Using Birth Control While On Testosterone
If you are taking testosterone and have not had a hysterectomy or oophorectomy , then you need to use contraceptives if you are having penis-in-vagina sex.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that trans men who have the potential to become pregnant should be offered all forms of contraception, just the same as cisgender women . This means that trans men can take hormonal birth control, even if they are taking testosterone at the same time. There are no known interactions or contraindications .
According to ACOG, many transmasculine patients chose to use progestin-only contraceptive methods, like the hormonal IUD, the contraceptive injection, or the contraceptive implant . Periods can be a source of gender dysphoria for some people, and testosterone does not always cause menstruation to stop immediately. Copper IUDs can also be an option for trans people on testosterone who want to avoid additional hormones, but its only recommended for people whose periods have stopped .
In a 2016 US survey of trans men, 3 in 5 reported using contraception either currently or in the past, with condoms being the most popular form of birth control, followed by the contraceptive pill in second place . The idea that testosterone is a contraceptive is common, with 16% of trans men in the study reporting that they used testosterone as a contraceptive, and 5.5% them were recommended testosterone as a contraceptive by their healthcare provider .
Delayed Return To Ovulation
Hormonal birth control methods, such as pills, implants, intrauterine devices , and injections, work to prevent pregnancy in several ways. One of the ways they work is by making ovulation less likely. Ovulation is the release of an egg from the ovaries.
When a person is not using hormonal contraception, ovulation typically happens once per menstrual cycle. If a sperm does not fertilize the egg, shifts in hormone levels trigger a period.
Because people using hormonal birth control typically do not ovulate, it may take time for regular ovulation to return. Until this happens, a person may have no periods at all.
Depo Shots Can Affect Menstruation Long Term
Its recommended that women who wish to get pregnant in the near future do not take the Depo Provera shots, since the body can take months to get back into a menstrual groove after coming off of the shots.
This could seriously impact your family planning.
Because the shots can weaken the bones, its recommended that your usage of the Depo Provera shots be limited to two years use.
One of the most unfortunate side effects of the Depo Provera shots is a lingering inability to become pregnant due to their long-lasting impact.
So, in order to become pregnant youll have to consider your approach and timing.
It can take several weeks to months for your period to return to a normal state.
Some women have reported it taking as long as 18 months to get pregnant after stopping the shots.
Abstinence is of course the only foolproof method of 100% avoiding a pregnancy, so know that there is always a chance of becoming pregnant even immediately after stopping the shots.
You can also become pregnant while taking the depo shot, even when given properly and in a timely fashion.
The longer you were on the shots and how consistent you were with their administration will both factor into how quickly you can get pregnant afterwards.
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After Your Partner Has Had A Vasectomy
While you have a less than one percent chance of getting pregnant by a man whos had a vasectomy, you might have a much larger chance if you dont wait until your partners been tested to see if it worked. Your partners sperm should be checked three months after the procedure, and he needs to have had a minimum of 20 ejaculations. Make sure to use other protection until you get the OK from your doctor after three months.
Can You Get Pregnant Before Your First Period Post
Yes, you can get pregnant before your first post-pregnancy period. Some women have a sterile first period in other words, they dont ovulate during their initial cycle. Others ovulate before having a period, which means they could conceivably go from pregnancy to pregnancy without ever unpacking the tampons.
Since you dont know which will come first, the period or the egg, contraception makes sense if youre hoping to plan your next pregnancy.
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I am going off of memory, but I do recall a story of someone who believed Depo-Provera to be responsible for their premature menopause after they came off of the drug. It does seem from my experience that this could well be possible, as my body is certainly producing results beyond what I was told could happen when I decided to start the injection.
I am not giving up hope that I may well find myself with a healthy, normal child now that I have had a heavier period . In 10 years, a lot can happen to a person and I have gone from thinking I should not have a kid to being married and confident that I could provide a loving and happy home to a child.
If this medication has had such an effect on my body as to reduce my fertility permanently it would be upsetting as the medical advice did not alert me to this possibility.
On the other hand, when I started on Depo-Provera, I did not want to have a baby and probably would have made the same choice even if I had been told that it would reduce my chance of ever getting pregnant.
Life is full of choices and once made, our choices are our responsibility. Someone who wants to be more careful in making their birth control choice that I was should investigate their options further.
Can You Get Pregnant On The Depo Shot
When it comes to birth control methods like the Pill, you know there are things you have to do on your end to ensure effectiveness. That’s why many women chose alternate approaches like Depo-Provera — administered via injection from your physician every 12 weeks, eliminating the daily contraception management.
The consequences of incorrect usage are out of your hands. Because of this, Depo-Provera is a highly effective method of birth control, with an approximate 99 percent success rate. Only about 3 in 1,000 women will become pregnant while on the contraceptive . However, even the best birth control can fail on rare occasions. So, yes, there is a very slight possibility you can get pregnant on Depo-Provera.
What exactly is thishormonal contraceptive? Much like the Pill, it prevents ovulation and makes the cervix and uterine lining hostile to sperm and fertilized eggs. It uses a synthetic version of the hormone progesterone to achieve these results. Unlike the Pill, your physician will give you a shot, usually in the arm or buttocks.
If Depo-Provera shots are received on a recommended basis, pregnancy is highly unlikely. While the contraceptive has the power to prevent conception up to 14 weeks, the injections are usually given every 12 weeks to ensure that there is no gap in the effectiveness of the birth control between shots. When such a schedule is maintained, pregnancy while on Depo-Provera is extremely rare .
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What To Ask Your Doctor
- Ask them about how soon you can get pregnant after you stop the shots.
- This contraceptive method alters the menstrual cycle. Find out as to what is normal and what is not.
- Weight gain is one of the prominent side effects of Depo. Therefore, ask your doctor what you can do to avoid this problem.
Make sure to discuss the pros and cons of depo shots before moving on or away from it.
How Soon Can I Get Pregnant After Contraceptive Injections
The depot injection or depot Provera as it is also known contains a high
dose of a progesterone-like hormone which is gradually released over a
three-month period.
Although it is a very effective contraceptive, it can
lead to some delay in return of your regular cycle and fertility after
stopping.
The hormone changes that lead to ovulation mean that you will almost
always have a bleed afterwards if you dont fall pregnant. Thus regular
ovulation means a regular cycle. Studies have found that depot Provera
doesnt make you infertile, but it can take up to even one year for you
to ovulate regularly after stopping it.
The only way to tell if you are pregnant is to do a pregnancy test in a
few weeks time. It is certainly possible that you fell pregnant
immediately without any unsuccessful cycles first of all.
Chance
however would dictate that it is less likely, Im afraid. It is common
to have a few light bleeds or irregular cycles before ovulation
re-commences properly.
Dont forget to take folic acid tablets each day while you are trying
for a pregnancy which will reduce the risk of spina bifida. Good luck!
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Disadvantages Of The Depo
- Regular doctor visits for the shots can be annoying.
- You need to stop taking Depo-Provera several months ahead of time if you plan to become pregnant. It might take up to 10 months to get pregnant after you stop using it.
- It doesnât protect you against sexually transmitted diseases . Use a condom for safer sex.
How To Know When Youre Ovulating
There was a time when women were very focused and knew all about their cyclesexactly when they started, when they ended and when they ovulated. Now that a lot more women are using birth control, women arent as in tune with their natural cycles, says Patel, who suggests women start to track the number of days between periods.
Ovulation typically occurs around 14 days before the last day of a womans menstrual cycle . So if you have a regular 28-day cycle, ovulation would likely occur around day 14. You are most fertile in the days leading up to ovulationthe mid-point of your cycle. Use this ovulation predictor to find out your most fertile days.
To help determine exactly when you ovulate, some experts advise charting your basal body temperature over the course of several months. Charting your BBT takes a bit of work: every morning you take your temperature with a special basal thermometer as soon as you wake up. Over the course of a few months youll see a pattern: Your BBT tends to drop the day you ovulate, then it rises the next day and stays elevated until you get your period . Similarly, other doctors recommend analyzing your cervical mucus .
But as Patel says, there are no good studies that show that women measuring their BBT or their cervical mucus is actually helpful. What I find that it does, to be honest, is create more anxiety and more stress. And we know that the more stressed you are, the less fertile you are.
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Can Birth Control Cause Infertility
Rachel Gurevich is a fertility advocate, author, and recipient of The Hope Award for Achievement, from Resolve: The National Infertility Association. She is a professional member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and has been writing about womens health since 2001. Rachel uses her own experiences with infertility to write compassionate, practical, and supportive articles.
Meredith Shur, MD, FACOG, is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, as well as a certified medical examiner.
Can birth control harm your fertility? The short answer is no. Women who have used hormonal birth control are just as likely to conceive as women who have never used hormonal contraceptives.
A three-year study of 3,727 participants found that long-term use of oral contraceptives did not affect their ability to have children in the future. In fact, people who had used combined birth control pills for more than three years were found to be more fertile than the study participants who had used them for less time.
As with oral medications, studies have also shown that there is no impact on future fertility with other forms of hormonal contraceptive, either. Whether you choose a vaginal ring, patch, intrauterine device , implant, injection, or birth control pills, your ability to get pregnant later in life should not be affected by these methods.
Where Do I Get The Shot
You can get a prescription for the shot from a doctor or OB-GYN or at a health clinic, like Planned Parenthood.
Some pharmacies offer on-site birth control consultations, so you may also be able to get the shot at your local pharmacy.
Birth control websites, like Nurx, also offer birth control consultations and prescriptions for the shot online. Of course, if you get a prescription for the shot online, youd need to inject it yourself.
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If Youre Under 16 Years Old
Contraception services are free and confidential, including for people under the age of 16.
If youre under 16 and want contraception, the doctor, nurse or pharmacist wont tell your parents as long as they believe you fully understand the information youre given, and the decisions youre making.
Doctors and nurses work under strict guidelines when dealing with people under 16. Theyll encourage you to consider telling your parents, but they will not make you.
The only time a professional might want to tell someone else is if they believe youre at risk of harm, such as abuse.
The risk would need to be serious, and they would usually discuss this with you first.
Page last reviewed: 7 February 2018 Next review due: 7 February 2021
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Heres How To Get Your Period Back After Going Off Birth Control
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Oral birth control prescriptions are handed out to teenagagers and young adults for a variety of reasons, from hormonal acne and painful periods to preventing pregnancy. Years pass and these same individuals start thinking about having kids, or maybe just want to know how their bodies will feel without the constant influx of synthetic hormones. They stop taking the pill and are surprised to find that their period doesnt come back right away, sometimes for months.
This isnt everyones story, of course. Some bounce right back and begin ovulating again immediately, or within a few months. But as more and more individuals who have been on the pill for upwards of 10 years start to come off of it, theyre caught off guard by what is technically called secondary amenorrhea, or not getting a period for three months or more after having had one previously.
Because secondary amenorrhea is such a common problem, theres quite a bit of advice floating around social media on getting your period back, particularly among wellness influencers. Supplements seem to work for some, while others end up seeking the help of doctors to trigger a period for them.
If this is something youre struggling with, a conversation with your doctor is always a good first step. Below, find some other actionable things you can do.
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Things You Can Do To Get Pregnant Fast After Stopping The Depo Shot
Pregnancy after a Depo-Provera injection can take a while, and you need to be patient as well as persistent in your efforts to conceive. Following are the things you can do to get pregnant fast after stopping the Depo shot:
- Wait for your monthly cycle to return. Meanwhile, keep having regular unprotected intercourse in order to conceive. Ideally, you should wait for at least 3 months after your last Depo shot before you begin trying.
- Start taking prenatal vitamins so that your body has the nutrients required to support a pregnancy.
- Track your periods and make a note of when they become regular.
- Track your ovulation using ovulation test kits and basal body temperature charts. This way, you can accurately predict when you are ovulating and have sexual intercourse on that day to get pregnant.
- Plan ahead and stop the Depo shots far in advance of the time you want to get pregnant. This will give enough time to get rid of the excess progesterone from your body. It could take at least 5 months after your last shot for you to be able to conceive.
- Get plenty of exercise to flush toxins and waste out of your system more efficiently. Exercise helps increase your metabolism, and the associated weight loss can also help increase your fertility.
When Will Regular Periods Resume
The length of time it takes for periods to resume varies from person to person based on a number of factors. Stress, exercise, body weight, and overall health can all influence when periods will return and how regular they will be.
In the absence of another health condition, though, normal fertility including regular ovulation and periods usually resumes within 3 months.
A 2018 systematic review and meta-analysis of people who stopped using hormonal contraceptives in order to conceive found that 83.1% were pregnant after 1 year.
This suggests that for most people, fertility and periods return to normal within the space of 1 year, and often sooner than this.
Other causes for late periods after stopping birth control include:
- pregnancy
- some chronic health conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease
Even if pregnancy seems unlikely, it is worth getting a pregnancy test. With typical use, about 7% of people using birth control pills, patches, or rings will become pregnant. After stopping birth control, the risk immediately becomes higher, even if someone is not yet experiencing regular periods.
Additionally, spotting is common early in pregnancy, so light or irregular bleeding does not mean a person is not pregnant.
People who miss their periods should consider regularly testing for pregnancy until periods return.
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