Depo Provera contraception?

[LuSmith]

I'm wondering if anybody has any experience with the Depo jab and its side effects and if you can ease my mind!

I had a bad time with my bleeding postbirth, bled for four weeks until it suddenly died down and I'd thought it had stopped pretty much. Two weeks later unfortunately I started getting light pink discharge which didn't stop. On my week seven check I was still bleeding the light pink dischange and my doc wanted to discuss contraception at the appt. She convinced me to get an appointment for the injection despite my not being sure and failed to tell me about any side effects.
So the next day I had the jab (this was two weeks ago). I'm now 10 weeks postpartum and three days ago I suddenly out of the blue started getting this light pink discharge spotting again. I've been told depo jab can cause irregular bleeding, sometimes continual bleeding, among other things. I also have slight cramps which I'm not sure if they are menstrual or not (I suffer from bad IBS stemming from pregnancy so I can never be sure if it's that lately). I guess it could be breakthrough bleeding from a period but what worries me is that I had the light pink discharge beforehand and for some reason the jab stopped it completely for two weeks?! Has anyone had anything strange happen to them?

I've decided instead I'm switching to the pill as I think it's safer and the amount of bad news I've had regarding the jab has put me off having another one! Plus I don't want to bleed forever haha. I've got an ultrasound on the 11th Jan to check for any membranes because I was paranoid previously when the bleeding came back, but the doc is convinced theres nothing wrong.

Someone reassure me its just a side effect? I'm paranoid about ovarian cysts and stuff atm among other things My PND has turned me into a hypochondriac!

 

[violet 73]

I was on this a couple of times 1st with my 2nd oldest then after had my daughter I came off it then to get pregnant with jack who is now 3 everytime I've come off it , it's took ages to catch pregnant it took me ages to get pregnant it took 26months with jack , the depo jab is one of the best forms of contraception if you don't want to get pregnant you may have slight bleeding now & again untill your next jab , it does take a long time for this to come out your system another thing you have to be careful of is this can make some people put weight on I was ok but my sister had this twice & she put weight on but she is big boned so quite broad , If you have anymore questions then fire away as I got a lot of experience with this as was on it about 5 YrS In total . Violet

 

[LuSmith]

The thing that confuses me is that I only had it two weeks ago and already spotting pink discharge, is this normal? I've been to the doctors regarding my bleeding before (after my lochia had stopped it came back pink until I had the jab) and they haven't seemed worried, even refused a smear test telling me that there would be no point as I had one two years ago.

Do you mean that I may spot up until the next jab with which it may settle for a couple/few weeks and then start up again? I'm probably going to switch to the pill anyway as it seems a better option for me but I'm not looking to get pregnant again anyway!

 

[Faythe]

As with any hormonal contraception, it affects everyone differently.

When I first started on depo many years ago I did get spotting for about 2 months but after that I never had a period. Took me a year to get my cycles back after stopping it (was on it for over 2 years)

Good luck.

 

[Courtcourt]

I dont remember bleeding, but I had cramps for a while and gained 40lbs. I only did the shot once, and it was supposed to last 3 months, but I didnt get a period for a year and it took about 6 years of not trying, but not preventing to get pregnant afterwards. I will neeeeeverrrrr get that again. I hope you have better luck!