Depo (the shot)
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Depo (the shot)
| Tue, 03-06-2007 - 6:43am |
Was wondering if anyone out there uses this for birth control haven't seen any posts on here about it. Seems to work well for me and my lifestyle and since I got pregnant while on the pills don't think I'll use those again :). But I wanted to know if anyone knew of the side affects of the shot as in if they cause low libido or anything weird like that. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi arithon1001, welcome!
Jill
Here was my experience on the Depo shot, and I'd never recommend it to anyone:
HEAVY bleeding on a daily basis for weeks at a time. The doctors were very surprised I wasn't anemic.
Severe cramping - one minute I'd be fine, and the next minute I was in so much pain I was on the floor and too paralysed with fear that if I moved I'd make it worse.
Complete loss of libido
Bad mood swings - I was almost on the verge of going back on antidepressants, because I was miserable. And it nearly destroyed my relationship at the time, because I was unintentionally causing arguments by being really nasty.
Hot flushes - I went from finding it hard to keep warm in winter to keeping my then-BF warm in winter LOL.
I lasted one round on depo, and I bled heavily every single day of it and had mood swings. That made the decision to quit very easy for me. I was very concerned about the bone density loss, but at the time it was my only option since my insurance wouldn't pay for an IUD, but now they do and I am in the process of getting an IUD.
I would take a pill daily (if i was able) over getting depo again, especially becaues of the bone density warnings. I only tried depo because I can't have anything with estrogen or spermicide, and the minipills caused depression and low libedo (2 different ones).
I do agree that if you don't have to get depo because of lack of options you should not be on it more than the 2 years they say is the maximum. FYI, it can take awhile to get it out of your system. It took over 6 months for my body to go back to normal after that experience.