How well does the depo shot work?

DEPO SHOT AND ANTIBIOTICS FOR A UTI.....WILL SHOT STILL WORK?

• i sent my mother to drop it off and pick it up.and i haven't taken the first pill yet because i thought i heard something about antibiotics and birth control not working after taking it.so i googled it and didn't get a good enough answer.yes i'm going to call my doc about it.but i wanted to hear some personal experiences with antibiotics and birth control. btw i have been on the shot for 3 weeks today.i had a miscarriage 9 weeks ago and have a 10 1/2 month old.don't know if that matter.but i'm just giving some background info.oh yea and i have a ovarian cyst on my left ovary.but the only medicine besides the depo shot will be the antibiotics that i'm on.i'm just not taking it quite yet.i will sometime today.i'm just going to use a backup plan until i find out.thanx for the answers everyone:)

• Answer:

  Ciprofloxacin is one of the few antibiotics that actually inhibit liver enzyme effectiveness. Liver enzymes metabolize active drugs in your blood stream, inactivating them. Thus on cipro less liver enzymes are available to de-activate the estrogen in your OCP pill. So cipro is deemed safe, not to interfere with OCP effectiveness. All other antibiotics should be used with barrier contraception. So, basically, the leading authority on contraceptives is saying that broad spectrum antibiotics may cause slightly lower estrogen levels, but studies have shown that the levels are still within range to prevent pregnancy. When I talk with doctors in our clinic about it, they still generally recommend that people use a backup while they are on antibiotics and continue to use a backup for some time after they finish their antibiotics (usually rest of the cycle). In their mind, that is easier to recommend and covers even the slight possibility that someone could be in the small, small minority of people whose hormone levels were not sufficient to prevent pregnancy as a result of antibiotics. So I just wanted to put that out there. We hear a lot about antibiotics and birth control but more and more studies are showing the risk is not as significant as we'd thought. I agree that it's probably just easier to be extra careful, though. It's interesting that we hear a lot less about how your birth control might make your antibiotics less effective (and not the other way around), which is what we are finding is more of the case in some instances. Hope you feel better soon!