anyone finding difficulty TTC after being on DEPO injection??

[dollysgirl]

OK,had my last depo jab in may 2009,and it took me 9 mths (till feb 2010) to have a period again !! im now TTC no.2 and have been for 12 mths....doctor says depo can affect my fertility for up to 2 yrs after my cycle started again!! i cant bear the thought of another 12 mths of this,and i also started with irregular cycles in june 2010,from having 28day regulars...slightly going insane,any fellow MNETTERS advice/knowledge with experience of TTC after depo would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!.....

I should add that ive just had day 2 and day 21 blood tests so hope to get the results next week...im currently 2-3 days overdue af but no sore boobs and got af symptoms,just waiting for the inevitable!! i use OPK's but they say i ovulate day 8 which i find hard to believe!!

HI dollysgirl, I have never had depo myself, but I have heard from many many women who had their fertiliy affected for years afterwards, some took a very long time to even get their cycles back, so at least you are one step ahead with that.

As for ovulating on day 8, yes it is possible, I naturally have ovulated that early on a number of occassions, I am currently in a cycle of ovulating on day 11. I don't personally have much success with OPK's but I know some people find them good.

Regarding the day 21 test - are you having that 7 days after the positive opk on cd8? ie having the day 21 test on day 15, this is important as the day 21 test should be taken 6,7,8 or 9 days post ovulation only. Day 21 assumes a woman is ovulating on day 14.

If you are overdue af, have you taken a pregnancy test yet? just incase a miracle has occured for you!

I am sorry you are in this difficult situation and hope you get answers soon.

I had my last depo injection in sept/oct 2010 and it ran out 16th December but still no period after that, though lots of feeling like it's about to start! Don't google is all I can say (I did and went a bit loopy at the things that were there). The stats my nurse atthe dr's said was that they just think everything takes 6 months longer if you've had the depo. To be fair to them they told me this at the time but as I was aiming not to get pregnant I didn't take much notice. Now I am TTC I'm taking more notice!
I only know 1 other person in real life who's had the depo and she had a beautiful boy born just under 2 years after she came off it (so 15 months ish to conceive)

thanks peeps!
GG-the doctor just said i needed bloods done day 2/3 and day 21,but at the time i hadnt tested positive on an OPK for 2 mths,so i went to her saying i dont think i ovulate at all! ive been using OPK's for 4 mths,1st and 4th mth have given +ve on day 8,but i spoke to doctor on day 1 of this cycle,so went to docs b4 i started OPK's for this mth....im 3 days late now,took a test day af was due and it was BFN,im waiting till tues to do another,i was convinced yest with pains etc that it was going to start,but today the pains are near gone,but no af ?? i didnt use FMU either the day i tested...but im not sure i feel PG so am holding off testing thinking af is sure to come...where are u at the moment with it all ?

Pottering; ive been on the depo on 2 separate occasions,each for around 3 yrs in the past 9 yrs,and each time its taken dead on 9 mths for af to arrive again,but my doc-and the hosp-told me that af doesnt mean you r necessarily ovulating,so thats why i bought the sticks,and i get mixed results...the depo jab works in 3 ways as contraception so is very very strong,my doc said they dont recommend it now for anyone within 3 yrs of maybe wanting babies!! she so said for teenagers,its her 1st choice,but anyone 20+ she doesnt recommend it at all anymore....she also said that if i go on the oral pill for 2-3 mths,it could kick-start my system,and i shudve been offered this as soon as i came off the depo to start my cycle again...it may b worth u mentioning that to ur doctor,to get things moving quicker ??fx for u both... xx

When I was trying to conceive DC1 I came off the Depro it took 6 month for some form of AF to arrive and even them it was all over the place. 6 Month later it finally settled down and 13 months after coming off the Depro I finally fell pregnant.

I then went on to have two more DC who were conceived within the first month of trying and now expecting No4 who was conceived the second month after coming off the combined pill.

Conclusion Depro has a huge effect on your cycle for a long time, but it does come back unfortunately it takes a while . Its frustrating and annoying.

Good luck Ladies

thanks pinkclouds,thats a msg of much hope then!! and well done you,congrats xx

I have always had an irregular cycle and decided to start on the microgynon 30 pill to regulate the cycles this was in 2005. This worked to an extent but i suffered from extreme head aches all the time. So after about 18months i decided to swap from the microgynon 30 to the depro injection. I had 3 depro injections around 2007 all lasting 12 weeks each i decided after the third one to have no more, as with 36 weeks (9 months) i'd piled on 4 stone in weight from a side effect of the depro where i always felt hungry.

I spoken to my G.P about this and he prescribed the Microgynon 30 again, so with reluctancy i took this for a further 3 months. Then because the head aches came back i decided to visit my local family planning clinic who took my blood pressure and B.M.I and said because i was experiencing head aches while using Microgynon 30 i was in a danger of having a stroke because my B.M.I was over 30.

The family planning clinic prescribed me to use cerezette (a mini pill) which you take without a gap. This pill was really good, i had no head aches and managed to loose 5 stone while on this pill.

I came off all contraceptives in feb 2008 after my relationship failed. Because i've never felt healthier within myself i've never wanted to go back to contraceptives.

The other reason for not wanting to go back onto contraceptives is because it took my body around 18 months to show a period from using the depro and it's been 3 years since i came off all contraceptives and my periods are still not regular, but then they never have been!!!

Hi Dollysgirl, I just wanted to add my experience here too.

I started the depo in March 2005 and continued to have it until december 2007. We got married in Jan 2008 and wanted to start a family pretty much right away. I didn't have a period until December 2008 and this was very light spotting (not what my periods were like before depo). It took until March/April 2010 for my cycle to become anythign like regular, but this was anything between 32 and 45 days. I went to my GP and had hormone tests, these showed I had PCOS (although I'm not convinced this is correct and the imbalance was still being cause by the Depo). I then started doing home ovulation tests (I did 100's because my cycle was so irregular) and not one showed I was ovulating. I had a few 21 day tests, but because my cycle was so irregular they were never accurate. As a result of my 100's of -ve ovulation tests and the 21 day tests we were referred to the fertility clinic. Felt like a lifetime for the appointment to come through, eventually it did 26th August 2010. I carried on as normal with the ovulation tests and when I got to day 33+ of my "cycle" would do a pregnancy test just in case. They were always negative in July I said I wouldn't do anymore as it was upsetting.

Then the day before our appointment at the fertility clinic I was speaking to my friend who was pregnant and I happend to mention I felt like my period had been due for over a week, emotional, tired, aching boobs etc. She said to do a test, just so I knew for sure before my appointment. She still had one left. I took it to the loos at work because i waqs certain it would be negative. It was positive :o! Fertility clinic confirmed the next day I was 6 weeks. And confirmed it was quite a regular occurance for people to turn up at the first appointment pregnant.

I'm now 32 weeks with our much wanted and much loved DS. I still am shocked that I am actually pregnent, because we weren't even "trying" very hard because I thought I wasn't ovulating.

I now know that the Depo isn't offered to anyone looking to start a family within 5 years and I've convinced friends who used it to change to something else (most chose the implant), feelign guilty because I recommended it to so many as I thought it was brilliant when I was on it.

I hope my story helps you in someway and lets you know you are not alone in the way you are feeling about it all. I wish you all the very best.

thanks LisMcA!! Ive just had my day 2/day 21 blood test results back,and been told they r all normal,with a slightly high progesterone,but nothing to worry about....so does this mean i ovulated??? i cant see gp for over 1 week to discuss it properly,but to me the whole point of testing was cos ovulation tests never give me a positive...and im none the wiser...so does normal test results mean i ov'd or not?? so confusing,but good news all is normal i guess :-S
ive been referred to fertility clinic so hopefully this will enable me to relax,thanks ladies!!
btw;i also recommended depo to EVERYONE and thought it was wonderful...and it is!!IF YOU NEVER WANT BABIES! X

That sounds promising Dolly! I had a telephone consultation with my GP when I got my results back. He was able to explain them. I hadn't ovulated and i had high testosterone (I am not a man), so if they are saying they are "normal" then to me it sounds like you did. The pee strips didn't work for me at all and I was doing them every day (waste of money!)

Did you know if you go on the Depo now you have to have a bone density scan first? The GP's here are really steering clear of it.