I Wouldn’t Recommend It To Anyone: What We Can Learn from Women Who Have Had Bad Experiences with Depo-Provera

In 2009 and again in 2012, Our Bodies Ourselves posted two blog posts on the adverse effects and withdrawal symptoms that some women experience while using or quitting the birth control injection Depo-Provera. The posts generated thousands of comments from women who were having problems with the shot and were desperately seeking help and advice.

OBOS invited Laura Wershler, a member of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research and editor-in-chief of the society’s blog, to summarize what can be learned from the shared comments.

While the blog post is from 2016, it remains on this website because hundreds of people continue to comment on it, creating an ongoing conversation on the side effects of Depo-Provera and the problems some women experience when when they stop taking it.

Women decide to stop Depo-Provera because of continual or erratic bleeding, mood issues, loss of sex drive, concern about bone health, loss of health insurance, desire to have a baby, or because, after taking it for 15 or 20 years, their doctors said they should.Once they stopped taking Depo, many women found that these symptoms intensified and/or they started having new symptoms.

AUTHOR: Laura Wershler •