Shot or Pill?

Question

So what in your opinon is better or maybe in facts that is proven one method to be better then the other. The Depo Shot once ever 3 months or the Pill? (im not talkin about how easy it is just how well it works). And what are the chances of getting pregant if you dont use protect?

Answer 1

The shot for me worked really well. But I gained a lot of weight on it.

Answer 2

The depo shot has a lot more side effects than the pill such as weight gain and bone loss. Also, you don't know how you are going to react to the shot or the pill but, with the shot you are stuck with it for at least 3 months but, if you don't like the pill you can stop taking that one and switch brands. Talk to your doctor but, personally, I'm afraid of the shot and would never get it. I also love the pill. It takes about 3 months to adjust to the pill and you may experience more side effects or have to change brands. I had to change brands a couple times but, now I'm happy.

I think the shot is about as effective as the pill 99%. Meaning one women out of every 100 using contraceptive gets pregnant. Using condoms in addition to the pill reduces the liklihood of getting pregnant greatly and provides protection from STI's if needed/desired. Set a cell phone or watch alarm to remind you to take your pills everyday and you'll achieve that 99%. If you forget a pill or take your pills in the wrong order, use antibiotics or epilespy/mood stabiliser medication the effectiveness of the pill decreases.

The chances of getting pregnant if you do not use protection is about 80%. So 80 out of every 100 women not using protection become pregnant in one year of not using protection.

Answer 3

I got the shot, a week later I started to bleed and didn't stop bleeding for four months. I have since talked to three more women that have had the shot and experienced continuious bleeding between one and four months. I have also heard from some women that it was the best thing they did (no period for three months). Talk to your doctor about that. As far as how well it works.....nothing is 100%, the pill if taken at the same time each day is 97-99%, condoms 89-97% (spermacide?), again talk to your doctor. Good luck

Answer 4

The Depo Shot.....

I was on it for 3 years and i never got pregnant on it. I had sex without condoms while on the shot with my now husband.

I think the shot is more effective than the pill because so many girls/women forget to take the pill (i don't see how they could forget)

Go to http://www.teenwire.com

Answer 5

The depo shot worked excellent for me- I did not have my period for 3 years when I was on it- but when I went off I did not have my period for over 1 year-
It messes with your blood cycle that causes you to gain lots of weight- I gained over 60+ pounds-
my sister went on depo also and she had her period for the 1st 5 weeks-everyones diff
the pill is okay but you cant forget to take it-
JUST USE PLAIN OL' CONDOMS- SAFE NOT TO GET PREGNANT BUT ALSO BLOCKS STD'S OR AIDS-

Answer 6

The shot is baaaad news. It wrecks your bones.

Answer 7

Please have a look at this.
Depo Provera shots
http://www.abcinternetmarketing.com/depo-provera/

Answer 8

PILL AND I CAN'T STRESS IT ENOUGH!!!!

I LIVE IN NB CANADA AND MANY IF NOT ALL DR.'S HERE NOW REFUSE TO GIVE PATIENTS THE DEPO SHOT!!!!

IT CAUSES OSTEOPOROSIS, INFERTILITY (WHICH IF YOU ALREADY HAVE YOUR FAMILY, MAY NOT MATTER TO YOU A WHOLE LOT), IRREGULAR BLEEDING, WEIGHT GAIN (MORE THAN 10 LBS) AND LOTS OF OTHER THINGS. READ THE REST OF MY POST BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING HORRIFICALLY STUPID LIKE TAKE DEPO. I TOOK IT ONCE FOR THREE MONTHS AND HATED IT. I CONSTANTLY CRAVED DILL PICKLE CHIPS AND PEANUT BUTTER CUPS BECAUSE IT TRICKS YOUR BODY INTO THINKING THAT IT'S PREGNANT AND I LOST MY PERIOD COMPLETELY. WHEN I WENT TO GET MY PRESCRIPTION FOR THE PILL MY DR. TRIED TO TALK ME INTO GETTING THE SHOT AGAIN AND I REFUSED. NOW THEY REFUSE TO GIVE IT TO YOU IF YOU WANT IT LOL.

::: MY DEPO PROVERA HORROR STORY :::
05-15-2001

In November of 1996 I started taking the depo provera birth control shot. It was my first time on birth control, so I asked a lot of questions. I was told there were no side effects, except perhaps a small amount of weight gain, and that my period would stop. The doctor, a women, commented on how much I would love being on it because I wouldn't have to worry about getting a period. She told me it was completely safe. She said the only thing that would happen is I wouldn't get a period, and I could maybe gain an extra 5 lbs.

Other than the ceasing of my menses, and a small amount of weight gain, I was given no other information on side affects or possible side affects.

The doctor was wrong. Depo provera was not safe! In my body it was poisonous.

For those of you who don't know what depo provera is, it is a birth control method that is in the form of a shot. Instead of taking a birth control pill every day, you get a shot three times a year. You can have the shot in your rear, or your arm. I was given it in both places.

The depo provera birth control shot stops your periods, or at least I was told that it would, and it did mine. From some stories I've read however some women still get periods while on depo provera. In fact, some never stop bleeding!

Directly below are the side effects I had and some that I still have as a result of depo provera birth control injections that I took for a total of one year over five years ago.


NOTE: My story, in the written words below, was created on 5-15-2001. It is now August 2002 and I am thrilled to report I have a wonderful nutritionist who specializes in detoxification who has helped me gain my life back. I am almost at full recovery pain wise. I will however more than likely never be able to eat dairy, wheat, whey, white flour, caffeine, or chocolate again, but that is something I can deal with fairly easily now as I am already accustomed to my new way of eating and my understanding of nutrition. I am getting the poison of depo provera, and all of the other rx drugs I was put on because of depo provera OUT of my system. It is a long road to recovery.. but contrary to what doctors are probably telling you you CAN get well and you CAN do it without rx drugs more info here. I was eventually diagnosed with fibromyalgia - all stemming from the damage depo provera caused me. I refused to believe that I would have to live with the incurable disease of fibromyalgia. My current doctor not only agrees, but he has showed me how to do it! Many women are now emailing who were as I was, healthy before depo provera, and now diagnosed with fibromyalgia. YOU DO NOT HAVE to accept it. Read my entire site and my discussion board for help!

::: DEPO PROVERA SIDE AFFECTS I EXPERIENCED :::

PLEASE NOTE: UPDATE - 03-10-2003 - MY SYMPTOMS (listed below) ARE GONE. I am leaving this story and my symptoms up so that others who are suffering can see what symptoms I had.


50lb weight gain (half off most of it now years later)
Extreme Excitability, Nervousness (first two years terrible)
Panic Attacks, Paranoia (first two years)
Shortness of Breath (horrible first two years - still with me today)
Great loss of libido (first two years, getting better every year)
Painful intercourse (for about two years)
Severe lack of lubrication (at least 2 yrs., getting better)
Lowered immune system (still suffering but not as severe)
Loss of hair (the first year with shot, then subsided)
Now (current) unwanted hair on breasts, toes, face
Violent headaches (coming from pain at base of skull)
Extremely sore, stiff, crippled muscles all over body (still today but MUCH better than 97,98,99)
Blurry vision - trouble getting my eyes to focus on objects
Dizziness (still today - but MUCH improved)
Inability to bend over (feel like I will pass out)
Severe neck and shoulder pain (still today)
Jaw pain.. facial pain (like TMJ symptoms) 5+ years
Breast Tenderness & Pains - Fibrocystic breasts (still today)
Heart palpitations - irregular heart beat (still today)
Chronic sinus and yeast infections (still today)
Concentration and memory problems (still today)
Acne - not (teenager type acne - large boil/cyst like acne)
Suicidal thoughts because daily debilitating pain was too much
::: MY DEPO PROVERA STORY :::

I almost killed myself over depo... depo has crippled me and brought on so many symptoms I thought I was going crazy.

I started depo in 96 and was on it for a year. My mother and a massage therapist I started going to for 'sore muscles' told me that 'not getting a period didn't sound like it could be 'good' for me. But, I had a friend who had no side effects so I didn't think at ALL that depo did this to me. And, the doctors I started reporting my symptoms too said there was no way it was depo that was making me sick. So I never put two and two together or considered depo provera was what was making me so ill.

Eventually I got off of depo.. after a year. But it wasn't soon enough. And it wasn't because I suspected depo - I just now found out (5-15-2001) that depo has been the cause of all my illnesses. After what I have been reading, I think even just one shot of depo would have done this to me. Here is what happened...

After the first few months on the depo provera birth control shot I started getting ill. I don't remember 'when' exactly - one day it would be this, the next day it would be that. Every day there was something new hurting. My most prevalent symptoms were violent headaches, sore muscles in upper back and neck) and hair loss. My hair started falling out when I would wash it. Not just a little bit of hair -- I know you lose about 100 strands a day - I was losing A TON of hair. I was somewhat moody -- but I thought it was just because my body was in so much pain with the severe headaches, neckaches, hair loss etc.

I thought I had to have something seriously wrong in my neck - it hurt so bad and was so weak I couldn't keep my head up. I kept a towel wrapped around my neck. I went to the doctor who was giving me these shots with these symptoms BEFORE I got off the shot. She told me NO these were not side effects of the shot and STILL KEPT GIVING ME THE SHOT - and sent me to a neurologist. I asked him if it could be the shot - he told me NO. He said I was suffering from stress ---- BOY DID THAT MAKE ME MAD!! I am the most laid back person - I don't have to go to a real job -- I worked from my home and have a wonderful boyfriend (now husband) and actually the perfect STRESS FREE LIFE.

I did not suspect depo provera, the thought just disappeared when the doctors told me no.

The neurologist put shots in to the muscles in my neck he said to relax them. Those shots (one in each shoulder) made me so ill I was unable to get out of my bed for four days. Seriously.. I had to have help going to the bathroom. Needless to say I did not go back.

I was always crying from the pain because I did not know what was wrong. From what I remember.. from around Feb of 97 to at least Feb. of 98 I didn't do much more than go from bed to couch, couch to bed. I knocked myself out every night with tylenol p.m.'s to try and go to sleep without pain.

After a year, I finally stopped taking the shots. Not because I suspected them.. but just because I thought I really had something serious - like cancer - and I just quit taking them. I would have stopped sooner had I known then what I do now, but the doctor who was giving me shots, and a neurologist both told me that depo provera could not be what was making me sick.


Eventually I went to another doctor, now my family doctor [(UPDATE:2-02 NOT MY DOCTOR ANYMORE, he too failed me and wanted to do nothing other than drug me.. he eventually MIS-diagnosed me with fibromyalgia - as well as took $8,000 from me treating me with neck and back problems that only existed because my muscles were in a constant state of 'shock'. None of his treatments ever helped me)]. He is a general practicioner and also a chirpractor. I told him about the severe headaches, pain in the back of my head and sore shoulders and neck. I told him I thought the pain had to be coming from the back of my head or my neck. He sent me for x-rays. X-rays said I was fine.

He said my muscles were like knots and that was what was causing so much pain. He put me in traction and did manipulations on me for weeks and weeks. I never got better and stopped going after the medical bills got so high I had to stop going. He tried everything he could think of, even having me to special excercises, but I never got better.

In my many trips to doctors, dentists, heart specialist, neurologists, massage therapists I underwent many blood tests, x-rays, and mris. Everything showed I am fine.. no problems anywhere. But the pain only got worse.

Everything that was suppose to be helping me get better was actually making me worse. I had reactions to everything. I was told to excercise and start lifting weights. I could hardly lift five lbs over my head. I excercised and it always ended the same way.. in tears. Even a simple 'walk' hurt. When I would come in I would feel like every muscle was torn. It is as if my muscles are crippled. But that is just the beginning.

I did not want sex at all. I didn't even want my boyfriend (now husband) to touch me. Not just the 'I'm tired' feeling.. I was repulsed!! I just wanted him away from me. When I did have sex it was very painful.. I didn't tell anyone this. In fact, I just today (5-23-01) got the courage to add this to my web page. In just the past week I have met so many wonderful women online who encouraged me to be candid and come forward with all details. They have convinced me there is nothing to be afraid or ashamed of, so yes the thought of sex made my skin crawl too!! My husband is a very kind, attractive man who I love deeply.. it had absolutely nothing to do with him - I didn't know WHAT was wrong with me!

Besides the fact that I was disgusted by sex and by my own body (because of the depo weight gain), I had irrational panic attacks. This too nobody knows.. I don't even know if I ever admitted this to Scott, although I don't know how he couldn't have seen it. For a good year.. perhaps two I did NOT want to leave the house. If I did it was because I literally forced myself out the door. I didn't even want to drive in to town to the grocery store or post office. All of sudden a girl who use to be very active, outspoken and forward was afraid to be around people.. even small crowds. It was overwhelming. It was all so painful because I always like to be the 'center of the party - the main attraction'.. now I didn't want anyone to look at me or talk to me. This just wasn't like me.

To go in to a store or any public place was like death for me. I thought everyone was staring at me. I was self conscience of everything I did, the way I dressed, walked, talked. I swore every eye was on me. I would break out in to a sweat and my chest would break out in hives and turn bright red. My face would turn red too. I told nobody this -- I thought I was going crazy! Just daily chores became too much for me.. everything was such a major job. When I would get back home I would almost drop from the exhaustion that would come over me from being in public. The panic attacks are now gone for me thank god. But two years of my life were ruled by those attacks.

My vision was so blurry that I couldn't focus on anything. I thought I was losing my vision. I went to the eye doctor and he said there was nothing wrong. Nothing wrong?? How could that be. I could no longer read traffic signs clearly from where I use to be able to and everything just looked rather cloudy.

My hair loss eventually stopped, and then REVERSED. Hair started growing.. but not where it should. I now have hair where I am not suppose to. I have hair on my toes and my breasts.. like a man. Not to mention the facial hair. I have to constantly remove this. I am from a light complexion family too.. so this is not something that is the 'norm' for us. No women in my family have this. Only me.

My concentration and memory something that was as sharp as a tack - you could ask anyone who knows me - just went downhill with no explanation. I think my husband thought at first I was trying to be cute.. sometimes it would get so bad I would stutter - just couldn't get the words out. If I was watching t.v. and a commercial would come on I would forget completely what I was watching. I could be in the middle of a sentence and just switch to something else because I couldn't remember what I wanted to say. It was most noticeable just a few months ago when I was trying to drive us home from an auction. I came to a road I have been on thousands of times off the interstate. I got to the stop sign and truly did not know which way to turn to go home.. even though it was only about five miles from my home. My husband saw this too and I just started to cry. It is a very scary feeling to not 'know' where home is.

I thought a lot about suicide because of the immense pain. Everything hurt! Pain so severe at the base of the skull that my headaches and muscle tightness from the shoulders up had me in tears on a daily basis. It seemed also as if my immune system was shutting down and I was catching every cold, and flu bug that came along.

I think it is also VERY important for me to say that I am not some sickly person who is inactive. Before all of this I was a size 3/5. I did yoga faithfully every day for AT LEAST one hour. Sometimes twice a day - as well as walking, tai chi, etc. And I am not some junk food junkie either... I actually eat very well, I only drink water and 100% pure orange juice, cut out caffeine and most bad sugar, and excercised all the time. My body just started detioriating. I thought I was dying - I thought I must have cancer or something horribly wrong -- but all tests showed perfect health. I thought I was losing my mind.

The headaches kept up.. so severe and it was coupled with that dizziness and the sensation that I would pass out if I bent over. I went to a sinus doctor - he told me I needed surgery. I underwent surgery in March of this year. I didn't get better.. I got WORSE after surgery. I believe now that that surgery was a complete misdiagnosis -- I think the $14,000 + bill lined the doctors pockets -- but it didn't get me well.

I was up to (for the past two years) 6 excedrin migraines a day. I was taking so many (nothing else worked) that I became sick to my stomach. I had to stop taking them.. but if I tried to make it through a day without them I was just lay there crying in constant pain and my husband would beg me to take them.

Eventually I ended up at a doctor I had been going to off and on since 1997 (two months after my first depo provera injection). He was the third doctor I had been to since I had gotten ill about 3 or 4 weeks after my first injection of depo provera.

After seeing him for years with 'no' help, he eventually diagnosed me as having 'fibromyalgia'. First he diagnosed me with 'seratonin deficiency'. He put me on Prozac because he said I had a seratonin deficiency. I told him I didn't want to take it -- I AM NOT DEPRESSED!! He said he thought the pain was from a severe depression/anxiety from a seratonin deficiency. He said prozac would help me sleep and help my muscles to relax.

After about two weeks on Prozac I started to fell a little better, but only for about three to four days then NOTHING. I was so upset. I didn't understand it. I believe the reason for the 'good days' was because frankly Prozac made me a zombie. It knocked me out and helped me sleep all night -- something I seriously had not done in years. I can honestly say that for over four years of my life I did not sleep like people do. I may get an hour here or there, but never a 'sleep'. All pain however was still there.. I just didn't 'care' that I was in pain. I felt 'drugged'. I saw no sense in taking it any longer and he wanted me to stay on it. He would not listen to me in regards to 'checking my hormone levels'. He told me it was useless womens hormones are different every day and you have nothing to compare it to.

He eventually said I had all the symptoms of 'fibromyalgia'. All the 'pressure' points that hurt on fibromyalgia patients hurt on me. He said for some reason Prozac actually helps fibromyalgia patients pain be 'lessened'. I refused to believe I was to be stuck with an 'incurable' disease. I believe fibromyalgia is a 'wastebasket' diagnosis that doctors give you when they don't know what else to do with you!! And, I was right! I stayed on the Prozac for maybe a little over a month and I quit it. Needless to say I no longer see him.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am 100% positive that all of my unexplainable pain was brought on by depo provera. How do I know? Because I was once healthy and very active. No car accidents, no major disease.. the only one thing different was that I was on the depo provera shot. And, while on depo provera, is when I became ill. And, every year off depo, I get a little better. But it is not just me.. after having put my story online I have had over 1,200 women (as of 11-14-01) (NOW OVER 2,500 WOMEN AS OF 8-2002), email me, call me and/or sign my guestbook thanking me for telling my story because they too are suffering from the exact same or similar symptoms. A good majority of them were also healthy before depo provera, just as I was.

It seems that most of us are suffering from adrenal gland insufficiency and very screwed up hormone levels. Because of this MANY other things are wrong with us.. such as our sleeping patterns, our digestive systems, etc. (*UPDATE: this has been made clear to me now.. at least for my particular situation. please go to my discussion board (click here) to read more info. The majority of my pain is being caused by 'foods'.. foods I never had a problem with before depo provera, but foods that now cause severe allergic reactions that cause immediate and violent migraines, and muscle tenseness and fatique. This may be what is now causing your 'mysterious pain' as well.)

To make matters worse no doctors have told us HOW to detox after depo provera. They further poison us by putting us on OTHER prescription drugs with equally scary side affects. I myself was put on such things as ambien, celebrex, vicodin, even MIND ALTERING, zombie inducing prozac, round after round of antibiotics to fight the never ending sinus infection, yeast infection combo. etc., etc. I was getting the yeast infections as a side affect of the antibiotics to fight the sinus infections. (UPDATE: which I now know is a direct result of dairy, wheat and even many 'starch' foods that I have become 'allergic' too after depo.)

Before depo provera, I was a pefectly healthy individual. I rarely, if ever, went to the doctors for anything before the depo provera birth control shot. Since the shot, my life changed drastically. I've been plaqued with daily pain, and I've racked up thousands of dollars in medical bills. Every day of my life I am sick.. I am in pain. (UPDATE 11-19-2002 I AM NO LONGER IN PAIN EVERY DAY BECAUSE I AM DETOXING.. currently only about 12 days a month are 'bad' days.. and they are not ANYTHING compared to what life was like for me even just three or four months ago - click here for help).

I don't want to forget the weight gain.. I went from a size 3/5 to a 12/14 on depo provera. I am back down again but it took a lot of hard work. This too you can see from my medical records.. my weight just kept going up and up while on depo. This is happening to thousands of women all over the world. The doctors don't tell them that they can gain up to 5 lbs PER SHOT! They only tell us a slight weight gain 'overall'.

I pray this message gets out to ALL WOMEN considering depo. It is destructive. It is poison. It is a foreign chemical that our bodies are incapable of dealing with.

I hate to think there are other uninformed doctors (as one of my previous ones) who are putting women Prozac or some other anti-depressent indefinitely just because they don't want to check our hormone levels. Prozac made me a zombie. From the emails I receive that is all it is doing for others of you - it is NOT taking away the pain.

Another women suffering from the side effects of depo provera emailed me and said one of the worst things about depo is the feeling that you are going crazy because you are so sick and nobody can find anything wrong with you. She is so right!! That is the worst thing depo provera did to me too. It makes you question your sanity. You start believing that you must not be in pain because no tests show anything wrong with you. You are NOT crazy.. just view my guestbook and my discussion board and you will see you are not alone. We are all in this together, and here, on my site, you will find a support system to help you get well.

::: SPEAK OUT AGAINST DEPO PROVERA :::

I for one am not going to be silent. If you are suffering, I hope you speak up too. I am horrified that depo provera is still being injected in to innocent, uninformed women all around the world. My goals now.. to get well, to help other women who are suffering get well, and to get depo taken off the market.

Depo provera in my body was poison! Some women may use depo provera and suffer no adverse side affects. However many women never have one side affect until they STOP taking the injections. Additionally, many women get symptoms such as hypothyroidism after being on depo provera.. yet the doctors tell them they can't get this from depo provera.. big coincidence than that so many women do? I don't think so. Regardless that some may use it without side affects, thousands of us, perhaps TENS of THOUSANDS of us, have been poisoned by depo provera. We WERE NOT TOLD of any of these side effects. Not all of the information was given to us. Either withheld from the drug company to the doctor, or from the doctors to us -- it makes no difference! We were not told the truth! I truly hope this web page makes you think twice about using depo provera if you are not already.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE: February 24th 2003. I am almost 100% CURED from the torturous and relentless pain that was running my life for so long. I've learned that depo-provera, while being the main culprit of my severe decline in health, was not the only culprit. I've documented my road to recovery and detailed the exact steps I have taken to get well. I've put all of my information in a book I've written titled, Dying To Get Well. If you can't afford my book, don't worry.. you'll find a link there on how you can get a free copy. You can get well too. Your pain is real, but it is NOT incurable. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.


http://www.fwhc.org/birth-control/bcdepo.htm