At your, you first get it done at your, well I did at my doctors by the nurse and yeah, you’d have to do different health checks, they would check your weight, your blood pressure, things like that and say you’d get it done either in your arm or in your bum or wherever there’s enough flesh for it because it’s quite a big needle and then you’re advised still not to have unprotected sex for a week after that and then, so they’d give you, and then when you get it done, they give you an a date for your next appointment which is usually; the injection lasts for twelve weeks but it’s usually at ten or eleven weeks your next date so that you’re, you’ve got enough time to arrange it without having a gap because then you have to do a pregnancy test and stuff if you have a gap, then you’re not, they assume you might not have been protected in that time so you have to overlap it and then when you go back, they do the same thing again, they do the different health checks, the blood pressure weight and stuff and just get the same thing done again.

I discussed it with my Mum and she thought it would be best as well to go on that because she knew that I didn’t take my pill and she didn’t want to be a Nan [laughs] with me that age so, yes she was fine with it as well.

And how did you feel in yourself when you started on the injection?

I was quite OK with it, I quite like, as I said, enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to have periods and stuff like that although sometimes you did get like a bit emotional and stuff when you would have been due to come on but you just didn’t have the period or the pains and
It did hurt actually for, it hurts the actual injection cos it’s quite a thick liquid and you can feel it being pushed in and then like if they overdo it, and cos I was so slim, I had to have it in my bum, in, cos that was there where there was enough fat, cos they didn’t like doing it in my arms cos I was so skinny. I did have it in my arms a couple of times and it really aches like for the next day, it’s really painful. It feels like someone’s just kicked you in your bum and something but other than that, I was fine with it.

OK so the actual injection hurt?

Yeah it actually hurts yeah and cos the liquid is thick. it’s a big needle and the liquid is thick so you can feel the liquid going in and then it’s, it’s painful afterwards like a bruise but more painful than a bruise actually. Yeah

And for how long does the pain last?

A day or a day and a half or two.

(The accompanying video and audio clips are played by an actor)

You said you had some information about sexual health for instance about safe sex, prevention of unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections?

I think infections aren’t so, I mean pregnancy is a bigger worry than infections to a lot of teenagers and that’s something that’s not so widely spoken about, for me anyway.

When I was a teenager I think that pregnancy was the main issue rather than infections and I found myself with an infection once and I had to go and sort it out and I didn’t really have a lot of support from you know, people to talk to, I didn’t talk to my peers about it.

I felt like I’d been an idiot and it was just stupid of me for being lax you know, and since I’ve made sure that you know, theres absolutely no contact before the condom went on you know because you think well, the most important thing is to make sure that he doesn’t ejaculate you know what I mean, and you can have as much contact then, and that’s something I think that I wasn’t really aware of as much, I was more concerned about not getting pregnant, you know at that stage, and then after that things changed.

When I turned, it must have been about 14 or 15 and I was very young I started with very, very painful periods. And they tried numerous methods to try and help me. First of all painkillers and finally they switched to trying me with the pill because they thought that would help. And what I found was that it was making me ill at night. So eventually at the age of 14, 15 they put me on the depo [Depo-Provera] injection which wasn’t widely spoken about when I was younger and not a lot of research had been done for it.

It was only when I turned 18 that research came out that suggested you might be susceptible to osteoporosis if you have it before 17. So that made me feel a bit nervous but I have to say I loved the injection because it stopped my periods completely which as a girl and anyone can relate to, it was great.

Well I know that when I drink alcohol and as a university student I drink a lot of alcohol and I know that when I go out and when I do drink and get drunk I will get forgetful and I will forget to take my pill if I took my pill in the evenings because I try and take them at the same time every day. And if I take my pill in the evenings and then I go out and get drunk what often happens is that I’ll get very drunk and I’ll end up being sick. And then I don’t think if it happens quick enough I was told that I wouldn’t have time to absorb the pill. So it would be as if I hadn’t taken it at all. So this was, this was a major concern of mine just in terms of if I drink alcohol and I do get sick will the pill still work but if it’s not fully in my system.

(The accompanying video and audio clips are played by an actor)

You were sort of not using condoms or anything?

No I wasn’t. I just had unprotected sex every now and again but it was with the same guy because I was still with him, but then we got a bit worried and I’m thinking oh no, what if I fall pregnant, what am I gonna do then. So that’s when I went to the doctor and said ‘Look seriously I need something.

Because I kept on going for the morning after pill. Most of the time I went for the morning after pill and they’d say “the morning after pills not really good, you’re not supposed to really take it more than three times in a year”, and I did take it more than three times in a year, you know what I mean’ Yeah seriously, I did.

That’s when they said to me you know ‘You seriously need to think about long term, contraception. So then yeah that’s when Depo came in to it.

Because like my GP, I’ve known her for a long time and shes been my childhood GP, she knew when I left home and everything so she knew she has to be there as an extra support for me as well to explain everything to me.

And then obviously you go to see the nurse for contraception and things like that, so she transferred me to a nurse who explained all the procedure to me.

So like if I had a problem the first person I would go and see would be my GP because I can really, really trust her, shes like a friend to me, someone I can really openly talk to, so that’s nice.

(The accompanying video and audio clips are played by an actor)

Well I got it from my family planning clinic, basically they gave it to me because I was suffering really badly from thrush and whatever I did I just couldn’t get rid of it. The doctor said that she had some success giving people Depo Provera to get rid of thrush and you know, she said I could try it, thankfully it did work, you know, it was great, it stopped me having periods as well which I was quite keen on.

What I thought was quite interesting was alot of my friends thought it was silly not knowing when you’re getting your period, because you couldn’t be sure you weren’t pregnant, but I quite liked it.

Do you feel that you have had sufficient information about contraception and at the right time for you?

Yeah , I mean I don’t think I was ever left in the dark about it, I mean you do kind of learn things, don’t you, but I didn’t know about this Depo Provera, but if I had, I would probably gone and got changed onto that sooner

Well I mean if I’d known about Depo Provera I would of gone sooner to the family planning clinic but it’s not really well known is it. I mean I don’t think people know it can help with thrush, I would of gone sooner if I’d of known.

(The accompanying video and audio clips are played by an actor)

My moods are a lot better. I used to get quite depressed quite frequently, not like seriously depressed or anything but I used to feel low, quite a lot of the time. And I used to be a lot more concerned about my body shape and I’d get a lot of sort of water bloating coming up to my period.

And now that I’m on this injection and my hormone levels are straight, I don’t get any of that. And I feel, I mean around the time when I would have been having my period I sleep a lot better and I don’t get these irrational mood swings and I just think it’s fantastic. I haven’t, the only thing I’ve noticed, when I was on Dianette that’s the one that’s supposed to be good for your skin isn’t it?

I was on that one a bit before I changed over so I noticed a bit of a change in my skin for the first couple of months when obviously the Dianette wore off. But it’s settled down now and my weight’s a lot more stable.

I’d always had periods every two months or thereabouts, sometimes three, and they lasted about two weeks when I did get them, anything for a month to three months apart.

Then I went on the Pill and obviously they were regular then but I kept forgetting to take the Pill so I stopped doing that and they carried on being irregular for years and years and years, and then when I started Uni I tried the injection and that made things even worse.

Which one, Depo Provera?

Yes Depo Provera, and that made things even worse and I’ve just put up with it for the last ten years and it was only last year that I actually went to see a homeopath and actually she sorted it out.

Then I came off it completely, I wasn’t on the Pill or anything and I just carried on using condoms and then I went on the Depo when I was twenty.

For how long?

That was for a year and I was still bleeding even when I was on the Depo so it wasn’t right for me at all so I came off that and then I just said ‘no more hormones and stopped.

I did experience before Christmas some problems with stomach pain and erratic bleeding and I went back to the clinic and explained this to them and they said have I got a new partner? And I was like, well no I’ve been with my fiance for about year so they were quite happy and ‘

They changed my injection, I went on the progesterone only injection. So I used to be on Depo and now I’m on Noristerat and ‘

Okay, and how long have you been on the new one?

I’ve been on the new one now, they put me on that shortly after I went back to the Family Planning clinic with my clear results. I went back and they suggested that I go on to the Noristerat so it’s been for about 4 months now.

Do you have any health concerns about injections or the implant or? Because you talk about hormones and chemicals?

I didn’t until I read the report about osteoporosis and it specifically said people that wer. There have been. I mean there’s no real proof but it said that people who should be most wary are anyone on it for a long period of time and anyone who is given it before the age of 18. So of course I come into both of those categories. So that did make me nervous. And I spoke to one of the doctors about it and she said, Oh it will be fine. Just drink more milk. You’ll be fine I don’t know how scientific that is but it did make me feel a little bit nervous about.

Do you think that you have been given enough information?

I wasn’t regarding osteoporosis. I don’t know if that was a study that came out afterwards. it’s more than likely. So I hope that they do tell more people about it. I would like to have known about it before. And regards to side effects I was given reading material. I don’t necessarily think that’s a good idea. I don’t know about. I don’t want to generalise but I know when I was 16, 17 I didn’t really read anything I was given flyer-wise because you can be swamped in that kind of stuff.

So what do you think is going to be the best way to give a young teenage this type of information? What would have worked for you?

Just I think verbally when I was younger would have worked. Nowadays I like to find out for myself on the Internet but I can’t imagine many people and not everyone would have. People like to just be spoon fed and not really think about it. I know that’s what I was like. But flyers for me just didn’t. They just went straight in the bin and I never really properly read them.

Ok and did you find out this information about the possible kind of relationship between long term use of the injection and osteoporosis or it was raised by a doctor?

Actually now you mention it I think because that’s a good point I don’t know why I would have suddenly found this out. And I think that it might be because my doctor’s sent me a letter. I think they went through their records of everyone who had been on the injection and notified them, if I think that’s what happened. And of course I got the letter and I was I don’t know if they had to do it to everyone who they gave the injection to but I imagine then if people were at clinics where they might not have received that kind of information. I don’t know how it works but my doctor would have had my proper address on the records so they sent me a letter.

And following that you went to try and get more information from a GP.

Uh huh.

So how did you feel about the fact that she said that you would be ok, drink more milk?

It was what I wanted to hear. She said that, it’s not proven. I’ll be fine And she dumbed it down. So at the time I felt better because I thought, Well she’s a doctor she knows. But now I probably would have liked to have been given more information so I could have decided then because I carried on with the injection for a few years after that. So it maybe would have been better if she had been a little bit more up front which she obviously personally didn’t think much of the research itself. But inflicting your personal opinion on someone as influential as I was probably is not the best thing to do.