hi jgibbo,
I was on the depro vera for about three years it took a good three months until my periods stopped but when they did I thought it was awesome. Regarding the side effects I had no weight gain or loss where as on the pill I gained weight and had breakouts of the face. With the depro vera there were no side effects for me at all.
However I was never told this until around three years which is why I discontinued use of the injection, that extended use of this type of contraception can cause thining and weakening of the bones (sorry dont know the name of it) and that regular bone checks should be done. This scared me and therefore I discontinued use.
It took my body just under a year to get my periods back and when they did return they were only very short but very very very painful where I never had period pain before. During this whole year of waiting for them to return my partner and I never used any contraception as we wanted to have children and thought if it was to happen then it would and that took a year.
I have spoken to many friends who have used the injection and most of them have had a bad experience with it such as heavy bleeding for continuous weeks, very bad period pains, there periods never disappeared and just got worse then before, others were very sick with migranes .
Hope this helps you I think it just depends on how long you want to be on the injection for and your future plans also on your own body as it never hurt me but other women it has. Goodluck and soory if this was just rambling and no help at all.