The first 3 months on Depo was a breeze & I loved it. I didn't get any side effects & my 'period' would be 2 days of light spotting. after my second shot, things spiralled out of control. I gained weight since my food cravings went through the roof, I was always hungry. Then came the mood swings, the constant crying & then the severe anger, lack of motivation & depression. I even became suicdal, I turned into a completely different person. I loved exercise before Depo, but I had no energy to do it- I was so fatigued. I'm a glamorous girl, but I had no desire to put makeup on & dress up. All of a sudden I hated my face & body- I would wear hats, sunglasses, hoodies and sweatpants all the time. The rare days where I tried to get dolled up, it was like moving a mountain- it took so much force to just try. Before Depo, I was a bit anxious here & there but with Depo my anxiety was horrible, I felt people where plotting against me.
My boyfriend luckily was very understanding throughout everything (I hid my emotions pretty well when he was home, it was when he was gone that I was a basket case) after I broke down and told him the shot was the culprit, he said he knew something wasn't right with me, and for my mental state he was nothing but supportive when I decided not to get my next injection that was due at the beginning of January. It's been 28 days since I haven't gotten my Depo Shot, and the first 14 days where pure Hell. I was severely angry, extremely sad & my breasts where so sore & ballooned up 1 cup size from a C cup to D . However, I did lose 11lbs.
I literally woke up one morning after the 17th day, & I felt amazing. I felt normal. I went on the treadmill and ran for an hour, took a shower & got dolled up. I finally feel like me again, and I will never take this poison again. I'm happy, I'm smiling, laughing, I'm not hiding in hoodies & hats- my confidence is back to what it was like before Depo. I'm not sure why I had such great luck with it the first time, but I'm never taking this again. For any women who are waiting for the effects to wear off, just hang in there x I know it's different for everyone. I also experienced sleep deprivation, I would be up till 5am then sleep all day. The list of shitty side effects goes on and on :( but I'm happy to finally, almost be back to normal.
I received one Deop shot in 2003 and still feel 'off.' After all this time, I finally thought to come on the web to see if I am the only one who became like a different person, very depressed after getting the shot. I see that I'm not.. while that brings me some comfort, I am so saddened and upset that so many women and girls under 20 have suffered badly because of this bad drug. So for 14 years I have been living with depression that came on when I got the shot. It sounds crazy, but even my partner (who is now my husband) noticed a difference after I had the shot. Soon after the shot wore off (right at the 3 month mark for me), I got pregnant. Once that baby was delivered, I dealt with major major depression for a long time. It took about 3-4 years for my periods to normalize and my hormones to stabilize more as well.. but all this re-balancing has really been an ongoing project for the last 14 years. I've felt pretty good for the last 5-7, but with peaks and valleys. I feel in a valley again now.. it feels very hormonal and sad. I am depressed for almost no reason; I find reasons, but there is an underlying feeling that if i were actually ME, those things wouldn't bother me to the degree that they do in this depressed state. It is very frustrating to know you're in a depression, but feel somewhat helpless. I will start exercising again. I have always been a very clean eater- people usually comment that they have never met anyone that takes toxins, chemicals, pesticides, etc as seriously as I do. I am very careful what I put in my body.. I feel like I should be the healthiest, happiest person. And I want to be. But I am in a fog, a dark cloud a lot of the time.. not able to enjoy fully what life has given me. It is so sad. I wish I could snap out of it. This is a real thing. I know in my being that this shot affected me on several levels, some of which I guess haven't fully left my body. I've done several detoxes ... I hope I can figure out how to further rid my body of whatever is still left- the synthetic pharmaceutical hormones, the additives or preservatives, or the energetic effect it had on my spirit/ constitution, which would affect the emotions. I will keep trying different things and believing for a cure. But I am angry that this is legal.. they are allowed to put drugs like this out in the open market. Clearly this wasn't studied enough or the study science was covered up or it was 'studied' in a fraudulent way. This is just not right that they can play with people's lives like this.
There was also a string of other side effects which I was completely unaware of. I knew that weight gain was a possibility. But I became severely depressed and it honestly lead to me ruining my relationship. I have been in a relationship for about 5 years and I finally ended it because of me feeling so different from usual. Most of this was because of my compete loss of libido and depression/anxiety.
I was irrational the entire time I was on the birth control. I had zero control over my emotions and ended up starting to self harm. I have had no previous mental illness issue and it was out of character for myself. I and still coming off of the birth control and hoping my libido will come back as of now, April 2017 it has been about 4-5 months off of the shot and emotionally I am completely fine now just except for I have no sex drive still. I am wondering if anyone else had similar situations.