Can You Lose Weight On The Depo Shot

I’ve been tagged many times in a Depo-Provera infographic making the Insta rounds. The title is “What I wished I’d known about Depo-Provera”, which insinuates that medical professionals are keeping this vital information from you. As most of the information presented in the infographic is incorrect or misleading, no doctor or nurse practitioner should actually be warning you about these points! 

Whether this infographic comes from a person who feels they have been harmed by Depo-Provera, so in good faith but incorrect nevertheless, or an anti-birth control warrior, so in bad faith, I don’t know. As an aside, anti birth control warriors are either naturopath/functional medicine types or someone who wants to impose their religion on others, and I find the overlap between these two groups fascinating. I regularly get insulted by accounts that can be best described as either “natural loving mama” and ‘Jesus loving mama”, and when I look at them they appear identical.

Regardless of the source, it is important to state that many people don’t receive adequate counseling about contraception, but the response should not be a campaign of misinformation and disinformation. Rather, it is to demand that medicine and medical professionals do a better job and provide correct information, which is what I am about to do!

How To Lose Weight On Depo

Depo-Provera is the trade name for an injectable medication called depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, commonly abbreviated as DMPA. Depo-Provera or DMPA is a progestin, meaning it is a hormone made in a lab that is similar in many ways to the hormone progesterone. While it is most commonly used as a hormonal contraceptive, it is also used for management of endometriosis and bleeding from fibroids. 

Depo-Provera has benefits and it has side effects and it has risks…like every medication. And a good practitioner reviews these with their patient before the medication is started. This is one of the tenants of informed consent, because you can’t make an informed decision with incorrect information. In addition, people are more satisfied with their method of contraception when they are fully informed.

The main benefit of Depo Provera is that it is one of the most effective methods of contraception, the failure rate for those who get their injection on time is 0.3%. In addition, there is no need to remember to take something daily or to use contraception during sex, which is very important to many people. It is also reversible. 

Birth Control Shot (for Teens)

Irregular bleeding is a common side-effect when Depo-Provera is first started. This should be discussed in detail before beginning, because if a person doesn’t think they can handle what could be (not always, but could be) irregular bleeding for at least 3 months and possibly longer, then this may not be the right method for them. The bleeding with Depo-Provera is typically lighter than a period, and so the trade off is a reduction in the amount of blood lost, and this may even help reverse iron deficiency anemia. 

Over time the bleeding with Depo-Provera decreases. By the end of one year of use, 50% of people will have no periods and by two years that number rises to 68%. There are some strategies for treating irregular bleeding on Depo-Provera for people who are in the percentage with persistent issues. Someone with regular, light periods might find the potential for irregular bleeding unacceptable and someone whose period is 8 days of flooding might find the trade off for irregular spotting absolutely worth it. For some, a 68% chance of having no periods after two years with the potential of having to deal with irregular bleeding in the interim, is a perfectly acceptable trade-off. For others, it is not. This is why good contraceptive counseling matters

Because Depo-Provera suppresses ovulation, it is an excellent choice for those who are on blood thinners and get bleeding into their ovaries with ovulation (hemorrhagic corpus luteum). It also reduces: the risk of cancer of the endometrium (uterine lining) by 80%, the risk of ectopic pregnancy, and sickle-cell crises for women with sickle cell disease.  

Shot / Depo Provera®

Another benefit of Depo-Provera is the lack of estrogen, so many people who can’t safely take estrogen-containing birth control pills can safely use Depo-Provera. The lack of estrogen also makes Depo-Provera a good contraception option for trans men who need contraception.

The downsides of Depo-Provera includes the irregular bleeding as just discussed. There is also an impact on bone density, which will be discussed below along with some other risks shortly. There is some data suggesting that Depo-Provera may increase the risk of acquiring HIV if exposed, but this is unclear.

Another very important part of the benefit-risk discussion is how important it is for the person to not get pregnant. Someone who absolutely must not get pregnant may view side effects like irregular bleeding differently from someone who is less concerned about a contraceptive failure. Another consideration is abortion availability and cost for those who would or might choose abortion should they have a contraceptive failure. For example, an unplanned pregnancy in Texas may have different ramifications than an unplanned pregnancy in California based on access to abortion. 

How To Lose Weight You Gained On Birth Control

This scenario does not apply to someone with ovaries. Hormonally speaking, the brain-testicles connection is not the same as the brain-ovary connection. This argument shows how disingenuous the person or people behind this infographic actually are. Medications used for anesthesia are also used for executions, but that doesn’t make these medications bad because a general anesthetic isn’t an execution. Leading with an entirely unrelated subject means you have no argument. You should be opening with your strongest argument, not what would be a major gaffe for a middle school debate.

There are many ethical issues with chemical castration for sex offenders with testicles, but none of those apply here because we are talking about ovaries. Testicles and ovaries are different organs. I should not have to spell that out. 

What about the impact of Depo-Provera on sex-drive for people with ovaries? In clinical trials that enrolled over 3900 women, six percent had a decrease in libido. So is it possible? Yes. Is it common? No. However, the fact that 94% of people experience no negative impact on libido is not exactly a strong argument against its use, so you can see why the people/person behind this infographic had to change the topic to the testicles.

What Is The Best Birth Control For Weight Loss?

CLAIM: It now carries the FDA’s strongest black-box warning because it can cause significant bone density loss and increase the risk of osteoporosis. 

There are no degrees of black box warning, this isn’t Karate. There is no progression in black box warning colors to the pinnacle of black box. There is a black box warning or there is not. Many medications have black box warnings and these warnings don’t mean the medication is bad or good, what they mean is a risk has been identified, this risk may be real or theoretical, and the FDA feels a highlighted warning is indicated so it can be part of informed consent. A black box warning doesn’t mean a drug is too dangerous to use, it simply means pay attention.

It is important to point out that there are some issues with the FDA’s black box warning system, and this warning may exist when there is literally no risk. For example, vaginal estrogen has a black box warning and that is ridiculous as no credible study raises concerns.

Best Birth Control For Weight Loss

The black box warning does not state that Depo-Provera can “increase the risk of osteoporosis”, it says it is unknown. The “may not be completely reversible” is exactly that, “may not.” The risk regarding osteoporosis is described as “unknown.” You can read it here for yourself.

Admittedly, this warning could come off as scary, but the effects on bone density are not entirely clear. The bulk of the quality studies tell us the maximum reduction in bone density is about 5% and that for most people it is reversible. Breastfeeding is associated with a 3-5% decrease in bone density (also reversible), but no one is insisting breast-feeding have a black box warning.

There are issues with some of the studies on bone density. For example, women who choose Depo-Provera are also more likely to smoke and drink alcohol, and both are risk factors for low bone density. What we do know is the impact on bone density appears to be fully reversible for those who are under the age of 45.

Depo Provera Injection

ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists), the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), SAHM (Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine), WHO (World Health Organization), and SOGC (Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada) all believe the data shows that the benefits of of DMPA outweigh the bone density risks for most people and do not support the two-year limit. Loss of bone density appears reversible for everyone, with the exception of

Adolescents who use Depo-Provera for more than two years, but there isn’t data to tell us if this is meaningful health-wise. Meaning we don’t know if for this group of teems more than two years of Depo-provera confers an increased risk of osteoporosis later in life or not. However, there is no good data