I can only echo the horror stories already recounted here. I had only 6 months of Depo Provera (2 shots) but it was horrible. Constant TOM, moodiness, lack of sex drive and 25 lb. gain (all in the abdomen). Never, never, never again!

I have a copper IUD for 5 years and counting. After the Depo experience, I choose not to mess with my natural hormone cycle for birth control. No problems, no worries (it is good for 10 years). The insertion was not painful and my insurance covered mine in full. I would NOT recommend Depo-Provery to anyone.

I took it in 99' and by the end of the year, I gained 25lbs!!!! I couldn't stop eating! I was hungry all the time! Needless to say, I didn't renew my shot and by the end of the summer (following year), I lost the weight I gained and was back to normal again. I'm afraid to go back to it but I do need a form of birth control!

I only had one shot and immediately noticed an issue with my emotions (crying easily, depressed). I called my Dr and he wasn't aware of this as one of the side effects. I was doing lo-carb up until the time I had the shot and noticed a stall in my weight loss. I really didn't take it for birth control, but for another issue, but in the second or third month of the shot, I had a period that lasted for over eight weeks and I had to go on another medication to stop the bleeding. Everyone reacts differently, but when I started researching it after I had the shot, I saw similar side effects to the ones I had and what the others have posted here.

Hi, I'm new - names Jos!
I started taking Depo Provera in March 2003. Everything was ok for the first 3 months, then I took a second shot and suddenly things started to go wrong. Firstly, I had constant heavy spotting and I started to gain weight. Since I was 14 years old (am now 29) I have weighed 53kgs (approx 125lbs) and suddenly I was gaining weight rapidly. I asked the nurse about it and she said that it was common to gain 5lbs PER injection and that the spotting was unusual. She sent me for STI tests (which as a married woman was most embarassing and terrifying) and they came up clear. They told me that spotting was common when taking Depo Provera and if I found it frustrating to get off of it. I had my last injection in March 2004 - by that stage I weighed 65kgs (approx 146lbs) - an 11kg/21lb weight gain. I went from being a size 8 (Australian) to a size 12-14. My apetite DID NOT change at all while I was on the injection, I ate and drank as I always had and my sex drive was exactly the same as well (pretty high!). The only thing was the spotting and the enormous weight gain. I cam off the shot in March 2004 and I did not get another period until November 2005 (after the doctor gave me some tablets to kick start it). I have NOT been able to lose the weight - I've tried exercising (which, shamefully, I never used to do), the Atkins diet, Carol Vordermans detox diet, low calerie diets etc.. and nothing has worked. I'm currently 12 weeks pregnant and am very happy - but I am very annoyed that I'm 2-3 dress sizes bigger than I have always been. I'm hoping that once I have my baby my body will go back to how it was - or at least close to it!
Sorry for the long message, but I think people should do HUGE amounts of research before taking Depo Provera. I wasn't told anything by the doctors other than it was GREAT because you don't get a period... and now I'm stuck with 21lbs of weight that I don't want. It's not worth it - BE CAREFUL!!

I HATE DEPO-PROVERA!!!

The first time I went on Atkins I lost 14 lbs during induction and approx 8-10 lbs per month for the first 5 months. Great success with little effort.

This time, after a horrible ectopic pregnancy I was told that my only birth control option was Depo-Provera or things such as diaphragm or condoms. My doctor did warn me that people love it or hate it.

An acquaintence of mine said she hadn't had a period since and she loves it. I did some research and decided to go on it. I have NOT stopped bleeding/spotting for almost 4 months. I cannot lose weight even though I am doing Atkins the same way I did before (veggies, protien, fat and 12-1600 calories per day, 20-30gs of carbs)

I am miserable. I have gained 3.5 lbs in two weeks after losing 13. I am constantly bloated. I have absolutely no sex drive AT ALL.

My fiance and I talked about it and decided that since pregancy can be fatal for me that we're going to let this shot run out and then use condoms. The goal is to quit smoking down the road so I can go on the pill...or maybe not who knows. This is my first experience with chemical birth control in 15 years and I hate it....just hate it.

Might be contraindicated by the pregnancy, I realize. Might want a consult with another doctor, too--my experience has been that different doctors will write them under different conditions.

Hate it, hate it, hate it. It was so-so while I was on it - some weight gain, worsened depression, worsened moodiness. I half-expected that. But what really did me in was trying to go off it. I gained weight, my hormones were all over the map, and I was a bawling, raving lunatic. It was a good YEAR before I was back to normal, and that was only after discovering LC to treat the PCOS I apparently now have (thanks, depo.)

Depo is a real crap shoot, and when you lose, you lose big time.

The doctor told me because of the ectopic IUD was out of the question.

The problem overall with hormonal birth control methods is that they suppress ovulation. Of course, this is GREAT if you don't want to get pregnant, but it's BAD over the long term because it means your production of progesterone tanks (occurs in the corpus luteum during ovulation).
When your progesterone levels fall, you can become estrogen dominant which can lead to all the nasty side effects already listed here including:
Decreased sex drive
* Mood swings
* Dry eyes
* Depression, anxiety, irritability
* Fatigue
* Fibrocystic breasts
* Increase risk of strokes
* Irregular menstrual periods
* Headaches
* Hypoglycemia
* Insomnia
* Slow metabolism
* Infertility
* PMS
* Zinc deficiency
* Osteoporosis
* Uterine fibroids
* Uterine cancer
* Water retention, bloating
* Weight gain
* Hair loss
...just to name a few. Anyone on hormonal birth control should consider using topical progesterone creams to offset the risk of estrogen dominance, IMHO.

Depo Provera is a synthetic derivative of progesterone (medroxyprogesterone acetate). It doesn't cause "estrogen dominance", it causes "progesterone dominance" and estrogen depletion .. in particular estradiol the "good" estrogen. It's this depletion of estradiol that's believed to cause osteoporosis, now recognized as a significant risk of depo provera therapy. Adding more progesterone won't help!

For more information about estrogen dominance, and other hormonal imbalances, please check out this excellent article from the Women to Women website ... Estrogen dominance — is it real?.

hth


Doreen

thanks for the article, Doreen.

According to that article, synthetic progestin molecules are too large to bind well with progesterone receptor cells Probably best to get a salivary hormone test to find out exactly what the levels of hormones actually are and THEN figure out how best to balance 'em.

Yes, this is often true of the "androgenic" progestogins derived from testosterone, such as norgestrel. However, provera is derived from progesterone, and its estrogen-suppressing effect is well documented since the early '90s, and recently linked to significant risk of osteoporosis in young premenopausal users of the drug. (yay, it only took 'em 14 years to figure it out )


I couldn't agree with you more . Folks shouldn't guess or self-diagnose a hormone imbalance such as estrogen dominance, especially when the symptoms listed above could be due to many other problems, including estrogen deficiency. A full hormone panel should be done and the results reviewed by a qualified health professional to rule out other problems that can also cause the same symptoms, including adrenal exhaustion and hypothyroidism.




Doreen

I was on it for 3 years straight.
Pros- No period at all for 3 years and never got prego
Cons-Completely lost my sex drive and gained weight
I don't recommend it

I took d-p for over 3 years and i feel like i lost 3 years of my life! I gained weight (monster appetite!!) and sex drive was totally gone! I was also agressive, moody and it totally messed up my hormones. I started growing hair in weird places!

I never had a single period in 3 years though. But, it took me over 2 years to get pregnant after i stopped that crap!

If you can live with the side effects, go for it! It is fool-proof! But here are other fool-proof BC out there!

I don't get the whole no sex drive thing. It's driving me nuts! I think the real reason Depo-provera is so effective as birth control is once we're on it we never have sex again! What the heck is the point??