Looking for Feedback on Birth Control

Hi. My suggestion would be, once this shot wears off, got the either 5 or 10 year IUD. Its a guarentee, and you don't have to remember to go back to the doctor. If you decide to start trying again, you just go in and have it removed and there are no lasting effects and it doesnt stop pregnancy from the moment its removed.! Good luck.

I decided to get the shot after my first child.I got one and only shot and that was enough for me.I bled the whole three months.I had headaches and felt really nauseas.So back to the pill I went.I have to take a low dose pill which I seem to remember.Of course it could be the three screaming kids I have :o) haha
Hopefully it will work well for you..Everyone is different..

The shot was GREAT! I loved it. I did gain just a little bit of weight. My cycle actually stopped after a few months. I did not have my period the entire time I was on the shot. Good luck!

I have not personally used depo... but have heard some not so great stories. My OB practice likes the NuvaRing... you should look it up.. it is a thin, flexible ring that is inserted once a month. You take it out, have a period, and put another back in. Better than having to remember the pill every day :) I would actually take one out and put another in for 3 months, and not have a period for 3 months. I didn't have any side effects with it either. The other thing coming back is the IUD. There is one called Mirena, that my OBs like also. It has great coverage and good for 5-10 years... if you want anther child soon, than that wouldn't be the most cost effective... but they say there aren't issues getting pregnant when you take it out. Anyway..look up these 2 things just as options if you are hesitant about the shot! Good luck!!!

In all honesty you should have inquired about it before getting it. I know two people who have gotten it and had a horrible experience. One girlfriend bleed for months on end and became so skinny, it was scarry. Then my sisters friend gained a bunch of weight. But I am sure your doctor totally went over everything with you and felt this was the right way to go for you. The shot is creepy to me. I like things like and IUD that can be taken out our the ring, again, it can be taken out. But if you and your doctor thought this was what was right for you, then it will be fine. If you hate, just dont get the next shot. Like I said, I only know two people who have gotten the shot, and they didnt care for it, and did not get the next shot, but I am sure there are many success stories out there. Good luck, and your baby will be in my prayers, poor thing. I am glad she is doing great now.

Without a doubt you'll probabbly gain weight. Everyone I've ever known who got the Deppo gained weight including myself. I am glad your daughter is doing well.
T.

I personally had a horror story with it- and I will explain that but I have 5 friends from a former workplace that are all on it, all have had positive experiences except 1- and her only negative was weight gain. They all stopped having periods by the 2nd or 3rd shot and they really like it. Today 3 1/2 years later since the summer all but 2 started it (they were already on it) all but 1 is still on it and she's only off to conceive.

I however was a small percentage of woman who react to it and I bled for 2 1/2 months then finally hemoraghed. I was told not to get it ever again because it was an allergy of some sort. But My doc told me that only 1/2% of all the women who take it have a problem as severe as this.

I wish it could have worked- its so convenient- and my friends really liked it.
Good luck- I would be it goes great for you.

I had the headaches, maybe weight gain-but that was less noticeable because I couldn't open my eyes to see myself due to the constant headaches. That was 11 years ago. Is it possible they changed it?
By the way, awesome about your daughter doing so well after her heart surgery. I would love to hear about the pregnancy and what happened after. I am friends with someone who also had a baby boy with TGA and he sadly passed before they could do surgery. I am a doula and a midwife, too, so I like to gather information to help me when this comes up again.
My best,
W. P

Hi R.~
I used to get DepoProvera quite a few years ago and I loved it. For the first couple of months I had some spotting that was inconvenient but in the long run it stopped my periods altogether so that was great!! Like you, I am horrible at taking the pill so I needed something that was more responsible than I was! :) Birth control in general should not cause you to gain weight. A lot of women blame bc for their weight gain, but according to the docs in my practice, anything more than 5-10 lbs is NOT from the bc. That can seem like a lot, I know, but there are women who like to blame 50 lbs or so on bc and its just not true unless they are having a severe reaction to it. I also had great luck with the bc patch, but I think there are some serious medical concerns with it now. I have been off of it for over a year and had a tubal in Dec. (yay) after my c-sec. Good luck with the shot, I hope you like it as much as I did :)
~L.

I had the shot a few yrs ago & hated it. I had very very very bad mood swings on it, i bleed alot, had headaches & no sex drive. I would chose the pill over the shot any day. THere are other alternatives as i am sure u r aware of. But u cant do anything for 3 months so wait it out & see how it works for u & if it isnt in 3 months i think u can change it. Good luck.

I was on the shot for about 5 years. I've been off it now for about 3 years. What happened to me was instead of having a period for a few days once a month, I only had a few days of not bleeding. That lasted for about 2 months. After that, it was done, there was no more period; I loved that! I did gain some weight but it didn't bother me. And the fact that you only had to go in once ever 3 months was wonderful too.
When I finally got off I didn't have a period, and couldn't get pregnant for exactly one year (it was actually almost to the day!). And when I did finally get my period back I bled for 8 weeks straight, no break in days. A month later, I got pregnant.
So it's great if you don't want your period, and as long as you get into the Doc. every 3 months like you’re supposed to, getting pregnant will be unlikely.
But if you think you might want another kid, it might not happen right away after getting off.

Hi R.,

I was on the Depo shot for over 5 years and I loved it. I didn't have any of the side effects, and no period. What a wonderful invention. Both of my sisters are also on the shot and both like it too, also no side effects.

Hope this helps

J.

Hi R.. I decided to get the shot after my first son was born (b/c I couldn't for the life of me, take it the same time, every day). At first, it seemed great, no period, no pill to remember. However, after my second shot, I started to get terrible headaches (and I never got them before), mood swings & anxiety attacks (my dr. told me that was due to the hormone change). I never had any problems like this before. I decided to stop the shot after getting 3 times. When we decided we wanted to have another baby, it took me almost 6 mos. to conceive. I will never get that again! I recomend the Nuva Ring - it has NO side effects!! So far, I think that is the best bc. And, it doesn't take long to get pregnant - I took my ring out Apr 23 & got pregnant a week & a 1/2 later!

Hi R.: I am a midwife (CNM) who provides women with family planning at Family Health Care as well as home births. Many believe the shot should only be used as a short term method (2 to 3 years) for three main reasons. The first is that is it can cause depression...so, if you have a history of depression you should be very careful. The second is it does cause weight gain (and that can lead to depression) and the third is it appears to cause your bones to "thin out." It is believed that the the bone thinning might be reversible after you stop the shot, but while on it you should take 1200 mg of calcium per day and do weight lifting. Some other side effects include hair loss, cramping, irritability, etc. Ask your provider to give you some more information.. I hope this helps..S.

I had all of the probalems gained weight and when it was time to get off I was dizzy and had the worst migranes. I also had muscle spasms it was awful. And now I can't have a baby every again

Well, I did get pregnant on the pill and when I asked the DR for the shot he said that I didn't want it, due to the fact that too many women gain weight from it. I have always had a hard time remembering to take the pill as well, but once again it is what I have turned to instead of the shot.

I am 37 and started getting the depo shot last September. I have had NO problems with it. I also no longer have a period which is a good thing for me as I am anemic and don't need to be losing anymore blood as it is. I hope this helps.

I had a nasty reaction to Depo. I suffered headaches, joint aches, swollen arm, breakthrough bleeding, and horrible cramps, also nausea, and mood swings, and gained 25lbs after the shot. (and yes it was from the Depo...I didn't change my eating habits, and after the dose wore off (about 3.5-4months after getting the shot) I dropped the 25lbs in about 3weeks.

Google Depo Provera there are TONS of websites dedicated to Education women about the dangers of Depo.

P.S. My Daughter was born in March of 2007 too She was born with Asymetrical Septal Hypertrophy a thickening of the center heart muscle that partially obstructs blood flow through the ventricles. She's on Meds to slow her heart rate thankfully this usually clears on it's own in the first year, but in the meantime we have EKG's every 2months to check her blood flow the last one was really good!

If you are talking Depo Provera- run fast and hard from it.
I was on it for 5-6 years and LOVED it. No periods, some headaches. Had some weight gain (about 6 lbs a year) Went from being 104lbs to 164 lbs over the duration of usage. THEN- When I got engaged I decided to come off it so we could start trying to conceive after the wedding. I figured that a year was good to let my body bounce back, that's what the manufacturer says is about typical for pregnancy after coming off it. Well let me tell you....I was perfectly healthy before it but after the shot, It hardened my ovaries and completely stopped my cycles. After 6 1/2 years of invasive infertility treatments, medications, 2 miscarriages and procedures I FINALLY managed to get pregnant and carry to term a healthy baby boy. My reproductive endrocrinologist says he sees this ALL THE TIME with patients who have used this drug and then try to get pregnant. The pregnancy never restarted my system, I did manage to conceive another child after only 2 years of trying this time (we are done now-it's just too hard to go through) and I am healthy pregnant so far but I will be 36 this year due to all the lost time with infertility.
If you don't want to have children down the road or don't mind the hassle-You could probably stay on it as long as you watch your weight gain carefully but if you ever want a shot at pregnancy again I would avoid it. Personally, with everything we have been through I have mellowed some but would have sued the company in a second if we ever could have proved beyond a doubt that it was the drug and I had found more people like me.
I guess it goes to show that shoving 3-4 months worth of drugs on your system at once isn't necessarily a safe thing. I just used daily pills now and after this baby my hubby is getting a vasectomy. My periods are still all screwed up though and it will be very painful unless this straighten themselves out after this pregnancy and jumpstart my system to work on it's own again.
Just my 2 cents, you may want to do a google search ondepo + infertility (I see there are quite a number of hits now). Just remember, the Dr's using/administering the drugs are pretty well courted by the drug manufacturers and you probably won't get a negative response from one of them. You would have to talk to the Dr's who would deal with the infertility all the time to see what their patients all have in common.
C. L.