Strange symptoms after getting off Depo Provera - Part 2

I have been off it for a year now . The symptoms do get better. I had lots of test done and all were normal . Vitamin b complex helps with the fatigue . And evening primrose helps to with breast pain. I bleed every other week for a couple of months when periods came back . And suffered with bad headaches. I have been told some times take up to two years for periods to come back and also fertility to return. The more yu stress the longer it will take I found. Mines back to every 32 days but I only had two full cycles so it just a waiting games to see if it stays that way.

Hello everyone!! I was on depo for 6 months after i had my son.  I've been off of the shot for 2 months.  and the last couple of days I have had severe irritability.  Is this normal!!

Oh boy indeed!

I feel exactly the same. was due my last depo in june and decided to come off it, ya know, give my body a break... hmm. fat chance!

I have been bleeding every day since, sometimes heavy sometimes light. it is no good for a woman to have that manky thing constantly :( I can not tell when my normal period is because of this additional bleeding, and therefore cant distinguish between normal pms mood swings and anxieties and life stresses.

All in all i feel like im heading for a break down the moods that i have been in since coming off depo I am pushing away my close friends and relatives and lovely bf. I have gained about 2 stone in 3mnths. I have been working out 2-3 times a week, have no appetite yet am the heaviest i have ever been and cannot fit into any pairs of jeans (def does not help the mood swings and my low self esteem experienced atm!) Never had headaches until coming off depo either...now get pressure headaches at weird odd places on my head. So do you think it is actually depo withdrawal? I am going to the doctors on monday, i really cannot be arsed with a load of c**p off them, i am at breaking point so theyd better bloody help me!

I think it's you body way of getting the depo out of you system . Also starting to switch the process back on . Thats why you get the moods swings headaches irratably cramps . Discharge is a good thing as then you know that it is trying to come back. It makes you question every symptom . Make you think your mad. But ladies you will get through it I promise.just takes up to a year for periods to come back . And two for some and fertility . I know it horrible but we had it switched off for a while . Its got to come back . Drink lots of Water to help the headache .i found vitamin tablets help. Be patient. Stressing is the worst thing you can do .

Hi ladies was searching for reasons why i could be bleeding for so long after depo use and came across this.

lets see i had my son in june of 2011 and had became pregnant 3 months after i lost the baby and decided to get on depo a week after, which was in september of 2011, well i got all my shots up till about march 2012.... i bleed constantly 24/7 while on depo i informed my doctor and they told me it was normal...hmmmm? no i dont think that is but ok anyways i decided to stop the depo and use nothing until my period went back to normal welp they diddnt i have been bleeding 24/7 since ive got off of depo i believe depo has screwed me up premently. its now september 2012 and i have yet to stop bleeding once in a while its light and once in a while its heavy. i buy pads non stop pretty much every other week and i buy big boxs of them so u know its bad. i try not to go to my doctor because i dont want to hear ooo it will stop. my question is when ? this is horrible and upsetting to me i hate it and its driven me insane. why is this happening to me? is something wrong? i cant find to much info on this....im lost and feel that i should have never used depo... i had used the pill in the past and i loved it but i always forgot to take it... thats why i went to depo. im 22 and shouldnt be going thru something like this im scared something is really wrong but am afraid to find out if there is something wrong i dont know but i dont recommend it at all! ooo not to mention im recently clotting now tooo ooooomyyyyy

I was told my depo would wear off yesterday. Today about 12 noon, i started cramping, lightly spotting, felt like a bad fever (cold sweats and all), my back was in a lot of pain, my breasts are really sore, and I feel horrible, so I looked it up because i assumed it was the shot. This forum got me so scared. It hit me so strong this first day im really scared if its going to get worse and for how long. :[ I was on it for 9 months, and decided to get off because of the weight i gained (even with dieting and exercise) and the spotting was getting annoying, and I didnt want to stay long on it to begin with.I feel so stupid for not looking this up prior to my birth control choice was made. I just ran into it. Please research everything carefully before you regret it like us.

I am 18 and I started depo provera in january. It wasn't until right after my second shot that my periods went away, but the six months I was on the shot I literally gained five pounds a month! I have never had to worry about what I ate and I was mortified when none of my clothes fit so I cut the shot. I got my last depo shot in mid may and it's now lat september and I still haven't gotten my period and I have been having symptoms that are scaring the c**p out of me, I am ridiculously moody and my breasts are always sore and sometimes get horrible pains. This makes me scared I'm pregnant so I am going to see a gynecologist to ask what's up. I know my friend got this shot and she had no problems... It's weird how we all react differently.

oh man am I glad that I found this forum and that it has recent posts!! im 19 years old and started depo April 2012, i thought it was the best idea in the world due to the fact that i am on a current deployment and i wouldnt have a harder time ordering more bc pills online. I only took 3 shots and im glad i didnt take my next shot which was September 11th 2012. Since then I have been haveing increased anxiety, mood swings, severe abdominal cramping, headaches, irritablity and some nausea. Thinking that i was pregnate for some reason I ended up taking a store bought test and it turned out negitive. For all of you that are going through a rough time with depo know that you arn't alone. Many people are telling me that its a long process for the road to recovery from some of the effects of Depo. the best advice i can give for Depo is to get off it as soon as you can, since even doctors dont really know all the long term effects of it. Good luck to all of you and i will keep everyone posted on when my body regulates to normal again!!    xd

It's so comforting to know that I'm not alone in all this!

I started the Depo shot back in August of 2011. At first things were fine, a little spotting and bleeding, but I was told that was normal. I've always had irregular periods anyway, so this wasn't out of the norm for me. I noticed some changes in my mood, but kind of associated it with season changes. (I can get somewhat depressed when winter is getting close to rolling around - always have). Anyway. In November / December, it's like I got hit with a brick wall, and that's where things started to go downhill. Over the summer, I had been more active, and started to watch more closely at what I ate, and had been losing weight. Then in November, it stopped after I got my 2nd shot. I didn't gain, but I didn't lose either. I thought that it was maybe because some of the foods I had been eating hadn't been the greatest, and had associated it with stress due to my job / personal relationships. Well as time has gone on, I've put on a good 15lbs or so, meaning that I gained back everything I lost, and then some. Talk about annoying!!!! I started to notice that I got moodier as time went on. Became very irritable, cranky, angry, sad, depressed, anxious, and paranoid. All for no reason. I too would have the random crying outbursts. I'd try to explain to my boyfriend that I didn't know what was wrong, that I just felt that way for no reason. My sex drive went from being normal / somewhat high to completely non existant. Of course, had to explain to the boyfriend that it wasn't him, it truly was me, I just couldn't explain the reason for the sudden change. I had called my GYN when it came time for the next shot, and expressed my concerns about my symptoms. Now, I had done some research before hand, and had read some of the symptoms that you could experience. I just never thought they would be at the extreme they are at. My GYN told me to stick with it, and give it another round, just to let my body continue to try and adjust, that it just might be taking me longer than others. So I did. I gave it I think two more rounds, and was due for my shot this last week. I decided that I wasn't going to get it, because I was tired of the side effects. Of the 14 months that I had been on Depo, I think I was bleeding for a good 9 or 10 of them. I'm sorry, but that is just not normal! It has severely effected my life, let alone my love life with my boyfriend. To the point where he doesn't fully understand, and it has caused many arguments / fights, and I'm surprised he's still around. It's at the point though where our relationship is truly on the rocks, and unless something changes, I know he'll walk away. My GYN gave me a rx for Levora, and told me to try it instead, and see how that works.

I know that I'm extremely concerned about how my body will react to the change from one BC to another, and I'm hoping that it will react in a positive way, instead of a negative one. My boyfriend is the one who actually found this site, and I think he might finally see or somewhat understand now that one, I'm not crazy, and two, it truly isn't him that's causing the issues. I wish you all the best of luck with recovering from this drug and it's terrible side effects <3

I'll make this brief. I've been on depo well over ten years. Now at 39, it skipped my last injection which was due at the end of September. 

Knowing I was going to end the birth control, I've been make some major adjustments to my lifestyle. Mostly to my diet which I have found helpful. I'm no health nut and could stand to excersise more! Beacause so many have posted their symptoms i wanted to write about what im doing to manage them. The symptoms of withdrawal are there, but not debilitating and I am able to let my body go through its reboot. Some things that I have done prior and when starting the reboot process:

No coffee or soda, plus cutting back on beer, red wine and gluten. Coffee and red wine have tanins that sit in your system and cause dehydration. Gluten requires alot of energy to process into useable energy. If you drink a lot socially, reconsider this lifestyle for a bit. I have found my tolerance is super low now and it takes days to recover. One or two glasses of wine are fine, more and I am ripped.

I am not much of a salt person to start with, so weight gain has been very minimal. But cutting back on salt will help with water weight.

I drink lots of green tea, so I've upped this to keep my digestive system clean and to detox muscles that do cramp up. Surprisingly is has also helped a lot with the nausea!

Started taking vit B complex for energy, eating Greek yogurt every other day for my digestion.

Eating my main meal at lunch, light dinners of cheeses and meats. For a sweet, I'll dive into some licorice but no baked goodies after 2pm.

advil is with me at all times, so if I feel something starting i'll take one, and then get up for a walk.  I also am on lexapro for PTSD, so I've talked to my therapist and my GP about what I'm doing and the side affects So we can always have scourge of action to turn to.

Things I need to do, get my butt to yoga, meditate more and be honest with myself to let my body do what it needs to. also having a massage therapist who works with eastern and western techniques with help with headaches and muscle pain.

One other thing. If you don't have one, get a really good dildo. Not one of those rubber jobs, but if you can afford it a pyrex glass one. Massaging inside has been fantastic to manage cramps and get things running again. 

I hope some of my insights help someone else!

 I was on the shot since Nov 2004 I got off the shot end of last year for 6months because we were gonna try and have a baby 6months later I got a period  bleed for 2days then I called the doc and got back on the depo I HATE PERIODS lol now 4months later (month late on shot) We want to try and have baby again. My boobs hurt bad I think im gaining weight I do feel tired more and I have gas stinky gas lol I havnt got a period and I dont thnk Im pregnant ( did test didnt come back pos ) I dont know some of the stuff you ladies have wrote kinda scares me... Why dont the docters have to tell ladies all this when they get on the shot why do they make it sounds great The only great thing it did for me was not having periods

I've been on depo since June.  My next shot is supposed to be Nov 26, but I have had so many complications with it, and after reading this I'm scared to stop it.  I've been on my period for over 3 months.  I feel disgusting.  My boyfriend says it doesn't bother him, but the bleeding has taken away all my confidence which is effecting me at work, I don't feel attractive anymore, and when we're having sex, I feel lazy and get scared about how much blood will be everywhere.  I was already a moody person, but the shot made me moodier.  I'm scared if I don't get off the shot, my relationship won't make it.  And after reading all this, I'm scared my relationship won't make it through the withdraw.

I stayed on the ht for three months only because I bled through it all. Bleeding never stopped an it has been 6 months
I'm sure it's normal but a period for 6 months with no break... Sucks

Is that a terribly bad thing to worry about?

I would go to your doctor as you should get it checked out .

I had my first shot in february of 08 and continued on the shot until my last injection in May 2012. Due to the fact that I knew (from previous research) that the shot can cause infertility, I decided not to go get my injection in August when I was due for the next one. 

After the first shot, I bled for the first three months, straight... It was more of a spotting type but extremely heavy at times. Since, I have not had a period. Light spotting sometimes after sex but that was generally right before I was due for my next injection. My body has been coming off of it since August and might I say, it has been a very interesting last few months (as it is December now!) Still no period, I had a little bit of spotting at the beginning of the week but only lasted a day... I didn't really gain pounds during the period of taking the shot but I definitely gained a lot of water weight, I was bloated the entire time. In August when I didn't get the next injection, I've literally gone from wearing 6's or 4's (depending on the maker) to b a r e l y being able to fit in my 2's!! Like I said though, I haven't lost weight, my number has stayed the same but I've lost a lot in inches! My boobs have been extremely sore and swollen, so bad to the point that touching them hurts. I have never really been a moody person, but I definitely am now.. more on the verge of bipolar! Extremely happy one minute and the next beyond pissed off.... its horrible. And the reason I stumbled upon this post is because I was also researching the side effects from coming off the depo because yesterday I started having chest pains around my heart, as well as cramps. I've never experienced cramps like this from not doing anything, obviously after running sometimes I experience them. I cannot get comfortable, they hurt so bad that I could cry (but I'm wearing my big girl panties, so I won't ;-))... Any way, I have read a lot about these cramps and chest pains as well as women have multiple miscarriages after the depo. I'm not planning on having kids for another few years so hopefully by the time I'm ready I'll be good to go, but I will be making a visit to the doctor to have my fertility checked out, make sure all of that is good to go. 

I'll keep you ladies posted, hopefully all will check out okay. I'll also keep researching these pains :-) and hope that they go away!

P.S. I didn't realize that the reason I wasn't lubricating naturally is because of the the shot!!