Um.. :)

I'm on the depo too, and I tried getting the normal one and OMG was I one moody, hungry, and drained person. The regular depo made me really mean, upped my appetite, and was pretty awful. Vowed never to get on it again, but I never learn my lessons especially when a 'new' one comes out.

Anyway.. I am on the low dose depo. The shot they give you is in the stomach and its about the size of an insulin needle. Cheesy easy. Wayyy more appetite control, less complications all together. My mood swings are 10 times less. Gawd I am glad they had a lower dose shot.

So maybe try asking for that one? I've lost weight while on the other one too, it was just slower and harder to do it.

But if you want it out of your system, you have to ride out the entire 3 months. Last time I got off of the depo, I continued to spot for 3 months straight (egh). So maybe 6 months for it to be out out?

Thanks for the information and the empathy.

I did not know that they had a low dose Depo. I will ask my Doctor.

I was wondering why it was taking sooooooo long to drop the weight.

At least I know that I am not the only one. And the mood swings.....don't even get me started. LOL.

Thanks again.

The Depo injection is pure evil, I was a size 8 (UK) with 32B bra size and I shot up to a 14 and 36DD, I was working with horses at the time and undereating so there was no change in my eating habits or activity level to account for such a drastic change. I was moody and severely depressed (although I was in a terrible relationship at the time which didn't help). My periods stopped altogether, which didn't bother me but after stopping the injection they didn't come back for over a year which shows how long it was in my system for - and I was only on the injection itself for a short amount of time. As a result I will never ever touch the Depo injection with a bargepole ever again!

I agree... the depo shot needs to come with a huge warning label: "Will turn healthy, attractive, caring woman into the Incredible Hulk's new bride..." 

I HATED THAT SHOT!! I bled for 6 months straight, went from 125 lbs. right after having my first baby to 175 lbs 6 months later, and acted like not getting my way was the end of the known universe. It was horrible. 

Now it's 11 years later, and I'm still trying to lose the weight! 

ooh, Depo! I tried that after having my daughter (second child), and I dont really remember if I gained a lot of extra weight or not (this was at least 9 years ago), but it made me crazy depressed! I would never ever consider doing depo-provera again!

Drink tons and tons of water to help flush whats left out of your system, and talk to doctor about other options..

I was on it right after I had my son....I didn't lose much of the baby weight and kept it on...I stayed on it for 1 1/2 years (silly me) I didn't have periods and when I tried to get pregnant with my daughter I couldn't It took me about 1 1/2 years to get pregnant after I was off of it.... I found out that I developed PCOS and I am really wondering if the depo shot had something to do with that...so because of the depo and then pcos it's increadubly hard for me to lose weight.....

Thanks for the reply......Yeah I have also experienced the loss of libido. Really great contraceptive that depo......makes you not even think about having sex, makes you a big , fat evil Witch!!!!!!

So I am lokking at 18 months to get it out of my system.

My sister was on Depo for a short time and became the meanest person my family had ever met (and we've been met some pretty terrible people).  My mom begged her to get off Depo just due to the mood swings. 

A couple of years after that, I was switching my birth control and decided that I wanted to try Depo.  My doctor suggested that I try the pill form of Depo in light of my sister's response to it.  Thank goodness I did that.  I became nearly suicidal.  I couldn't get out of bed for about a week and I ate anything and everything that I could find.  All together, I think I was on the Depo pill for about a month and a half. 

If anyone still wants to try Depo, they should absolutely try the pill form first.  It can get out of your system quickly in case there are any negative side effects.

i havent had any of the mood swing problems... i have gained a ton of weight (up 80 lbs).. but i have a lot of heavy people in my family, so it might be more my genetics than depo (i started it at the end of HS so i went from barely eating to grazing all the time). Ive noticed a recent loss of libido.. but i think thats more cuz we moved back home and its made me depressed. And it doesnt necessarily take forever to leave your system, i stopped taking it for a few months almost 3 years ago... i now have a 31 month old lol.

I agree with almost everyone here. I took the shot and gained 15 pounds. I couldn't believe it. Since them, I'm so paranoid about other birth control methods. I'm not sure if everyone is different, but it was unfortunate.

Wow..  this surprises me.  I have been on Depo on an off for the past 14 years.  I have had significant weight gain over the years but to be honest with you it was because I was lazy and had poor eating habits.  I literally didn't pay attention to what I was eating.   Since September of 2007 I have been on a weight reduction plan starting at 282 and am now down to 199.5.  I excercise 4-5 days a week and watch my calorie intake.  That is too bad that you all have had negative effects.  As far as birth control I am pretty limited with my options as I have Factor IV Lieden and can not have anything with Estrogen.  I tried pills and within a week I had blood clots in my legs.  So I just stuck with Depo

I was on depo for years.  My doctor told me that depo does not make you gain weight per se, all it does is increase your appetite.  So, if you good self control then it should be no problem.

Original Post by tlstot:

I was on the shot for about 4 years.  I stop getting periods.  I didn't gain anything.  I lost some weight actually.... i was trying though, so it wasn't some unexplained phenominon.  I just went off of it three months ago and went on yaz.  My period came back normal last month.  If you ask me this yaz crap kinda sucks....but i think my body is just adjusting.  My boobs grew like a half of a size and are really tender.  SOOOO.... I almost wanted to go back on depo.  But we'll see.  Every BODY is different.  You just need to find the birth control that works for you.

 I have been on and off the shot for the last 7 years or so. The first time I went off, it took 6 months for my periods to return to normal. I went back on the shot when I got married and was on it for about 18 months. During that time I lost 30 pounds through diet and exercise and really didn't have any problem with my weight while on the shot. I then decided to try the pill. They first gave me one kind of low dose (I don't remember the name) and I had the same thing with my boobs they grew a whole cup size and hurt like crazy I also gained five pounds and it was hard to exercise because my boobs hurt so bad. But my periods came right back with the first month on the pill. They also had me try yaz and same thing along with mood swings and nausea. I went back on the shot because I couldn't handle all the side effects and then found that my decreased libido was being caused by the shot (I thought it was just me the first time around) so I went back off after 6 months and its been 9 months and I'm just starting to get by cycle back to normal. So far I have nothing good to say about any hormone containing birth control. I am finally getting off the hormones and I feel awesome.

I think all women should ditch hormone birth controls (unless medically needed) and all the men can get fixed!!