Getting Pregnant After Depo: 5 Best Ways Depo-Provera (or Depo shot) is a form of birth control that is highly effective, and in order to be able to use it you need to get a prescription. It is given by injection, and is repeated every 12 weeks and the reason the Depo shot is so effective is because it releases the hormone progestin which will prevent a pregnancy from happening.
The effect progestin has is by hindering ovulation, and creates extremely thick cervical mucus which prevents sperm from going into the uterus. It also thins the lining of the uterus which makes implantation impossible if by some remote chance that pregnancy did happen while on the Depo shot. That is the reason that bleeding and spotting can become very irregular and range from being very light to heavy while on the Depo shot.
It’s great when you’re trying not to get pregnant‌
Even though the Depo shot is a very effective form of birth control, it has been noted that 3 out of 100 women who used Depo did become pregnant, and those reasons were likely due to the fact that they may have already been pregnant before starting the shot, or that the administration of a shot was faulty. But it is over 99% effective, and its effects are long term.
1. How Does Depo Work? The way the Depo shot starts to work is the first injection is given within 5 days of the start of the period, and is effective within 24 hours from there on. If you end up getting the shot after the 5 day window, then you will have to use condoms for birth control for the first 7 days after the shot because it will not be effective. That may be when those reported pregnancies may have occurred, if women who received the shot late failed to have protected sex for the rest of that week. The injection is given every 12 weeks, and it is important to be on time and not to wait longer than 13 weeks.