Depo Provera: Side Effects and Problems with Withdrawal
Depo-Provera is a form of hormonal birth control. Women who use it are given an injection by a health care provider once every 3 months. Also called “the shot” or Depo, it contains the hormone progestin and is very effective at preventing pregnancy. Many people like it because while you are on it, you don’t have to take a daily pill or prepare in advance of having intercourse.
Some women, however, have problems while using or after stopping Depo-Provera, including heavy and ongoing bleeding, nausea, weight gain, and mood changes.
The three posts linked below were originally published at Our Bodies, Our Blog. Each post explores the lack of research into side effects that can continue after Depo is stopped and the disbelief that some users face from health care providers. While the posts were written from 2009 -2016, Our Bodies Ourselves has chosen to include them today because the topic is still under researched and not well understood. In addition, over 5000 people have commented -- and continue to comment -- on the posts, sharing their own experiences and responding to others commenters’ concerns.
To read these posts and the comments, see:
Side Effects of Stopping Depo-Provera
The first in a series of blog entries on the side effects of the injectable birth control method Depo-Provera. In the comments, Our Bodies, Our Blog readers share their own experiences with the shot.
Questions Remain about Effects of Stopping Depo-Provera
In this second in a series of blog posts on the side effects Depo-Provera, Our Bodies, Our Blog bemoans the lack of scientific evidence on the topic and readers discuss questions they wish researchers would address.
"I Wouldn’t Recommend It to Anyone": What We Can Learn from Women who have had Bad Experiences with Depo-Provera
This third and last blog post on the side effects of Depo-Provera explores what can be learned from the thousands of readers who shared their experiences.
