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Conception

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Original poster

How long did it take for your periods to come back after stopping Depo???

50 replies

Calista · 06/02/2006 21:15

My last injection was in May last year and have had virtually nothing apart from tiny bit of spotting at the beginning of January. I've managed to persuade DH to try for no.3, but nothing's happening and it's so frustrating! Made worse by the fact both DS's were conceived in month 1 (although I had been on the mini-pill previous to those pregnancies).

How long did it take for your periods to come back after? I know it can be up to 12 months but am interested to hear others experiences of it.
TIA

OP posts:
cathyspam · 06/02/2006 21:17

mine took a year! dreadful thing - wish i had never gone on it!

beansprout · 06/02/2006 21:19

Was on it for a year and had a period 10 days after the next one was due, IYSWIM. That said, it was quite light and I don't know how long the next one will be.

Original poster
Calista · 06/02/2006 21:22

Oh dear, I have a feeling I'm in for a long wait too Cathyspam! I'm such an impatient person anyway, have never wished for a period so much
I've read elsewhere that Dr's are supposed to recommend you only start on it if you've finished your family as it messes up your fertility so much.

OP posts:
beansprout · 06/02/2006 21:24

Really? That's worrying, no way have I finished!! Where did you read that?

Flossam · 06/02/2006 21:26

I too thought it interfered with fertility a great deal. My periods returned about two months later, DS arrrived 12 months after! Everyone is different, but I understood 12 months to be the norm. It sent me nuts and I would never go back on it.

Original poster
Calista · 06/02/2006 21:34

Beansprout, I googled it a couple of months ago and read it in a couple of places. Found a really scary thread full of people trying for a baby after coming off Depo last night, think it was on babyzone or something, again off a google search. The thread was something like 300 pages long . Has been going on for ages. I also read on several medical sites in my search a while back that you shouldn't be on it for more than 2 years as it decreases oestrogen long term and your risk of developing osteopororis/osteo-arthritis increases by a lot the longer you're on it. Quite negative stuff really, tbh wouldn't ever go back on it. DH is having the snip after we (hopefully) have our 3rd!

OP posts:
popsycalindisguise · 06/02/2006 21:35

mine took over 18 months
and nearly 2 years to conceive..

popsycalindisguise · 06/02/2006 21:36

it sent me loopy too

beansprout · 06/02/2006 21:36

Am really shocked and angry. A quick google has given me a whole list of not just horror stories but informative websites that all tell me that the return of fertility is at least "delayed" and yet stupid old me just believed what the doctor said.

beansprout · 06/02/2006 21:37

Can I ask? Loopy in what way? I've just come off it and have already found the depression I thought I was experiencing, has got better.

popsycalindisguise · 06/02/2006 21:38

depression
getting everything out of proportion
this was in 2000 though
insomnia

Flossam · 06/02/2006 21:41

Depression. Really badly, needed to have seen someone and didn't. Dangerously bad. Suicidal. For no reason other than a stressful job. Came off it and I am pretty much normal again! Dp put up with a lot. I am 100% certain that the two were linked for me. Not even my mother knew how I was though.

expatinscotland · 06/02/2006 21:44

When I went for family planning consultation, the doctor ruled out Depo on the basis that I'm being treated for PND w/drugs. She said Depo's NOT for someone who has depression.

I can imagine, if it affected healthy people in this way, what it would do for someone who's already depressed.

Shocking.

I worked in a women's clinic and NONE of the docs liked Depo. It was, however, good for women who wanted no more kids, but who's culture or religion forbade their using birth control. It would make them appear to have gone into menopause.

Original poster
Calista · 06/02/2006 21:47

Frightening isn't it? There is a Depo support group site for people who've had problems with it/after coming off it.

I initially came off it because I was having terrible mood swings, real rage would well up inside me at the most trivial of things . Seems silly thinking back to it now. And I was bleeding either a bit or a lot more or less constantly for the 18 months I was on it.

A friend of mine has been on it for years, her Dr. has never mentioned the osteo-problems that have been linked to long-term usage of it.

OP posts:
nooka · 06/02/2006 23:07

I had depo, and it was fine. But I have finished my family, and was just making a point to get dh to follow through and get his snip booked (three years after he promised!). Didn't have any mood problems, but then I didn't have any when I went on the pill either. I ended up just having the one jab, and then had three periods within a month virtually back to back!

queenoffe · 06/02/2006 23:25

Calista, Hi. I had depo for 12 years, came off it in July couple of years ago, had first period 8 months later. Conceived in the January after 4 months of trying, 18 months after coming off.

Have candida albicans gut infection now, and am fighting general endocrine system problems to date...... is this thanks to depo?

On the conception front, my gp was brilliant tho when i first came off and sent me for a blood test for my FSH levels. I believe the production of FSH is arrested by progesterone (depo), but it is possible im talking shite.

Good Luck with no3. I had a celebration drink when I got my periods back after 12 years without them! Can't be long for you now

Hattie05 · 06/02/2006 23:30

Depo is the devil isn't it?

I was on it for years before dd with no bad symptoms, conceived the month i came off it, so of course thought it'd be a good move to use it again.
This time round i gained loads of weight, and had a years wait for periods, doc sent me for blood tests and discovered one hormone was missing so gave me the pill for three months, which either conincidence or genuinely kickstarted my periods again when i came off it.
Now a few months on am waiting to fall pg.

cathyspam · 07/02/2006 10:29

i also gained 2.5 stone on depo and spotted every day for 6 months!

expatinscotland · 07/02/2006 10:32

I don't know anyone who used Depo and didn't gain weight.

gemmaseascout · 07/02/2006 14:52

I gained loads of weight being on depo for over 6 years. I came off in october, had some bleeding in december and nothing eles. Had loads of pain friday night someone said might be ovulation pain. Hope so!!
Depo made me quite depressed and angry. My hubby says I am alot better now and have dropped 2 dress sizes since october!! DEPO IS BAD and it seems I shouldnt have been put on it at 18!!!

dizietsma · 07/02/2006 15:07

Oh man, I'm afraid I don't have much good news for you. After two Depo injections my periods took about three years to get back to normal. I had none for a year after I stopped the injections. Then I had a period every two weeks for about another year, suffering excruciating back pain the whole time. Then they seemed to be back to normal but I still wasn't ovulating. Finally things must've worked themselves out because I got preggers!

Having said all this, I have to add that I had a very bad reaction to Depo. I put on about three stone, got extremely depressed, totally lost my (usually rather vigorous) sex drive and became so sensitive to fluorescent lights and flickering screens that about five minutes exposure would give me an earth shattering migraine.

Lets just say I wouldn't recommend Depo to a friend.

Hattie05 · 07/02/2006 16:02

oh yes, i lost my sex drive completely - caused a lot of upset in our relationship and the sad thing is i did not realise it was due to the depo at all - until now i have come off it

Original poster
Calista · 07/02/2006 16:50

God

Everyone just loves Depo then don't they! I'm not sure about the weight gain/depression as I started on it a few months after having DS2 and had put on a couple of stone during pregnancy and had PND anyway. Several attempts at losing weight in the last year or so have been a waste of time though, despite having no problems losing weight in the past. The weight just wouldn't come off.

Is it worth a trip to the Doc's then for blood tests to check out my hormone levels etc. do you think? Also going back on the pill for a few months to regulate hormones sounds intriguing, has anyone else heard of this? I thought leaving my body hormone free for a while would have got things back to normal more quickly.

OP posts:
Original poster
Calista · 07/02/2006 16:58

Thanks queenoffe, I look forward to that celebratory day when AF comes back for regular visits! Sorry about the health probs you've had, very worrying to think it may cause any long-term issues on top of everything else.

Hattie05, are you definitely ovulating again now? Good that your periods have come back at last!

OP posts:
uwila · 07/02/2006 17:21

Gosh! I've just started depo. Only been a week since my first jab. No ill effect just yet. But, I'm done having kids. So I don't really mind if my periods never come back.

I can't really understand why the NHS never advises anyone to take calcium when they go on depo (to reduce risk of osteoporosis). Seems bloody obvious to me.