I’m taking half a tab of proviron each morning to increase vascularity and hardness. I’m wondering if this could effect the effectiveness of taking the birth control pill. Is there any chance that I could become pregnant by concurrently taking proviron with the pill? Thanks for your help.
I think the answer is “probably no” but
given the seriousness of the issue, I appreciate
that “probably” is not such a good answer.
Proviron is somewhat suppressive to LH and
FSH production, so it is not going to be
stimulating the release of these hormones
that triggers ovulation. Instead, it has
a suppressing effect – the Pill also has
a suppressing effect. So on that level, you’d
say, no problem, it’s like taking 10% extra
of the Pill or something, getting a little more
effect than planned.
However the menstrual cycle is a rather
strange and complex thing, with some rather
weird behaviors. For example, progesterone
over the long term inhibits LH production
and ovulation, but in the short term it
can stimulate. The pattern of LH/FSH
production involves both positive and negative feedback with quite a few variables affecting it – I’d say at least six, just thinking offhand, but it may be more. Estrogens, androgens, progestins, melatonin,
and opioids are what come to mind immediately but I know there are more.
What I’m saying is, there’s no obvious reason
why there would be a problem, but it’s a complex enough system that one doesn’t want to say so dogmatically.
Talk to your doctor. If your doctor would freak about you taking the proviron, then get an appointment at a clinic or planned parenthood and ask them (they may let you talk to someone over the phone). I asked a nurse about it and she wasn’t 100% sure that you’re ‘covered.’ use backup until you know!!!
Michelle, I think the problem really is that NO ONE knows the answer to this question, because it has never been looked at in humans (I cannot imagine anyone doing a study on it.) So her doctor will not know.
Actually, sad to say, most doctors know almost nothing about anabolic steroids, let alone the answer to
an esoteric question like this one. I say that
not out of disrespect but observation: when I was an undergraduate, I had a technical writing course that as one of its requirements had us designing, writing, and actually performing survey studies in our fields of interest. Now how do you do a survey study in medicinal chemistry? I decided to ask local physicians,
26 of them, general practitioners and internists, about anabolic steroids. The questions were very basic. I designed the survey so that the first page was ego-flattering, asking their opinion on
some issues, where everyone would have an answer they felt was good and valuable, and the second page asked questions in the sense of whether “the medical literature commonly read by physicians has presented this material.”
A polite way of asking, did you know this?
25 of them said that not one of the rather
key things I asked about had been presented
in the medical literature. I.e., they did not
know them. One of them said 4 out of 5 of them had not been presented, but one of them had – but that one was the only somewhat-complex one and I tend to expect he just felt like he had to check yes on SOMETHING. Or even if he really did know that one, well, the overall batting average closely approached zero.
So this is why I say physicians in general
know almost nothing about anabolic steroids, even basic questions.
Bill, totally agree with you on this one.
Case in point: I went to see an Endocrinologist for my health declining over the last six months. I told him I felt my testosterone levels were low and would like to get them checked. He asked me some questions, plugged them into his computer, and asked me what my diagnosis was. Since I had told him basically, depressed, low energy, sex drive down, bodyfat level going up, especially around the midsection, total bodyweight down…that I had low testosterone. He said, “No you have depression. Here is some Zoloft” Ok, so here is a specialist who doesn’t understand that depression is a symptom, not “the” problem. I pressured him to let me get some blood tests. Well, sure enough, free T was 6 (yes, no typo). And he still said that he wanted more tests. So, off to get LH and FSH test. Go back, your nuts are ok, its your pituitary. So, off to get an MRI. You have a small tumor on your pituaitary, that is why you are not putting out T. come in for some replacement. 100mg a week. Gee thanks doc, how about 200 a week. “the protocol says 100mg a week”. fine. Oh, by the way, nothing to worry about the tumor, we’ll check it in 5 or 6 years!!! “gee, don’t strain yourself doc.” He actually had the nerve to tell me that he has never had a patient diagnos themselves and be right. Yeah, if you just hand out Zoloft like Pez. He gave me a free six month supply the first day. I didn’t touch it. After I told him the shot didn’t do much, he said just take the Zoloft, like I told you. He also said that most people don’t get depression with low testosterone levels. AAAAAARRRRGGGH…were are these guys coming from…Space Pods?
Wow, Bill…I never thought of that. I grew up in a ‘medical’ family, both parents worked in a hospital and we had Drs and Nurses and Nurse Practicioners around all the time. I never considered that they would have so little knowledge of steroids. I called my mom, (a nurse) after reading your post, and she backed you up. You’d think the medical community would be able to say more than ‘steroids are bad’ like a big group of broken records…anyway…
Joni, unless you're ready to have a kid, you should probably use backup. Bill's right, there is no way to know about the interactions for sure, and I doubt you want to be a test case!