctor if you notice menstrual irregularities." i thought, how would i even know??? because to me, irregular periods meant few and far between.

i took the aldactone (spiro) for 9 days when i started bleeding. since it had been 5 weeks since my last period, at first i thought it was just a period. but it was a strange experience in that a. there were no PMS signs beforehand (i usually get really tired and have sore nipples before my period) and b. there was no cramping at all and c. it was just liquidy blood, not clotty or anything. something just didn't seem right. i bled heavily for 2 weeks before deciding enough was enough. the idea of controlling the hair growth was nice but constant bleeding was not. i quit the medication and the bleeding finally stopped one week after that.

i have read that 50% of users have this prroblem of frequent "periods" on aldactone. in one of the various PCOS boards i read, i read of a woman who had bleeding for a year on aldactone!!! there was no way i wanted that to happen to me. you can take the birth control pill to help control the bleeding, if you have this problem, but i didn't (and don't) want to be on the birth control pill. i felt i'd rather just keep using metformin and try to address the cause of all of this, rather than mask symptoms and not really know if the met was working.

then, a few weeks ago at my last doctors appointment, i decided enough of that, i am sick of the hair, i want to work on that NOW. so against my previous better judgement, i decided to go back on BCPs and add spiro in a month later. well, being on birth control pills has made me a basket case - i just really don't like having no idea what is going with my body. so i am not going to keep taking them. i have read that sometimes, on spiro, this irregular bleeding corrects itself after 4-6 months... but i still haven't made up my mind as to whether or not i really want to take the spiro. i have a feeling i'm not going to. among other things, when i stopped taking the spiro, i had regular periods for 4 months - the first time ever without being on the pill!!! i don't know what the cause of that was... but i am afraid that spiro might make it just as hard as BCPs to figure out if my cycle is normaling out. it's a tough choice... i hate being hairy... but i'd rather know for sure if i was healthy or not... but i hate being hairy... etc.

hope that helps an itty bit... i don't think its known why the spiro has this effect. my suspiscion is somehow it blocks the effects of progresterone, but i don't know if that makes any sense from a medical standpoint whatsoever. progesterone, i think, can have androgen like effects - that's why you get pimples, etc before a period (and in my case, hair gets worse...) - so if a medication blocks androgens, maybe it blocks progesterone, too... but maybe that makes no sense at all, logically speaking.

not all women have this side effect, and maybe you won't... i kind of wonder if it depends on when in your cycle you start the medication. i really don't know. good luck with the spiro though!!! i saw an improvement in my skin in the very short while i was on it, but the bleeding all over my boyfriend's sheets part and the ruining all my underwear part was just getting too humiliating to endure...

- jodi

At Tue, 8 May 2001, Lori wrote: >
>I have been recently diagnosed with PCOS and have started on
>Spironolactone. I did not quite understand my doctor about the
>medication. Is is used to treat both PCOS and to get rid of the hair on
>my face or for just the hair? Also, can anyone let me know how it works
>and how what I will notice? I use a cream twice a week now to remove the
>hair. Should I get it waxed in order to get rid of the roots or will it
>start to thin or fall out on its own? I was also confused when my doctor
>said it can cause irregular periods. My periods are already irregular
>(I only have about 6-8 per year). Please share any experiences you have
>on how well it works. Thanks.

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