Birth control shot

If you’re just not vibing with your choice of birth control, it might be time to switch things up! Before you do, ask yourself some questions to make sure you know what’s not working and what you might want in a new method. Thinking about why you want to switch methods and what your needs are going forward will help you figure out next steps that work for you.

If you’d like to stop your birth control and try to get pregnant, you can get pregnant pretty quickly after stopping most methods.

Most methods will not cause weight gain. Most people gain weight over time (whether they are using birth control or not), so if you use birth control for a few years, weight gain may not be related to your birth control specifically. The exception to this is the shot. Some people who use the shot will gain some weight. However, the majority of people who use the shot don’t gain much.

A cyst is basically a bubble—a collection of fluid with a thin wall around it. Some types of cysts form when a follicle (the fluid-filled sac that develops around an egg during ovulation) grows larger than expected. Sometimes they can cause un-fun symptoms like abdominal discomfort, pelvic pain, pain during bowel movements, or pain during sex. Most cysts disappear on their own, but if they keep growing, they can cause severe pelvic pain or pain that causes dizziness or fainting and comes with a fever or vomiting. If you have any of these severe symptoms, go see a health care provider ASAP. Some hormonal birth control methods—the ones that work by blocking ovulation—may mean fewer ovarian cysts. If you tend to get cysts, your provider might recommend you try a method like the [pill](/birth-control/the_pill}, patch, or [ring](/birth-control/the_ring}.

Spotting refers to a small amount vaginal bleeding that is unpredictable or irregular and not related to your period. Spotting can be a normal side effect of some birth control methods, especially progestin-only ones like the shot, implant, mini-pill, and hormonal IUDs as well as with low-dose combination birth control pills. When birth control causes spotting, it isn’t dangerous and generally doesn’t make you lose that much blood, even though it might seem like it.

Once you get the shot it keeps working in your body for three months. So, if it’s been less than three months since your last shot and you want to get pregnant, you’re going to have to wait for it to wear off. There’s no way around it. For most people, your ability to get pregnancy will return to whatever is normal when the shot wears off in three months, but for some people it may take a bit longer, sometimes up to a year. And how long it takes to get pregnant is different for different people.

Headaches are not common with the shot, so you might want to look into other reasons for the aching or think about using another method of birth control. If the headaches are bad or getting worse, definitely talk to a health care provider to see what’s going on.

The main ways hormonal birth control prevents pregnancy is by stopping ovulation (when the ovary releases an egg). The pill, patch, ring, and shot are most reliable at blocking ovulation, so people using these methods may have fewer ovarian cysts. If you tend to get ovarian cysts, using these methods helps to prevent future cysts. The progestin-only, a.k.a., mini-pill, has an unpredictable effect on ovulation and may lead to more cysts. These almost always disappear on their own, but if you’ve had problems with cysts in the past, the mini-pill may not be the best option for you.

There are positive and negative things to say about every method. And everyone’s different—so what you experience may not be the same as what someone else experiences. And what side effects are “worth it” to you might be different than for someone else.

You can start by thinking about what’s most important to you about your method. Is your top priority using the method that will be the most effective at preventing pregnancy? Something easy to use? Something that makes your period lighter? Something that you can stop and start without seeing a provider? There are birth control options for all of these. It’s also common to try more than one birth control option before finding one that works for you, so don’t settle if your current option isn’t working.

You need to get the shot every 13 to 15 weeks, that’s only 4 times a year. You can get your shot from a health care provider or learn how to give it to yourself at home. But to be effective at preventing pregnancy, it’s really important to get each shot on time. Try setting a phone or calendar reminder to help keep you on schedule.

Most people who use hormonal birth control—combination pill, patch, ring, implant, shot, and hormonal IUDs—will have less painful periods than those who don’t. This is because these methods of birth control make the lining of the uterus thinner. There’s less tissue in the uterus to shed (that’s what happens when you have your period), so periods are lighter. One special note on the implant and the shot: for some people, these methods cause more days of spotting or bleeding in between periods, but periods become lighter and less painful overall.

Using a method of birth control with estrogen, like the combination pill, patch, and ring, increases your risk of forming a blood clot, but if you have no history of stroke, blood clots, or heart attack, and your family members have never experienced a blood clot, the risk is still quite low. If you have a history of these medical conditions, you have a higher risk of forming a new blood clot already so adding birth control with estrogen to the mix increases that risk and isn’t recommended.

Progestin-only methods like the implant, mini-pill, shot, and IUDs don’t increase your risk. If you’re worried about blood clots, we recommend talking to a health care provider about which birth control options are the safest for you.

Yes. Ibuprofen and other NSAIDs, like naproxen, can decrease menstrual flow and cramping. So if you have heavy or painful periods, your health care provider may recommend taking ibuprofen to help reduce your heavy flow and/or cramping. These medications can also help reduce the bleeding between periods that are a normal side effect of progestin-only birth control methods like the shot or implant.