only on depo for the first shot......

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
only on depo for the first shot......
5
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 9:14pm
I was only on the depo shot for the first shot(three months) after that because of the side effects I was having i returned to the pill it has been two months since i stopped taking the pill and I was on it for two months, we decided to try for another baby and now I have aperiod that is missing and no signs of pregnancy, is it because i was on the depo or because .....oh i am just not sure and really confused any information will help thanks!
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-14-2004
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 9:23pm
It could be the Depo, it could be the pill you were on, it could be stress! It could be a lot of things. Did you have your period while you were on the pill? If you did, it`s probably not the Depo causing this, but you never know. After stopping any hormonal birth control, it can take a while for ovulation to return or for your cycles to get back to normal.

It`s possible that you could be pregnant, too, and just not having signs yet. It can take two weeks or longer for pregnancy symptoms to begin. (My mom didn`t know she was pregnant until month #5!) Take a pregnancy test. If it`s negative and you don`t get your period soon, take another one because maybe now your pregnancy hormones are too low to be detected. Hopefully you`ll get the answer that you want!

Lena

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Wed, 10-27-2004 - 7:07am
If it's been so recently since the Depo, it's likely that the Depo could still be preventing ovulation--it can take up to 12-18 months for normal ovulation to recur after stopping Depo.

Even if you had "periods" (it's really withdrawal bleeding) on the pill, the pill is creating an artificial situation in your uterus by providing estrogen to grow your endometrium and then in the inactive week you take away the progestin that's supporting the endometrium and it sheds. But once you stop taking the pill, if you aren't ovulating, you're back to square 1 with waiting for normal periods to return to indicate that you're ovulating and you can try for a baby. Without ovulation, there usually isn't sufficient estrogen to grow the endometrium and there isn't a hormonal drop at the end of the cycle to trigger bleeding.

One thing you could do is start charting your basal body temperature (to learn how, you can ask, you can check out the book Taking Control of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, or check out websites dedicated to natural family planning). When you start ovulating again, you should see a change in the temperature pattern from when you aren't, and then you'll know what's happening (there's also a change upon conception). But if you aren't ovulating, you won't have real periods.

Good luck!

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control 
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
Tue, 11-02-2004 - 11:38am
Just to help out what I had wrote before, I started the shot in April 04, I stopped in July 04, I was on ortho for about 2 months and periods were fine, we decided to have another baby and since september 10 I have not had a period. We aren't sure what is going on and the doctors of course have no idea and are having me wait until december to get blood work done so I am trying to find something sout on my own and trying to make this make sense. Anything helps thanks!

Lindsey

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-14-2004
Tue, 11-02-2004 - 12:32pm
As Judie says, it is probably the Depo. I can take up to a year or longer for ovulation to return after stopping Depo - even if you only got one shot. It just depends on your body`s individual chemistry.

Read over her post again if you`d like. She explains it very well. I`m sure that your lack of a period, and therefor ovulation, it related to Depo. It should come back after a while! Hopefully, before doctors make you get a blood test and spend what will surely be too much money! (:

Lena

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Tue, 11-02-2004 - 12:42pm
Hi Lindsey,

I agree with Judie. The two months you were on Ortho you weren’t really having menses brought on by ovulation and it doesn’t seem to have been enough to get you cycling naturally again. For some women coming off Depo their fertility returns almost immediately, for others it can take quite a while. This is what the ‘Important Patient Information’ on the Depo site: http://www.depoprovera.com/index.asp# has to say about returning fertility.

“Return of Fertility

Because DEPO-PROVERA Contraceptive Injection is a long-acting birth control method, it takes some time after your last injection for its effect to wear off. Based on the results

from a large study done in the United States, of those women who stop using DEPO-PROVERA Contraceptive Injection in order to become pregnant, about half of those who become pregnant do so in about 10 months after their last injection; about two-thirds of those who become pregnant do so in about 12 months, about 83% of those who become pregnant do so in about 15 months, and about 93% of those who become pregnant do so in about 18 months after their last injection. The length of time you use DEPO-PROVERA Contraceptive Injection has no effect on how long it takes you to become pregnant after you stop using it.”

I hope you begin cycling soon. Let us know how you're doing, ok?

Good luck,

      Jill