Methadone Stopped My Periods (Page 3) (Top voted first)

Can any of the women out there tell me if taking methadone stopped thier periods? I have been on methadone for 4 years now and as soon as I went over 35mg it completely stopped and It has not come back since. I am on 60mg now. I did get lowered to 30 mg at one time years ago and it started right up again. Does anyone know if this might be dangerous? I have asked my doctor at the meth clinic and she stated its nothing to be concerned about because I wanted to know if I should be taking something to make it start and she said no, but for some reason it seems that it just does not sound good for a natural process to stop like that and not have it do any harm. Any feedback would be appreciated.

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Our brains produce natural opiates called endorphins. We've all heard of them. For some reason we don't understand, in people who will become addicted to heroin, the brain stops making enough endorphins. So for someone with this condition, taking opiates -- whether it's heroin or methadone or whatever -- is exactly the same as someone with diabetes taking insulin. So not only does methadone promote wellness, but in people who have this disease of endorphin deficiency, which usually we see as heroin addiction -- that's the way it manifests itself, that's how we make the diagnosis -- methadone is necessary to wellness.
Abstinence-based treatment for opiate addiction -- it doesn't matter what the treatment is, whether it's three years of intensive residential, whether it's intensive outpatient, whether it's 12-step based -- any treatment for opiate addiction that does not include methadone has a relapse rate of 90%. Nine-o. That would be like saying, "Well, 10% of people who are on just a protease inhibitor as opposed to a HAART [highly active anti-retroviral therapy, for HIV] regimen do okay, so let's just start with that." It's insane. But ... talking about methadone and wellness is a whole new slant on it because we don't think about addiction as treatment in terms of wellness. We think about it in terms of goodness or badness. I am successful in my treatment and my husband has been successful with treatment and detox! We don't feel the need to be so negative about methadone. But keep telling the world how you feel it's your right to do so and I'll keep my recovery in a postive light! Again good luck with everything I just will keep praying for you! Hope you find yor answers ;) I find it sad how one sided the world views methadone! I feel awful for what your going trough sucks your allergic I hope you find your solution soon!:)

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Please be carefull my mom had that problem where she would bleed very heavy and huge clots the size of baseballs. One night she was so light headed she has to call the ambulance. I'm not trying to scare you but when she got to the hospital she had lost almost every ounce of blood in her body. They had to do a complete historyectomy ans found out she had cancer. It was a form of stomach cancer that spread to her cervix and overies and uturis she almost dies cause she didnt want to go in. If you are going thro more then one pad an hour go to the er. It's not normal. Methodone has stopped my period for over a year and the dr keeps tellin me it's not the Meds that's doing it but all my test have come back normal and even had an ultrasound today and that was normal as well I don't understand why drs don't listen to people who know their bodies I also gained 40 pounds in this med and I'm a small girl so 40 pounds makes me look 9 months prego. Please get checked out ASAP cause its not normal to bleed heavy for that long. It's better to be safe them sorry

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Im so glad im not alone in this. Been on methadone for 3yrs, never had regular periods to begin with, (even on the pill), but now I dont get a period at all. I do get pms, bloating and all that garbage, so it makes me think maybe im still ovulating? I dont know. Been meaning to go to get checked up but dont have the money to go see a doctor. Just glad to know someone else is going thru the same thing.

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Do NOT stop methadone if u are pregnant. that is the worst thing that you could do for your baby.

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I have been on 80mgs for almost 5 years. The only time I had a period was when I went to my gyno and they gave me these pills to take to make me have one.....then I got pregnant. Thats been over 3 years ago now....still no periods after having my son. Its good to see i'm not alone and this seems pretty common.

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Demi:
The best thing you can do is search your location a d area for a doctor who can offer a sliding scale. Some clinics that offer sliding scale are there to assist people with all kinds of medical issues. You can google: needymeds and find a clinic as well. I was in methadone for 8 months and I do have insurance but a co worker of mine didnt, in a week I was able to find a sliding scale clinic for psych help and assist for him. I was accepted by my own clinic and stated the suboxone treatment. It IS expensive to take on the subox treatment. Even with insurance my script is $690 per month. I do get that money back as well. Don't be afraid to reach out, research and someone will help! The best thing you can do for yourself and your girls is speak out and ask for help. Don't be afraid or ashamed. The strongest, best of people will speak up! Don't let metjadone ruin your life babe. It will eventually rot and Soften your bones, teeth and ruin your muscles. Your brain will be like a sponge and ur memory weak. Get help, find your place in life and LIVE....without the meds.
I did it and so many others..you can too when u really want too. Much love and hope doll

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Yes methadone stops your period.I have been on methadone for 12 years and not had a normal menstral cycle since the day i started and am only 30 years old now.I have been to gyno and they state everything else is normal. Lots of women on methadone have severe weight gain,menstraul cycle differs and water retention. There is a lot of side effects but it also helps for a lot of reasons whatever the reason is that your on it.

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I havent had a period in 7 years as well. Now that I am detoxing, I am down to 13 mg, my period suddenly came back. When I started MMT I didn't lose my cycle for almost 7 years, which is strange because a lot of the women on this panel discussed losing theirs right away. My ob/gyn didn't suspect MMT because of the length of time that I was on methadone. I was only 39 almost 40 when the period stopped, but before it stopped it was skipping a month here and there and coming back before it completely left. This happened to me today, so I am going to call the clinic to see what they have to say. I definitely am going to go and have a doctor check me out as well to rule out anything else, but after reading this panel, I am pretty convinced that the MMT caused this problem. I am just worried that it might have caused something permanantly wrong. I have arthritis, but I have had it before starting on MMT because of a family history, and an injury. If anyone's story sounds like mine and they have ANY suggestions as to what helped them, PLEASE let me know, as I am very worried that methadone has wreaked havoc in my body. Thanks.

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Hi I just wanted to say that I am also 43 yrs old and feel very similar to you and circumstances that you described. It has been 1 yr and 7 months. I have also gained a tremendous amount of weight and my period stopped "cold turkey" very soon after I began taking methadone for pain management and opioid dependance.

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There is a pill that you can get from your doctor that will start your period. I went through all of this. I think I may have posted the name of the medication in one of my earlier posts. I was taking it once a month for a couple days and my period came every time. After a few months, I stopped taking the medication and my period was still coming on its own, however, I started only getting it once every two months. I have also come down from 160 ml to 102 ml. That may also have helped. I have been trying to conceive for almost a year and it is hard when you only ovulate once every two months. I am happy to say that I am expecting. So for all of you that are scared about not getting your period and would like to have children, just hang in there and don't get too discouraged.

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Hi, I was reading something online about not getting your period on methadone and you replied with the side effects you have and I just wanted to tell you I have the EXACT same ones. But I would say my constipation is more than just a "pain." That's the worst one for me, partly because I had cancer about 7 years ago and lost half my bowels so that makes it even worse. I know that post you wrote was from a couple of years ago, so I'm not sure if you wl even get this, but if you do, could you email me back at {edited for privacy} and let me know how you're doing now? Did you ever get off MMT? Did your period ever come back? I haven't had mine since before I got pregnant with my son, and I was still nursing him at about a year old just a little at night tho, when I started at the clinic so I thought that was why but it never came back yet even. Also, all I want to eat are sweets. It's bad. Sometimes I just live on yogurt. Wtf? Even when I get pizza now I like to order BBQ pizza. Cuz the BBQ sauce makes it kinda sweet I think! But even worse is I'll call them up and just order their cinnamon breadsticks for lunch when my sons at school sometimes! I never would have been like that. I rarely ate desert. Oh well, I'm tapering down now, blindly so I can't talk myself into thinking I feel it when I go down. I think I'm around 90 now. It will be five years in June. When I first started, I was sure I would have to be on it for life because of how depressed I would get whenever I was off opiates, even for weeks or months at a time. But now I have hope. I don't believe I'm doomed, lol. I hope you're doing wonderful and thanks for taking the time to read this.

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I posted a couple weeks ago about stopping my periods while on MMT well i found out i AM preggers, even tho my first test was neg, so it is possible to get pregnant while taking methadone for the girls tht were wondering if you could

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Cookie -
The symptoms you describe sound more like symptoms of low thyroid functioning. A decade before I started methadone I had the same symptoms you're describing and was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. I'd get your thyroid functioning checked out (it's a simple blood draw) BEFORE I stopped or tapered off methadone over this, especially as low thyroid functioning CAN kill you if it goes untreated. It's a very serious thing and as it's easy and inexpensive both to check for and to treat, please get tested!! If it is your thyroid, you'll feel like a new person when you start treatment. I did and I've known several other people who have similar experiences.

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I finally started my period! I first replied to this thread a little over a year ago, and I've continued to lower my dose very very slowly, with almost no withdrawal symptoms. It helped to split my dose so I could take some at night for pain but I have mixed feelings on doing that. I try not to take my extra dose every night. So I'm down to 35 in the AM and 15 at night. Last month- May 9, my period came back!!! I had SEVERE PMS, but my period still came as a shock! No period for 8 years and then it's back! I had no pads or tampons lol.

But I haven't had it again. I'm single and not having intercourse- although my libido has returned as well!- so there's no chance of being pregnant, although I deeply wish there were.

I've lost a lot of weight as well. It keeps dropping off, but I partly attribute that to healthier eating because I took my son off Gluten to help his ADHD (it did) and I stopped eating it too. We were eating a very healthy whole foods gluten free diet the entire school year but we've been cheating lately. Still, I contribute most of the weight loss to the decrease in methadone. Overall at my highest dose of 170, I weight about 160, and now at 50, total, I'm down to 135. I have more energy but still not a lot. I do t crave sweats as badly but I still eat more sugar than I used to. also, my head doesn't sweat like crazy anymore! I don't nod off at all. I have noticed I do t sleep as well. No problems falling asleep but I wake up a lot.

I feel so much better and I'm finally ready to date again and hopefully find love. I want to get married and have another child. I just hope the period I got wasn't a fluke thing. It made me feel younger and my mom said the estrogen keeps you young.

Lastly, I am certain I did NOT ovulate the entire time my period was absent. I know my body and prior to being sick and then the MMT, I experienced severe pdms. That stopped with my periods. I didn't have any PMS symptoms at all, but they've since returned with a vengeance. I think perhaps women who've periods have become irregular but not stopped completely, might still ovulate, but I did not. I also believe the doctors at the clinic warn us we're still ovulating so we won't depend on it as birth control, especially since you will ovulate before your period returns.

Good luck ladies. As grateful as I am to MMT, the side effects that came with a high dose were extremely debilitating. I just didn't think I could ever live a normal life without supplementing my brain with endorphins. But I now believe my brain has slowly started to recover, as I've detoxed. I don't know if I'll be able to live without it but at least the lower my dose goes, the better I feel, still!

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This is super old but maybe someone will come across this like I have. I know that taking birth control will start your period again. I'm on methadone and even before it I didn't have a period for years because of opiates. My obgyn had me go back on bc and my first "off week" it came right back. Extremely light but it was back. I stopped the bc and my periods stopped.

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Joy, while this is true that bc will make you bleed, it's not a real period. It's called "breakthrough bleeding". Also, opiates can cause opiod indused indocrinopathy, which supresses your hormones all of them...this happened to me). The newer bc suppresses male hormones, which most opiod patients are already very low in. Older bc may be better, but they rarely prescribe it anymore unless you have migraine aura or other risk factors that limits you to use the older generation meds.

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I have been on methadone for 23 years (yes, 23 YEARS). I'm 44 now and haven't had a period for 8 years. Previously I had no problems; my 12 year old was born on methadone, and has had no issues at birth or later. My primary physician checked my hormone levels and I am not in menopause yet, so it must be the methadone. Physiologically there is no need for a woman to menstruate unless she wants to conceive a child. So I would just not look this gift horse in the mouth! I certainly do not miss my kotex moments!

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Hi, in response to your question I'm sure you 've already taken a pregnancy test?! While living in Italy 25yrs ago, I had a 5gram a day heroin habit, uncut. My periods completely stopped. I erroneously believed that I had also stopped ovulation. Big error! That error was my wonderful 24year old daughter Allegra. Stopped periods from opiates doesn't mean stopped ovulation!! Be careful. Good luck!

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Hi! When I was 15 yrs old, I went (in New Orleans) to get on the clinic. They didn't insist on ID. An older (looked like 65yrs old) couple BEGGED ME not to get on, telling me that I would become a slave to methadone. Inside of me I was laughing. Ha! Me? NEVER!! Well, it's 34 years now that I drink methadone!! I know that you must think that it would never happen to you, but.... That's what everyone thinks!! I feel for you. Your post reminded me of myself. I have three grown children and a Masters degree. All while on the clinic. Though I am STILL on methadone at 58 years old and I have been enslaved, I would never have survived otherwise. I had years where I used H. too, but the methadone saved me. In New Orleans the clinic costs were $600 a month. I was really fortunate to have an extremely wealthy family. I am now very poor, live in Italy and am here because I "had to leave" the US. I feel really torn between telling you to run away from methadone as fast as you can and telling you that it can help out a lot. Anyway, I hope you are feeling better and wish you the best even though I don't know you. Bye.

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I'm so glad I came across this! I haven't had my period since I went on methadone almost three year. It just vanished into thin air after my dose increased beyond 40mg. I do always have a full sensation in my uterus though. It's uncomfortable. I feel like its not healthy to be missing my cycle like this. I never expected to be worried to see my period go but in this case it's just not natural. All of my doctors scratch their heads and act like their baffled about the period MIA. Lol. Even the clinic doctor wasn't totally sure the methadone was to blame. I began to think I was going nuts because no one was taking me seriously. Reading all of these responses to the original message has really put me at ease. So glad I'm not the only one going through this:) Thanks ladies!

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