Please tell me about your IUD

[Adaline'sMama]

DH and I are just not very responsible. I can chart all day long, but romantic moments are harder to come by than they used to be, so we take advantage of every opportunity. Sometimes those "opportunities" are on the day before ovulation. And after two beers, we are both like "Oh, we are so in love, and our kid is awesome. Lets make another one!" And so we did.

Im not unhappy about it, but I dont want another one for a few years at least. We have a tiny living space, and two kids is all we can have until we build another house. DH and I want to wait at least two years after this babe is born to conceive again.

I have a few friends that use the Mirena, and from what I understand it is hormone free. Is there anything I should know about it? Is it safe? Does it hurt? Does it change your sex drive? How long do you have to wait after birth to get one?

Thanks!!!


Edited for terrible spelling errors and some confusion.
Edited by Adaline'sMama - 9/2/11 at 11:42am

[erigeron]

Are you talking about the Mirena IUD? It does contain hormones. The copper IUD (Paragard) is hormone-free.

You should be able to get either kind of IUD inserted at your followup after the birth.

I'm not sure what you mean by "safe". IUDs were risky back in the 1970s and sometimes caused infertility, uterine damage, and other consequences, but the new ones are very different and do not carry those same risks. Risk of expulsion or uterine perforation with either IUD is low, particularly if you've had a baby.

I'll leave the discussion of experiences of Mirena to those who have had one. I had the copper IUD myself. Insertion hurt (not horribly so) and I was kind of crampy for a day, and I had worse cramps with my period for a couple of months afterwards, but not after that. I noticed no changes to my sex drive. I had it for 2 years without issue, then got it yanked so I could get pregnant.

"romantic moments are harder to come by than they used to be, so we take advantage of every opportunity."

Funny! That is why I'm not so sure CTA is going to work for me, either. I've had the thought process that I might want to take advantage of every opportunity.

[MadameFancyPants]

I've had my Mirena since DS was 8 weeks old.  I wouldn't say it hurt going in, but it felt strange that's for sure.  It took about 6 months for the initial spotting to totally go away.  I'm one of of the people who still get my period, but it's super light and and only lasts a day or so.  No complaints here!

[Adaline'sMama]

Wait, so there are people who dont get their period with them?

[crayon]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama 

Wait, so there are people who dont get their period with them?
 

I have not had a period in 6 years (didn't have one when I got it- nursing my DD at the time).  I have had my IUD for 5 years and has not had a period.  There has been maybe 8 times in the 5 years I have spotted (slightly) but not a period.

[crayon]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama 

I have a few friends that use the Mirena, and from what I understand it is hormone free. Is there anything I should know about it? Is it safe? Does it hurt? Does it change your sex drive? How long do you have to wait after birth to get one?

Thanks!!!


Edited for terrible spelling errors and some confusion.

I have the Mirena IUD- it has been ok- I am realizing now I have had weight gain.  The one I have is hormone, the copper is hormone-free. It is as safe as something inside your cervix can be.  I mean- there are risk- but over all I think they have a good safety history. Change in sex drive- I would say yes- lower. I think you get one at your 6 week check up- but check with your doc.  I got mine at 9 months PP.

[MariesMama]

I just had my Mirena removed after 3.5 years.  I loved it, barely any period, no cramps, no weight gain.  Now that it's gone, I got my period back ONE day later and my mood is really improved.  Weird.

[*MamaJen*]

Ditto to what everyone said about Mirena being the hormonal one and Paraguard being the copper non hormonal one.

I adore my paraguard. Definitely the best method I've ever tried, and I've tried just about all of them. It's super effective and has basically the lowest failure rate of any non-permanent method. I can't do hormones, so I love that it's hormone free. I love that you never have to think about it (except they recommended you check the strings once per month).

The most common side effects are cramps and heavy periods. My cramps actually went away, so that's cool. My periods did get quite a bit heavier, but after about five months they had evened out to just a little bit heavier, so that's a side effect I can totally live with.

[cameragirl]

I had a Mirena IUD for a few years after having DD. The insertion was pretty painful, although, it could have been the OB. I tried going to work after, but ended up having to go home because of the cramping. I had some cramping for a few months after, as well. After the first month, I didn't have a period and only had rare spotting. Personally, I didn't like that side effect because it always made me a little worried that I was pregnant. I do think that it may have affected my hormones some, and that may have contributed to the difficulty getting pregnant again. I can't say for sure, though. The removal was surprisingly easy, and I only had very mild cramping and spotting. The reason for removal was that we wanted to try for another baby, and the original doc cut the strings very short. (Short strings make it difficult to check the position of the IUD, which you should do on a regular basis.)

Unless you have heavy periods, I would probably lean towards a copper iud to avoid the hormones. It is a very low dose in the Mirena iud, but I am conscious of it because of my mother's history with breast cancer.

[Adaline'sMama]

Wow, well, it seems like its kind of up in the air about how either one will effect me. Im not very good with hormones, at least not the ones in the pill. I took Orthotricyclen low for a few years a long long time ago and gained weight, was super moody, and had super heavy periods. As soon as I got off the bc I was fine. But it sounds like some people dont have weight gain and dont have heavy periods.



Im afraid about the paraguard because of the heavy periods, but Im wondering how heavy do you consider heavy? How many days? Im used to one light day, one super heavy day, and one light day. Done.

Does anyone else have any great ideas about non hormonal or very little hormonal birth control that doesnt involve any sort of daily dosage? Has anyone tried the nuvaring?

[JenRN]

I had the Mirena IUD put in at my 6 week PP appointment. It didn't hurt going in (the sounding felt a little odd), but I'm sure a lot of that had to do with a still soft, anterior cervix. I felt like it somewhat prevented me from losing weight, but I didn't gain anything on it. Even after it was taken out, I still had trouble losing the weight while breastfeeding, so it may have had nothing to do with it. I didn't have any problems with my milk supply (but I'm an overproducer).

The main problem I had with it is that I spotted/bled CONSTANTLY. Every day. For those entire 8 months (except for 3-4 days). My midwife said that it was thinning my uterine lining too much so that it was constantly sloughing off. She offered to put me on one month of BCPs to try to correct it, but I was pretty over it by that point and since my insurance covered the IUD, I wasn't out anything financially. So I had her remove it (which also didn't hurt) and fit me for a diaphragm. If I had had to pay for it out of pocket (I think $1100ish), I would have tried the BCPs and just dealt with the spotting. It was just a major annoyance.

I used the Nuva Ring for 3 years before trying to get pregnant with my daughter. I loved it (at the time). I think in 3 years, we only had it fall out 3-4 times during sex. Most of time it was funny (ring around the penis) but once I didn't realize it had fallen out. Until I noticed the dog chewing on it a few hours later. That was a fun call to both the pharmacy and the vet. Sigh...

Hormone wise-  it was something that I didn't feel bad on at the time, but once I took it out I felt a lot better (if that makes any sense). Same thing for the IUD.

[Karmaz-mama]

Good Morning Ladies,

Well i got my Mirena a little over a year ago, i work in the medical field so i did a lot of research before deciding to get an IUd versus other forms of BC. I got it in August of 2010, and for me it was very painful, i began to bleed right after i had it placed which they said was normal, and i began to cramp. the bleeding stopped 2 days later, thinking it was over, i went about my normal routine, well i was wrong. The next 3 days went by and then BAM i got my cycle, well what i thought was my cycle. I bled for 4 months straight, no letting up. Starting in January of 2011 it began to decrease to twice a week, and is still currently on that schedule. well i had my cycle last in the beginning of august, so with it now being the beginning of september i began to get worried that i havent started yet, i was getting all the signs of being pregnant. frequesnt urination, vomiting, everything, so i took a pregnancy test, which came back negative. I started to cramp really bad about a week ago which had only gotten worse, then my ovaries started to ache and i was getting sharp stabbing pain every time i walked at any pace other than slow, every time i sat down or stood up, so i finally went to the ER last night and after sitting there for 5 hrs i found out i have a Pelvic Inflamatory Disease, they gave me a shot of an antibiotic, but they refused to take out the IUD, i was told that the infection would probably go away and not to risk taking out the IUD and possibly getting pregnant, i told the nurse, "no offense, but do u really think i would have sex while im in this kind of pain?" I have heard good and bad about both kinds of IUD's and  im still trying to make a decision of what to do. If any one has any advice or similar story please share. Thank you

[irishmamacat]

Got Mirena #1 put in under general anaesthetic at the same time as my diagnostic laparoscopy, hysteroscopy and laser treatment for endometriosis, which was before I'd ever been pregnant.

No side effects other than not having periods- which, for me, was AWESOME.

Removal was a breeze (like, no pain, no bleeding, nothing), probably because I took some misoprostol/diclofenac beforehand.

Got pregnant within 3 months of removal, which was quicker than we expected, but still meant I had 2 totally sucky periods to deal with.

At 3 months PP (after elective c/s), and still amenorrheic from the breastfeeding, I went to get my second Mirena.

My cervix did not play ball- refusing to dilate enough for insertion, even with a cervical block (which wasn't as horrible as having someone inject local anaesthetic into your cervix sounds like it will be).

So 6 months PP (still no periods) I had my second Mirena put in under GA, which, again, was fine- 1 day of tiredness from the anaesthetic, no cramping, no bleeding, nothing.

Here I am almost 2 years later with only a handful of days of spotting since, and absolutely thrilled with it. No mood issues, no acne, no weight gain, nothing. 

Between Mirenas, pregnancy and breastfeeding I've only had 2 periods in the last 5 years, and I couldn't be happier about it, given the absolute misery they caused me.