For some women amenorrhea and weight gain are advantages of injectables. I love that. I haven't had periods for five years and it has been great. I worried the first month that I might be pregnant. I talked with my doctor about it and was reassured.
Counseling can help women who choose injectables to adapt to the side effects.
Counseling may be so important to clients, in fact, that they are willing to pay for it. In the 1970s the McCormick Family Planning Program, which pioneered use of DMPA in Thailand, offered the injectable for a small fee, while the public family planning program in the same area offered free services. The US and Belgian products are identical, however. When the US FDA first approved DMPA in 1992, the stability of DMPA manufactured in the US had been tested for just two years. Upjohn since then has continued to test DMPA, and the US FDA is gradually extending the labeled shelf-life of the US product every six months.