Scarleteen

HI, I am currently on the Depo-Provera shot and my boyfriend pulls out every time we have sex, but he's worried about pregnancy because we have sex multiple times in a row after pull out, but he still pulls out every time. I go to get my depo shot again in two weeks, where they will pregnancy test me. Should I be worried?

Hey Sarah,

Welcome to the boards

So the Depo-Provera is one of the three most effective forms of birth control (the other two being the IUD and the Implant). The shot is 97% effective with typical use and 99.7% with perfect use. When combined with a second method (withdrawal or "pulling out"), the effectiveness only increases. So the shot + withdrawal is 98.9% effective with typical use and 99.9% effective with perfect use. Pretty close to 100%!

But at the same time not entirely risk-free... Are you feeling comfortable having types of sex that have the possibility of resulting in pregnancy? Is your boyfriend? If one or both of you isn't feeling comfy, how would you feel about focusing on sexual activity that doesn't include a pregnancy-risk? Like oral sex, manual sex, or other forms of kissing/touching.

If you are both comfortable continuing to have intercourse, would you want to try condoms, instead of withdrawal, in addition to the shot? The difference in effectiveness rates with those combos is quite small (less than 1%), but psychologically knowing that you have another barrier between you two might help in keeping worries at bay? Condoms also are the only form of birth control that protect against STIs.

Speaking of STI-risk, I want to check-in: Do you and your boyfriend both get regularly tested for STIs? Are you in a sexually monogamous relationship? And if so, how long have you two been monogamous?

Not to scare you but I was on the depo shot for 3 years and then got pregnant with my daughter (7 years ago). About 2 years ago my best friend got pregnant with twins on the depo shot. Neither of us missed a shot (we actually got the shot a few days before the 3 months was up just to make sure we didn't miss one and or not have enough BC in our system to prevent us from getting pregnant). My OBGYN told me they are made slightly different now but I'm to afraid to try it again due to myself and best friend getting pregnant while using the Depo shot

Hi Butterfly!

We'd be happy to answer your question if you'd like to start a new thread. This area of the boards is for user-to-staff discussion, rather than user-to-user.

For the record, we are also very careful not to use personal experiences to inform our BC recommendations, which are based official effectiveness rates from large-scale trials.