Medroxyprogesterone acetate (Provera, Depo-Provera)

Medroxyprogesterone (pronounced meh-drox-ee-pro-jes-ta-row-n) is a type of hormone treatment. It is also called Provera or Depo-Provera. It is a man made version of the hormone progesterone. Progesterone is often called a female hormone but men also produce a small amount of it.

Medroxyprogesterone is a treatment for the following cancers which have come back after treatment or have spread from where they started.

• Womb cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Breast cancer in post menopausal women

Medroxyprogesterone is also a treatment for poor appetite. Your doctor may suggest that you take it if you have lost weight because it can help to boost your appetite.

Doctors also sometimes suggest it as a treatment for women who have hot flushes due to some cancer treatments. It can also help men who have hot flushes due to hormone therapy for prostate cancer treatment.

We don’t fully understand how medroxyprogesterone works but think that it may work by

• Interfering with the hormone balance in the body so that there are smaller amounts of the hormones that some cancers depend on to grow
• Interacting with other hormones
• Having a direct effect on the cancer and stopping it growing

You may have medroxyprogesterone in the following ways

• As a tablet – usually once a day but sometimes people have the dose divided up to take a couple of times a day
• As an injection into muscle (intramuscular) - you usually have this in your thigh or bottom

How often you have the injection depends on the dose you are having. Your doctor will tell you how often and when you need to have it.

It is very important that you take tablets according to the instructions your doctor or pharmacist gave you. You should take the right dose, not more or less. And never stop taking a cancer drug without talking to your specialist first.

The side effects associated with medroxyprogesterone are listed below.

More than 10 in every 100 people have one or more of these. Remember that you may only have one or two of these effects and they may be mild. 

• Increase in your appetite – some people take medroxyprogesterone to help boost their appetite
• Feeling and being sick, especially when you first start taking it
• Breast tenderness and pain
• Fatigue
• Fluid retention causing ankle and finger swelling
• Weight gain from increased appetite and fluid retention - watching what you eat and exercising regularly can help control your weight
• Changes in blood sugar if you have diabetes – you may have to adjust your dose of tablets or insulin
• Medroxyprogesterone can harm a developing baby – do talk to your doctor about contraception before having treatment if there is any chance that you or your partner could become pregnant
• Breastfeeding – medroxyprogesterone may be present in breast milk so it is not advisable for women to breastfeed during treatment or for 2 months after the last dose

Between 1 and 10 in every 100 people have one or more of these.

• Difficulty in sleeping
• Mood changes
• Headache
• Vaginal bleeding in women, which is not part of your period (spotting), or your periods may stop
• Allergic reaction
• Skin rashes which may be itchy

Fewer than 1 in 100 people have these.

• Blood clots – contact your doctor immediately if you suddenly become breathless or have pain, tenderness or swelling in your leg, or your leg feels hot and becomes red
• Hair thinning
• Effect on your liver – contact your doctor if your skin becomes yellow. You will have regular blood tests to check this

The side effects above may be mild or more severe. A side effect may get better or worse through your course of treatment, or more side effects may develop as the course goes on. This depends on

• How many times you've had the drug before
• Your general health
• The amount of the drug you have (the dose)
• Other drugs you are having

Talk to your doctor, pharmacist or nurse about all your side effects so that they can help you manage them.

Tell your doctor about any other medicines you are taking, including vitamins, herbal supplements and other over the counter remedies - some drugs can react together.