Complaint Review: Pharmacia

Pharmacia did not put all the possible side effects of Depo-Provera for customers to examine. I got on Depo-Provera in January 2004, and the OB/GYN that gives me the shot talked to me about it and they said that it was a safe shot according to what Pharmacia has said about it.

The possible side effects that Pharmacia gives are: possible bone density loss, loss of period, spotting, hair loss, depression, blood clots, 5 lb. weight gain for first year, cancer risks, eye problems, eptopic pregnancies and lactations.

Before I got on Depo-Provera, I was a very active 17 year old. I was always on the go. I never weighed more than 115 lbs. Soon after I got my first Depo shot I became very ill. I had severe neck and back pain, pains shooting through the spine, muscle spasms which caused my shoulder blade to swell two times the size it should be. I became very prone to migrains (which is a possible side effect), I also became very allergic to more things than I was before I got on the shot.

I visited numerous doctors/neurologists. I had multiple MRI's, Cat scans and blood work. Everything said the same thing there was nothing wrong with me, I was healthy. I baffled all the doctors that I went to. My parents have spent so much money trying to figure out what was wrong. I also was very fatigued, I was always in too much pain to even get out of bed. I wasn't able to stand up for more than 30 minutes without being in pain.

I missed my whole senior year in high school because I was in too much pain to go most days. I gained 20 lbs in a little over a year. After every Depo shot I recieved it seems I have a really bad relapse of my sickness shorty after that, but I just recently put it all together.

I really wish they would put ALL of the possible side effects of the drug, when they are giving it to poor teenagers! I have suffered for a year from all of this. I am not the only one who has had these same exact effects from it. There are thousands of women throughout the U.S. that have suffered from the Depo-Provera! It needs to be taken off the market until Pharmacia can study it more.

I am now just getting off Depo-Provera and I am able to exercise again. I know that all of these symptoms will still come back because this drug stays in your system.

Amanda
Savannah, Georgia
U.S.A.