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Hello! I just joined here to be able to read and post in the community :) I've only just discovered this so sorry if I don't have all the lingo down yet haha. I had my Mirena inserted Thursday morning (5/17/12) and have had a very positive experience so far! I want to give my backstory first since I have had issues with birth control in the past. Most of my situations are rare, but maybe it will help out someone else!

Basic info, I am 22 (almost 23) years old. No children.

For starters, I have a hereditary condition called HHT which is basically malformations of the blood vessels which causes severe nose bleeds and pulmonary embolisms. I have had my embolisms coiled, so birth control is safe for me now. As someone with HHT I have to be very cautious with what types of BC I can be on.

I also suffer from Migraine's with Aura around my cycle which can be debilitating. I was on Loestrin 24 a few years ago and it made me depressed, gain weight and it made my migraines 100 times worse. I got off the pill because I was making my boyfriend at the time miserable and did not go back on one until January of this year. I went with Ortho Tri Cyclen which was a disaster. I gained a lot of weight very quickly (I am still struggling to shed the weight) and I ended up in the hospital due to severe foot and ankle swelling. No blood clots, but it was edema (fluid retention). I got off the pill and saw my dr who suggested Mirena becuase it does not contain estrogen. I thought it over for 2 months and decided to have it placed this week!

Sorry for the novel - now on to the Mirena experience.

I was scared to death about insertion after reading horror stories online. I took 600mg of Ibuprofen prior to the appointment. My doctor was amazing before and during, talked me through the entire process. Honestly, I can say the placement was 100% painless. I felt discomfort during clamping and insertion but no more than a few seconds. Once he said he was done I was in total shock. I think getting a pap done is more painful than this was!! I had a friend of mine come for moral support I was able to get up and walk out totally fine and went on with the remainder of my day!

I had very little bleeding after. I was on day 5 of my period and it was very light. First 2 days of my cycle are usually unbearably heavy which is one of the main reasons I went with Mirena. By the end of the day, I felt some cramping I think mostly because the pain killers wore off, I just took 400MG and was fine 20 minutes later.

The past few days I have had very mild cramping about once or twice a day and a little bit of lower back pain. Spotting has gotten lighter and now it looks more like a mucusy discharge also getting lighter. If I get any discomfort I just take some ibuprofen and I feel fine. The first 2 days I felt mild cramping when laying down in certain positions, particularly my stomach.

I am nervous about any sexual acitvity, I'll probably give that some more time before attempting. But so far so good. Fingers crossed I don't have any rare side effects and end up hating it, because I'm out of birth control options!

Hope this helps and any positive stories would be appreciated :)

Hello, I've been learning a lot from your awesome site, but needed even more specific info
so I thought I'd post my queries.Any advice is greatly appreciated..
I do not currently have an IUD, but have been considering it for a long time now.Just been learning all I can about all my disorders and as much as I can about all their treatment options..
Please bear with my history, I'll try to be succinct as possible.
In 2009, I was diagnosed with Bipolar 2 disorder, which requires me to take 2 antidepressants and a mood stabilizer called Lamictal. I feel great but I 've found out Lamictal's strength can be affected by hormonal treatments, usually its lowered strength because of metabolizing in liver faster with hormones..I dont want to have to change the dose too much/often.
I am 42, No Pregnancies, had a hysteroscopy d&c for uterine polyps in 2007, then had laprascopy in Sept 2010 for an ovary cyst, which revealed moderate Endometriosis. The Endo& cyst was removed, but not my ovaries or other girl parts. As a result,I've been on Oral Contraceptives since.I had to try 3 different pills because I had never ending spotting on 2  brands and the third made me really Emotionally scary.    The Problems I have now are:
Higher Blood Pressure [ taking medication for it & being monitored]
Weight Gain & NO sex drive...[both Which maybe attributed to the Pill and psych meds too] 
These are my main hopes & concerns: If I got a Mirena, I'd hope that maybe since its localized the hormones it may not affect my head meds quite as much, that somehow it would control the Endo from regrowing and  that maybe losing weight could be easier since its progestin only, and that if I have to have periods at all that they would'nt be debilitating as they have been previous to my treatments.Also I am worried that I could get more cysts, or that I'd have awful cramps like I used to even if I dont bleed much. I have a very high pain threshold, but I'm hoping not to have to go back to it. I 'd hope maybe I'd find a sex drive too.. Anyone with any or all of these issues I'll gladly read your repiles..  :) Thanks, JL

So I've had my lovely Mirena for 'round about 5 months now. Up until now, I've had fairly regular, light pink spotting periods. Then 2 weeks after my last pink period, I had a week of heavy brown discharge with a couple of pretty huge clots (one seriously looked like a piece of sauteed mushroom--black and slimy and huge. It was disgusting). A few days after this, for unrelated reasons, I had an ultrasound of my abdomen and, lo and behold, the IUD was still in place and the rest of my uterus looked totally normal. Granted, this was an external ultrasound, not internal, but I'm pretty sure they could tell if something was SERIOUSLY wrong.

Anyway, cut to this week. I'm expecting my period, since it's been 4 weeks, aaaaaand...nothing. Some cramps for a few days, sore boobs, and that's it. Of course, I start freaking out and take a pregnancy test, and it's negative. Being the hypochondriac I am, I'm worried that I really am pregnant and that I'm one of those rare women who never show up as pregnant on HPTs, but I'm trying to put that fear aside.

Anyway...does anybody know what could be causing this? And if I am one of those blessed women who lose their periods on Mirena, how should I go about making sure I'm not preggers every month?

Thanks, guys!

Hey there everyone! My name is Katey, I'm 22 and I'm having a hard time deciding on which IUD I should choose. I'm hoping you ladies can help me decide.

So - I have been on the pill (the generic of Yaz) for 4 1/2 years with no issues. It cleared my acne right up, (I have flawless skin now and don't do anything to it/have no real routine and don't need one) never experienced _any_ weight gain, and in fact, I lost weight on the pill. The only thing I've ever disliked about it is the idea of being on hormones. That and I suspect that my decreased/non-existant libido of the past year or so is probably due to the pill after reading some of your experiences...

Well, I had my annual OBGYN appointment recently and when my new doc asked if I had any concerns or questions about my birth control I remembered that the previous year my old doc (who retired) had asked me a battery of questions about how I was doing on HBC and asked if I experienced any migraines. Pretty sure I hadn't at that point, but this past year I've had several and so I told her about how I had been having migraines and was that in some way a side effect of the pill.

She told me that they really don't like to keep women with a history of migraines on the pill because it increases your risk of stroke and asked me if I had ever considered an IUD. She then recommended Mirena as a good match for me...

So what's my issue? Well - I've just heard so many stories about crazy bouts of acne, weight gain and other horror stories with Mirena that I'm tempted by the idea of ParaGuard, which while I would probably get some acne again just because that's the natural state of my skin, at least wouldn't give me any added complications due to the hormone in Mirena...Call me shallow, but I don't want to gain weight, and I don't look forward to going from flawless skin to a face full of zits and cystic acne. I realize that not everyone experiences this, but I'm going to have to shell out $500 for this piece of plastic (or copper, depending) and I don't want to risk having horrible side effects and then waste all that money by having it taken out. That said, I am desperately looking forward to my libido returning to normal (it's been a source of frustration with me and my BF).

As for ParaGuard, I'm concerned because I didn't have the lightest of periods before I went on the pill and part of the reason I went on it to begin with was because I had an erratic period...so thinking about how this might be magnified by ParaGuard just makes me even more confused. Guess a girl can't have it all, eh?

Opinions? Thoughts, Experiences? Which do you think would be a better match for me? What has your experience been going from HBC to an IUD?

I got my copper IUD, Liberte, about a month ago, and I am on my first period with it. Its not any heavier really, nor is it any more painful. I only ever got very very mild cramps from one day, now I've just had random times of very mild cramping. However I'm on the 9th day of my period, and it doesn't seem to be letting up. 
It's not overly heavy. I use a diva cup and still only need to empty it once in the morning and once before bed, and it's not full. It simply sin't stopping.
I realize that copper IUDs make them longer, and that it can take a while for my body to get used to the IUD and have normal periods again, but at one point should I consider the period too long and call in?

P.S. I would normally have a  7 day period with only one day of significant flow. This has been 9 days with the past 3 days being of significant flow. I've never had children and am 20 years of age. 

Thankyou

(I already made a post kinda about this in vagpag, but I thought I'd ask here for a bigger group of IUD users)

I had been waiting for my errant period to show up and I thought a few days worth of sporadic cramps signified its arrival, but then they went away and no period. Anyway, I started to get worried, so I went to PP for a pregnancy test and, while I was there, decided to have them check the strings on my Paragard (I've never been able to feel them, no matter how much I squat or bear down or contort myself...long vaginal canal + short fingers makes it hard. Boyfriend never felt them, either). The nurse discovered it was expelling. Soooo she pulled it out and we scheduled an appointment to have another one put in. I was super disappointed, since I loved it and my period had just gotten back to normal after 6 months. I figured my uterus had finally come to accept it. Alas... :(

Anyway, I have a couple of questions...

I found that, close to the time of my period, if I leaned forward at all while peeing, I could feel a bit of sharpness which I assumed was the IUD pressing on something. I figured I could just feel something different because my uterus was full and getting ready to let loose, but now I'm curious...Could I feel it because it was expelling? 

Have you ever had another IUD put in after one expelled? Did it stay in the 2nd time around?

Thanks in advance!

So I have my Mirena insertion this morning at 11:30 and I am really excited about it, this will be my 2nd Mirena, I had to have the last one removed after 3.5 years due to it's decreased effectiveness, and I was having some trouble at the time with infection and inflammation, not really sure what was causing it.

Anyhoo!

So I did not get any special instructions for my insertion this time, but I have some Arthotec kicking around from a few months back, I was having terrible trouble with carpal tunnel, and my doctor gave me a sample of Arthotec. Arthotec has a misoprostol coating and a dicofenlac (anti-inflammatory) core.

... I was kind of half wondering if i took the arthotec this morning if it would help with insertion. Last time I took the Misoprostol i inserted it into my vagina next to my cervix, but I know from experience with the Arthotec that it absolutely worked orally to cause cramping and probably dialation.

anyone have any annecdotal info on inserting a 2nd IUD without miso? I know it's probably not necessary but I am also kind of keen to make myself feel comfortable.

This Wednesday, I went to PP to get a paragard inserted. I was very anxious and wanting to be off nuvaring because Ive been on it and previous other birthcontrol since I was 18 (now 25) and I wanted my libido back, along with my energy ect. So I went through the traumatic fitting twice because she wanted to make sure, but my uterus measure 12cm and I am not a good candidate. Im so sad about this. Im not sure why my uterus is so large and Im not sure what my non-hormonal options are now. I am in a commited relationship and getting engaged, but I don't want kids for at least another 4-5 years. What can I do?

Gawker Media sci-fi site io9 recently posted an article about copper IUDs as emergency contraception: read it here.

Bedsider.org (a really cool site for birth control info) has an article about ovarian cysts: since the Mirena seems to increase likelihood of ovarian cysts, we get a lot of questions about them. Get your answers here!

PS: I'm graduating grad school soon, so I'll have more time for updating the resources. Keep an eye out for cool stuff that we could use!

Hi All,

Does intense exercising increase the IUD expulsion rate at all?  I've had my Paragard for almost five months now, and I really want to start a vigorous exercise routine.  I'd like to try something like P90X or Turbofire, and also start using exercise equipment, like maybe a treadmill.

I'm 25 and I've never been pregnant, just in case that affects the answers.

Thanks so much!