Depo Provera Side Effects

Depo Provera Contraceptive Injective (CI) was developed in the 1960s and had been approved for birth control in many other countries except the United States. Pfizer first submitted it for approval in the United States in the in the 1970s. At that time animal studies raised questions about its potential to cause breast cancer.

It wasn't until 1992 that the FDA approved Depo Provera for U.S. use. The FDA memo said that worldwide studies have since found the overall risk of cancer, including breast cancer in humans, to be minimal, if any.

Use of Depo-Provera has been associated with an increased risk of significant bone mineral density loss, including a significantly increased risk of developing osteoporosis at ages below the statistical norm. Studies conclude that young women taking Depo Provera birth control injections show that the birth control causes a decrease in bone mass density at an age when it should be increasing. Low bone density is associated with osteoporosis, a disease that causes the bones to become so thin that they can break with just a minor bump or fall.