After my 1st child was born (conceived while on 'the pill') & a divorce I decided to use Norplant due to the high rate of success, long-term effect & "immediate" return of fertility (within 24-48 hrs I was told). It "expires" in 5yrs but can still have some residual effect into the 6th yr. I tried to have it removed over the next 5+ yrs using the Wyeth/Norplant program vouchers, but was unsuccessful in finding any participating doctors. Most doctors I contacted said that if they weren't bothering me there was no need for removal being that they were well over 10yrs old. Well, 3yrs into a relationship we stopped using condoms, 2yrs later got married & seriously started trying to get pregnant. No luck. Decided to finally pay a plastic surgeon to remove the rods on the off-chance that they were interfering... Boom, guess what?? All rods still had medication in them, 4 were 1/2-3/4 full. My next regular period passed (I was regular the entire time on Norplant)... Then NOTHING, no more periods, spotting maybe 2 times a year for a couple years, then zero periods & no pregnancy still, 8 years later. :( My little brother was born (naturally & accidentally) when my mom was 45, I had ZERO fertility issues prior to Norplant. My husband is younger than me with no children, and at this point it is unlikely to ever occur. I have contacted experts around the globe, nobody has ANY long-term info on Norplant, no follow up studies exist. I am angry that I was lied to. I just turned 47 &; have no pre-menopausal symptoms... Just no periods &; obviously no ovulation (we used all the test-kits, temp-charts, etc).
im 32yrs. i had norplant after my first child in 2004 after a year i had them removed and i conceived a month after removing. after my second child was born, i again put norplant and had them for 4 years, i had them removed last year february 2011 and to date im still to get pregnant. i have undergone some tests and im told everything is normal. so now i will be undergoing another examination called D and C. i will let you know what follows. otherwise im getting worried after reading you posts.
I had Norplant in 95. In 2001 I had it removed...but 1 rod broke apart and a smaller piece was never removed. I've never used any other birth control and never conceived again. I've had testing done and doc can't find a reason I can't conceive. I've been really trying to conceive for 2 years and nothing!!! I'm now 40 :-(
Hi Angie, I cane across your post ad I was looking for info on fertility after Norplant. I had my implants removed on June 7th after 17 years ! I had regular periods with them in and when removed my doctor was amazed to find that there was still 20% in the rods ! Since having them removed I've had one normal period on time and then a very short period that was a week late. I'm of the belief that they were removed because no one really knew enough about them so who is to say that we weren't still being protected by the contraceptive ? Time will tell I guess. I'd love to hear if anyone has gone on to conceive after removal,especially if it was long term use and a more mature lady like me !
I meant to say how long have you had regular periods since it "ran out"?
Hi angieb78,
I'm sorry but I don't know anything about Norplant. Isn't that the one that women were having bunches of problems with? But have you had any hormonal testing done since you had it removed? If not, that would be the first thing I'd do. If it was just removed last month then I would think it may take a couple of months at least for your system to get back to normal. I know you say it "ran out" after 5 years but are you 100% sure that it actually runs out like that? And how long have you had regular periods since it's been removed?
Trish