Well...here goes another horror story. i got on depo 8 yrs ago. I had terrible cramps and abnormal periods before depo and thus was my reasoning for taking it. It was my miracle! Something that could stop all the pain. I had tried the pills, and none of them worked. All I did was bleed constantly! So, at age 15, I got my first injection. I had a beautiful body and was generally healthy. Only complaint was abnormal periods and cramps. I bled for 6 months straight on depo. Everyone told my to hang in there and give it a chance. I finally had to see a doctor when I had lost over 30 lbs. I weighed 91 lbs at the doctor's office after being 125 lbs 6 months earlier. I got through all of that and things were "fine" for a while. I had really bad mood swings, but all the other symptoms seemed to have abated. About a year later I started having debilitating headaches. The nurses said it was stress and just threw a muscle relaxer at me. I had the headaches for about 2 years. After that, everything seemed to be normal. Well, at age 20, I was diagnosed with SVT. It is a heart condition in which your heart beats way too fast. Never through any of it did anyone mention that maybe I should rethink my birth control method. I was always reassured that depo was perfectly safe and that I could stay on it as long as I wanted. 3 years passed and every day of those years was filled with taking more pills, fatigue, depression, losing jobs, and generally hard times. My blood pressure would drop so low that I would pass out. A lot of times at work, causing me to lose my job. I couldn't understand why I was having so many problems. No doctor could tell me why I was so sick or what was causing it. Nobody could find the cause of my heart problems. So, this year, I started having a lot of abdominal problems. It turned out to be my gallbladder. I had it removed in April and since have ceased having heart problems. I'm not sure about which hormones are the same in different contraceptives, but I know that the pill can cause gallbladder problems. I have had no other choice of contraceptive method since my heart problems started. The pill, patch, and ring were too high of a blood clot risk for the doc to approve them for me. On my last visit to the ob, they informed me that they now only advise that you stay on depo for a max of 2 years because of the damage it does to your bones. NOW they think that the damage MAY not be completely reversible!!!! That's exactly what I wanted to hear after being on it for 8 years! So, I switched to the patch, and I'm not sure how well this will work either. I started cramping the first week. Since then, the cramps keep getting worse and more frequent. I have no bleeding, just cramping. It has really odd triggers. Every time I urinate or stretch, it starts. Also after intercourse. I have been assured that this is normal, but I don't know if I trust it. I guess this is just a long story from a very frustrated woman who wishes she had made different decisions. Maybe my story could help someone else.
Jen