Depo Shot Experiences

bjkoziara

I searched the forums for this, but found that most came from women who turned to MFP after gaining weight on depo or from new moms (which is what I'm actively trying to avoid lol)

I'm ~20 pounds in to my weight loss and I'm thinking of starting the Depo Provera shot. Before anyone asks, I already have an appointment with my gyno to discuss further. Also, I of course know that every body/person is different and how one person reacts may not be how the next one does.

However, I'm curious about the experiences from people who were already actively losing weight when they started the shot. Did you find it counterproductive? Did you have trouble with bloating? If so, how long did it last for you? Any thoughts/experiences welcome.

sammidelvecchio

There is a good episode about this on a podcast I listen to. It might not answer all your questions, but I got a lot of good info from it. The podcast is called Pound This by Amanda Valentine and it's episode 261.

bjkoziara

sammidelvecchio wrote: »

There is a good episode about this on a podcast I listen to. It might not answer all your questions, but I got a lot of good info from it. The podcast is called Pound This by Amanda Valentine and it's episode 261.

Thanks so much!

Lindsay375

My experience on depo as well as the mirena iud was I was ALWAYS hungry. I legit never felt full, so there was no natural “you’ve had enough food” trigger. However if you are aware of that and track, it’s still primarily CICO. Your hormones may go crazy for a bit and water retention will be different but if you stay the course you should still be successful in losing weight in my opinion.

Once I got off of it I realized what full was...not the roll me out of here full but a real body sense of oh you’ve eaten enough. It was strange.

kami3006

I started Depo on my first cycle after I had my daughter. I lost pregnancy weight, which was high (thank you bed rest), and got down to a lower weight than before I became pregnant. No issues, no side effects. I stayed on the shot for three years, until my husband had a vasectomy, and never experienced any side effects that I am aware of.

Terytha

I was in actual hell the entire 4 or 5 months I was on it. I was bloated constantly, my skin broke out with such bad acne I felt like a teen again (only worse) and just the whole process of getting the shot sent my anxiety in crazy spirals. I went off it as soon as I could. Which, I must warn you, seems to have it's own set of side effects. Depo can be nasty.

I did not experience any weight gain, trouble losing weight or hunger related side effects though, and not all women experience what I did.

bjkoziara

Terytha wrote: »

I was in actual hell the entire 4 or 5 months I was on it. I was bloated constantly, my skin broke out with such bad acne I felt like a teen again (only worse) and just the whole process of getting the shot sent my anxiety in crazy spirals. I went off it as soon as I could. Which, I must warn you, seems to have it's own set of side effects. Depo can be nasty.

I did not experience any weight gain, trouble losing weight or hunger related side effects though, and not all women experience what I did.

Yikes, that's rough. Sorry you went through that. I've spoken about it very briefly with my gyno and she did mention she recommends doing a full year cycle before making a decision on whether to stick with it, but if it's that rough I'd stop too.

I am terrible at taking pills and don't really want an implant because that freaks me out. I would just do none at all forever (which is what I'm doing now) but I really need some period regulation. I took the pill for a month and hated every second.

I've had luck with NuvaRing in the past, but now that I'm bigger I have what I will politely call reach issues.

Terytha

bjkoziara wrote: »

Terytha wrote: »

I was in actual hell the entire 4 or 5 months I was on it. I was bloated constantly, my skin broke out with such bad acne I felt like a teen again (only worse) and just the whole process of getting the shot sent my anxiety in crazy spirals. I went off it as soon as I could. Which, I must warn you, seems to have it's own set of side effects. Depo can be nasty.

I did not experience any weight gain, trouble losing weight or hunger related side effects though, and not all women experience what I did.

Yikes, that's rough. Sorry you went through that. I've spoken about it very briefly with my gyno and she did mention she recommends doing a full year cycle before making a decision on whether to stick with it, but if it's that rough I'd stop too.

I am terrible at taking pills and don't really want an implant because that freaks me out. I would just do none at all forever (which is what I'm doing now) but I really need some period regulation. I took the pill for a month and hated every second.

I've had luck with NuvaRing in the past, but now that I'm bigger I have what I will politely call reach issues.

I'm bad at pills too. I use the patch. It's a little sticker, I put it on my butt (though there's other options) and only have to deal with it once a week.

I really want the implant but it's not available in my country.

apullum

bjkoziara wrote: »

Terytha wrote: »

I was in actual hell the entire 4 or 5 months I was on it. I was bloated constantly, my skin broke out with such bad acne I felt like a teen again (only worse) and just the whole process of getting the shot sent my anxiety in crazy spirals. I went off it as soon as I could. Which, I must warn you, seems to have it's own set of side effects. Depo can be nasty.

I did not experience any weight gain, trouble losing weight or hunger related side effects though, and not all women experience what I did.

Yikes, that's rough. Sorry you went through that. I've spoken about it very briefly with my gyno and she did mention she recommends doing a full year cycle before making a decision on whether to stick with it, but if it's that rough I'd stop too.

I am terrible at taking pills and don't really want an implant because that freaks me out. I would just do none at all forever (which is what I'm doing now) but I really need some period regulation. I took the pill for a month and hated every second.

I've had luck with NuvaRing in the past, but now that I'm bigger I have what I will politely call reach issues.

I had a friend who recruited her husband to help with the changing of the NuvaRing. That may be worth considering if you have a significant other

You may want to ask your doctor about other pills besides the one(s) you took. You can feel VERY different on different pills. I did horribly on a triphasic pill and much better on a lower dose monophasic. One of the upsides to the pill is that you can immediately stop taking it if you don't like it, while with Depo, it's going to be in your system for a few months.

For what it's worth, I eventually developed a condition that makes it dangerous for me to take the pill, and I'm now on my second Mirena, which I adore. The idea of the implant freaked me out too, but for some reason I didn't have the same feeling about the IUD.

Cahgetsfit

I have an old skool copper IUD because anything with hormones doesn't work well with me. I've never tried the Depo shot but have 2 nieces who both have had that and that implant thingy on the arm and both became gigantic.

Not joking. I recently saw them again after about 3 years (live overseas) and the youngest one - half my age - is more than twice my size. She used to be a generic normal sized person before she used it.

I have a couple of friends on Mirena. One has complained about bloating and is larger than she used to be but not huge. The other one has always been a bit overweight anyway, but hasn't complained about weight gain related to the Mirena. She just likes food.

The only thing I don't like about the copper IUD is the heavy periods. Other than that, it works fine and no hormones.

JaxxieKat

I gained 8lbs my first cycle with Nuvaring. The contraceptive doesn't cause weight gain, but I found I was more hungry, and if I didn't graze I would be overcome with horrible nausea.

lysdus

My gyno saw my weight on my charts and immediately took me off of depo. Said no implant either. Because I needed a hormonal method to control flow, she said either iud or low dose pill. She also said it can cause depression if you are already predisposed, which also leads to weight gain. I lost 30lbs (slowly) on Mirena. After a blood test months later, I learned that I had slightly elevated testosterone and estrogen. It became easier after being medicated for that as well. Sometimes many factors in play.

1991court

I had HORRIBLE weight gain. In 3 months gained almost 40lbs.. It was awful. I highly recommend the Nuvaring

dulcejimenez144

I only had two depo shots while I was on depo. I gained about 5 lbs while on it but they quickly fell off when I got off it due to the change in appetite. The depo shot made me absolutely ravenous. It also made me super tired but the worst part of it was the ACNE. I always had clear skin, even in high school. The depo caused me to break out in CYSTIC acne, I swear 7-10 new pimples would surface each day. I even stared getting bacne which is something I NEVER had to deal with. Geez do I regret getting the depo. I still have the hyperpigmentation on my face more than had a year later :-(

Anyways, the only BC that has worked for me is the Ortho-tricyclen-lo. I get the generic now to save $ but it’s been a god send! I find that it helps control my appetite as well, even when I’m PMSing.

MrsTitus2

I took the shot twice and didnt gain. I also was in cooking school and worked at a restaurant so I was eating a lot as well. Only workout was walking up stairs for 30 minutes a day. However my first period after was so bad . Felt like labor or miscarriage pain. But midol stopped the pain right away but it was pretty intense.

tayusuki

I didn't have too many negative effects while on it (besides breast soreness). It was my second time being on the shot. All the hell came afterwards - and I gained 20lbs within a month and a half or so. Doctors said there's no way the medication could have played a role, but they didn't actually try to help looking into the cause so who knows.

Everyone's reaction tends to vary (and it even varies amongst different times you're on it. I'd taken it a few years ago with no negative effects). Your experience may be different than other people's.

mom23mangos

DON’T DO IT!!! The side effects are not worth it.

“The Depo label now includes a warning stating that: Women who use Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection may lose significant bone mineral density. Bone loss is greater with increasing duration of use and may not be completely reversible.”

I was on it for seven years and was never educated that it was an estrogen blocker and what it was doing to my bones. I experienced several breaks during that time and heck, have had three fractures in the past year. My main focus of weight lifting is to try to reverse the damage as much as possible.

bjkoziara

mom23mangos wrote: »

DON’T DO IT!!! The side effects are not worth it.

“The Depo label now includes a warning stating that: Women who use Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection may lose significant bone mineral density. Bone loss is greater with increasing duration of use and may not be completely reversible.”

I was on it for seven years and was never educated that it was an estrogen blocker and what it was doing to my bones. I experienced several breaks during that time and heck, have had three fractures in the past year. My main focus of weight lifting is to try to reverse the damage as much as possible.

I had no idea about that. I think I've heard enough at this point that I'm thinking depo isn't for me. May end up doing an implant or IUD

kapurcel

I gained hella weight on Depo...increased my appetite significantly. It was nice not to have a period, but I can pretty much pinpoint all my later weight problems and food issues to having used Depo for a year.

apullum

bjkoziara wrote: »

mom23mangos wrote: »

DON’T DO IT!!! The side effects are not worth it.

“The Depo label now includes a warning stating that: Women who use Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection may lose significant bone mineral density. Bone loss is greater with increasing duration of use and may not be completely reversible.”

I was on it for seven years and was never educated that it was an estrogen blocker and what it was doing to my bones. I experienced several breaks during that time and heck, have had three fractures in the past year. My main focus of weight lifting is to try to reverse the damage as much as possible.

I had no idea about that. I think I've heard enough at this point that I'm thinking depo isn't for me. May end up doing an implant or IUD

To me, the difference between the implant and the IUD comes down to:
- how long you want it to last (most IUDs last longer than the implant)
- whether you are weirded out by the idea of either one (I personally find the idea of the implant too weird, for no clear reason; other people may feel the same about the IUD)
- how much short-term discomfort you're okay with (my IUD insertion process was unpleasant but quick)
- any relevant medical conditions
- whether you have easier access to one or the other

And with the IUD, there are a few different ones, so it's worth considering:
- Do you want your periods to possibly stop? Hormonal IUDs do that for some, but not all people. (To me, this is the best thing about my Mirena.)
- Do you want something with no hormones at all? The copper IUD may be good for you.
- Do you want something that lasts a really, really long time? The copper IUD can last up to 12 years; Mirena is good up to 6; some other hormonal IUDs are only approved for 3 years.
- Would you be okay with periods that could get heavier and/or crampier? This happens sometimes with the copper IUD.

honey_bee_keysha

The depo shot made me gain about 45 pounds when I was on it. I went from 145 to about 190. I couldn't control my eating and when it made me break out horribly.

babel95

Personally I’ve had a good experience with the depo shot (minus the first period, which lasted 16 days but was extremely light). I have continued losing weight while on it and don’t find my appetite has increased. I’m glad there are so many options so we can all find what works for us!

staticsplit

I gained 10 pounds on it rather quickly when I went on the shot (exactly once)--and I'm someone who gains or loses very slowly. My moods were also very intense and I was soo irritable. I had the implant for a bit as well but also didn't like it for similar reasons.

Mostly I was on the combination pill, then the Mirena, then back on the combination. I went off the pill because my blood pressure went up a bit and since I do very rarely get migraines my doc said I shouldn't be on them. So since December I've not been on anything. My period hasn't come back yet. I got a blood test I need to follow up on. I don't exactly miss it though.

It could also be correlation and not causation, but my mental health has been a LOT better since I went off birth control. I was considering a new Mirena but now I'm wary.

(If I lived in the US I'd get a 10 year IUD in a flash with how reproductive rights laws are going)