Fantastic Plastic my arse! (Mirena, TMI)

[Barrels]

OK so I know that in the long run this may be the best thing ever but DAMN IT THAT HURT! I swear I have a high pain threshold but this was really nasty! Especially the when dude was dilating my cervix and mentions that he's got it cranked open to about 8cm I called my fiancee when I was done with the appointment and told him that he has 5 years to get good and comfortable with the idea of a vasectomy.

FWIW I have never had a kid and although they suggested having it inserted while you have your period, that was not an option for me.

Barrels

[LVgeogeek]

Back in November when I had my IUD put in The pain was pretty much indescribable. My GYN said it was because my cervix had never been dilated like that before and when I got home to take some additional ibuprofen and rest.

The pain does go away. I found myself at the bar that afternoon- Vodka & Tonic is a pretty good pain reliever

I told Mr. Geek that I should have made him go and get the ol' snip snip done and have him sit on the couch with an ice pack for two days and be done with it. That is what is next after the IUD is done, he has about 5 years or so as well.

My only fear now is if it hurt that much going in, what the heck is it gonna feel like when it gets removed?

[Ike Witt]

When did IUDs make a come back? I thought they were stopped being used in the 1980s after some deaths due to toxic shock or something like that.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Originally Posted by adam yax

When did IUDs make a come back? I thought they were stopped being used in the 1980s after some deaths due to toxic shock or something like that.

I remember just one IUD that had major problems, the Dalkon shield. This particular design was not only scary-looking, it was dangerous. That brand of IUD tainted the public's perception of all IUDs.

I had one put in (a copper 7, I believe) after I'd had a baby. Even so, the dilation and insertion was quite painful enough, thankyouverymuch. I shudder to think how badly it would hurt with an unstretched cervix.

[Ike Witt]

Chalk this up as another reason I am glad to be male.

The things you women have to endure would turn most men into whimpering babies PDQ.

[Barrels]

Originally Posted by LVgeogeek

The pain does go away. I found myself at the bar that afternoon- Vodka & Tonic is a pretty good pain reliever

My only fear now is if it hurt that much going in, what the heck is it gonna feel like when it gets removed?

The bar sounds like a fab idea! I don't even want to think about it coming out!

[Little Bird]

8 cm? That makes no sense at all, it takes women in labor hours to get to that point. Are you sure he didn't say 8 mm? That's really all the bigger around the insertion device is.

FYI--after the hurty insertion, then some pretty high-grade cramping that lasted about an hour, I had what felt like medium strength menstrual cramps the rest of the day. The next day I was fine and dandy. Then came the 4 weeks of spotting, but since then I've and no menstrual cycle what so ever!

You will be so so so happy with this IUD, just remember that while your body adjusts to it.

[Ike Witt]

Originally Posted by Little Bird

8 cm? That makes no sense at all, it takes women in labor hours to get to that point. Are you sure he didn't say 8 mm? That's really all the bigger around the insertion device is.

I was wondering about that also. 8 cm is a little over 3". 3" is about the diameter of a baseball or a hockey puck. No openings that I have can get that big, except maybe my mouth when it is getting ready to accommodate my foot.

I have looked at some pictures of IUDs but I have no idea of the size of an average one. There has been nothing to put them in perspective, size wise. How big exactly is this Mirena thing?

[Lynne_kilii]

Ok, I officially heart my doctor-guy from tuesday. My regular gynocologist said "I'll do it for you, but you really want this guy to do it". And he numbed me up all sorts of great, dialated me, which I didn't really notice, and put it in while I was wondering what in the world was going on down there. Now I'm just waiting for my uterus to get used to the idea of having this foreign object up in there for the next five years. It is currently putting up a bit of a fight in the form of cramps, but I'm not letting some stupid little organ try and argue with me when I just spent a ton of money on it.

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

I remember just one IUD that had major problems, the Dalkon shield. This particular design was not only scary-looking, it was dangerous. That brand of IUD tainted the public's perception of all IUDs.

My mother had a Dalkon Shield implanted after she gave birth to my (younger) sister. She said that later that night, she had a lot of pain and some bleeding. She went back to her gynecologist, who examined her and found that the IUD wasn't in her uterus any longer. Whoops, looks like it got expelled.

Fast-forward a couple decades, and my mother is having a hysterectomy due to fibroids. After she wakes up from surgery, the doctor has some news for her, which I'm gonna spoiler for the weak of stomach:

SPOILER:

The Dalkon Shield wasn't expelled out of her body - it actually got forced - probably by uterine contractions at the painful object inside - through the wall of her uterus and implanted in the outside wall! There were many other instances of those "spikes" on the IUD piercing the inner lining of the uterus and causing a lot of problems, infections, etc.

[nashiitashii]

Originally Posted by adam yax

I was wondering about that also. 8 cm is a little over 3". 3" is about the diameter of a baseball or a hockey puck. No openings that I have can get that big, except maybe my mouth when it is getting ready to accommodate my foot.

I have looked at some pictures of IUDs but I have no idea of the size of an average one. There has been nothing to put them in perspective, size wise. How big exactly is this Mirena thing?

Can't find a video for it, but the commercial showing in my part of the US has a moment where a woman's hand opens up and there's the Mirena IUD in her palm. It looks to be smaller than an OB brand tampon.

[Barrels]

Ok so maybe they said 8mm, but it sure as hell felt like they dilated it to around 8ft! At the time I was trying to breath and telling the nice med student to tell me a story, anything to keep my mind off of what was going on down there.

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by nashiitashii

Can't find a video for it, but the commercial showing in my part of the US has a moment where a woman's hand opens up and there's the Mirena IUD in her palm. It looks to be smaller than an OB brand tampon.

This page has a video link explaining the device; slightly over halfway through, the doctor holds one between her fingers. It looks like it's an inch, inch and a half long and that the crossbar is about that wide.

[Idlewild]

Yeah. Getting the IUD in (never had a kid, was on period) is still the highest on the pain scale I've been. Holy shit that hurt.

[eleanorigby]

I had an IUD after I had two of my three kids. I don't recall a lot of pain upon insertion (I do remember pressure and some cramping). This was years ago, though, so I might be wrong. I loved my IUD-best form of birth control I ever used (and I have used condoms, the sponge, the diaphragm, the Pill, abstinence,pulling out-because I was young and stupid--NOT recommended, and finally, tubes tied).

Motrin and rest do wonders. Removal did not hurt as badly as insertion, if memory serves.

[Mama Tiger]

I had a copper 7 IUD after I'd had my first child years ago, and as I recall, insertion was uncomfortable but not agonizing, and removal was really a piece of cake. So don't worry about pain on removal -- just contrast it with the possible pain caused by removing a full-grown infant through that same opening and you'll be grateful that it's only an IUD.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by Little Bird

but since then I've and no menstrual cycle what so ever!

You have one the OP does, not the copper one, right? Or so I guess since a frequently cited drawback of the copper is heavier periods.

[Layla01]

I had a Mirena put in a few months ago - it was a weird feeling, but not painful. I've had 2 kids, however - I'm sure that had something to do with it. At least it's good for 5 years.....

[Sierra Indigo]

Implant - local anaesthetic, injected by needle. Doesn't even hurt once the anaesthetic wears off. Only 3 years but to get it out is just another local, slice, slip it out and inject another one in a different site.

15 minutes including the time it takes to get completely numb. Yay implanon!

[Terrorcotta]

I had my IUD replaced every three or so years as recommended by my regular OB and he would have the nurse give me a sedative/pain reliver while I was still in the waiting room. We'd been through that many times. But he did say he curious how tightly I could curl my toes up during the procedure.

And while we're at it, this guy also had a theory that the more extroverted a lady was, the more she wiggled her toes during exams. Any input on that one?

[Renee]

Originally Posted by Sierra Indigo

Implant - local anaesthetic, injected by needle. Doesn't even hurt once the anaesthetic wears off. Only 3 years but to get it out is just another local, slice, slip it out and inject another one in a different site.

15 minutes including the time it takes to get completely numb. Yay implanon!

What implant? Are you talking about IUDs or something else?

[nashiitashii]

Originally Posted by Sierra Indigo

Implant - local anaesthetic, injected by needle. Doesn't even hurt once the anaesthetic wears off. Only 3 years but to get it out is just another local, slice, slip it out and inject another one in a different site.

15 minutes including the time it takes to get completely numb. Yay implanon!

That description made me feel a little queasy, mostly because I'm more horrified at the idea of implants than at having a little piece of plastic in my uterus. The procedure just seems more gross for some reason.

Definitely going for an IUD when my BC pill prescription runs out in 6 months.

ETA: Renee, think of Norplant implants. They go in your arm or some other similar place. Still kinda oogy to me.

[Renee]

Originally Posted by nashiitashii

That description made me feel a little queasy, mostly because I'm more horrified at the idea of implants than at having a little piece of plastic in my uterus. The procedure just seems more gross for some reason.

Definitely going for an IUD when my BC pill prescription runs out in 6 months.

ETA: Renee, think of Norplant implants. They go in your arm or some other similar place. Still kinda oogy to me.

Yeah, I saw the implanon thing at the end of her post after I posted. The wiki article says 11% of women have them removed due to bad side effects. I wonder what the rate for the mirena is? Wiki doesn't say. I'm planing on getting one but this thread is scaring me a bit.

[Loach]

Fantastic Plastic my arse!

I'm not a doctor but I think if it had anything to do with your arse, they did it wrong. You might want to get a second opinion.

[Glassy]

What a coincidence. I just had an iud put in yesterday. "Now, you'll feel a little pinch," she said, just before the holy shit goddamn that hurts started.

Help dispel my ignorance: for me, the pain didn't come from dilation of the cervix, but when she was actually inserting the thing into the uterus. (I got the Paraguard, not the Mirena - it's copper-wrapped plastic, no hormones.) I don't know if she was attaching it somehow? But I started getting big uterine cramps while on the table, while dilated. What was that? Was it the contact of the copper on my uterine lining, or what?

Anyway. Bad cramps all day yesterday, but today I feel better. It wasn't awful, but it was worse than I expected.

[Glassy]

[hijack]
And, in attempting to answer my own question, I have discovered a rare beast (which I am about to drive into extinction by pressing "Submit Reply"):

A one-word Googlewhack.

Prothenatalist.

This word was apparently invented by the author of one article, which says, "The use of IUDs decreased because of a worldwide pandemic of gonorrhea and the prothenatalist policies of Japanese and Nazi regimes."

What do you think it means?
[/hijack]

[hawksgirl]

Originally Posted by Glassy

[hijack]
And, in attempting to answer my own question, I have discovered a rare beast (which I am about to drive into extinction by pressing "Submit Reply"):

A one-word Googlewhack.

Prothenatalist.

This word was apparently invented by the author of one article, which says, "The use of IUDs decreased because of a worldwide pandemic of gonorrhea and the prothenatalist policies of Japanese and Nazi regimes."

What do you think it means?
[/hijack]

While doing research I found a paper about being childless in a "pronatalist" society, so I'm going to say those words are the same and guess something along "encouraging reproduction"

[Barrels]

Originally Posted by Loach

I'm not a doctor but I think if it had anything to do with your arse, they did it wrong. You might want to get a second opinion.

[Barrels]

Originally Posted by Renee

I'm planing on getting one but this thread is scaring me a bit.

I don't mean to scare anyone off, it hurt like a bitch going in but it's totally worth it to have 5 year BC. Today i'm having a few cramps but nothing horrible. If you do get one just make sure that you have your period and take lots of IB before you go in and i'm sure it won't be as yucky as mine was.

[lisacurl]

Originally Posted by Barrels

Ok so maybe they said 8mm, but it sure as hell felt like they dilated it to around 8ft! At the time I was trying to breath and telling the nice med student to tell me a story, anything to keep my mind off of what was going on down there.

Even 8mm would have been extremely painful... just having a thin biopsy stick in the cervical os during a colposcopy causes cramping and pain for me.

I had no idea that IUD insertion was so painful, no wonder it's primarily recommended for women who've already had children. Thank god the Mr. has had a vasectomy.

[Lynne_kilii]

How long did anyones cramping continue? I know my doc said this is normal, but I'm curious who the longest holdout is. This is my fourth day. At least it's getting better.

[flodnak]

With my first Mirena-type IUD, I had cramps and bleeding at least on and off for two weeks. The first 4-5 days were the worst by far, however.

The replacement gave me uncomfortable but not actually painful cramps and a little bleeding on and off for three days.

I don't remember the insertion hurting either time. What I remember from the first time is the gynecologist saying, "I have to grab hold of your cervix now. Some women don't like this bit." I told her "I'm ready," and then she did it. It was absolutely the weirdest thing I have ever felt in my life Not painful, just a sort of Holy Sh*t What Was That! experience.

Of course, I had two monster babies, so my cervix had Been There, Done That well before the Fantastic Plastic entered the picture....

[Hello Again]

My mom was in the Dalkon Shield class action. It gave her an ectopic pregnancy, which exploded her follopian tube -- if she hadn't been in an Israeli war zone at the time (long story), a time/place just seething with trauma surgeons, she probably would have died from the massive internal hemoragging --- apparently she went from "I feel strange" to "nearly dead" in a very short time span. As it was, she got some kind of hepatitis from a bad transfusion (this was in the 70s) and her chances of having further children were reduced by 50%. After I was born she got the tubes tied and that was that.

I realize that technology moves along and I am being unreasonable, but no IUD for me, thanks. For YEARS we wouldn't use anything made by the same company as a form of economic protest, but what with the pharmaceuticals mergers, its impossible to keep track any more.

[Queen Tonya]

Originally Posted by Lynne_kilii

How long did anyones cramping continue? I know my doc said this is normal, but I'm curious who the longest holdout is. This is my fourth day. At least it's getting better.

I cramped on and off for the first few days, but Motrin pretty much took care of it. One period more or less when my next one should have been, but it was the barest spotting is all, and then nothing more than an occassional schmear after that.

I was surprised at the post-orgasmic cramping, however. It's all "Hey, happy time, whee! Squeezy, squeezy, squee--OW! There's something in here getting squeezed upon, hey up there, did you KNOW that?!" The first few times were so bad, I actually made himself get up and go fix me a drink while I frantically searched for more comfortable positions to stand, sit, lay, kneel in. I was seriously contemplating that the effectiveness of the BC was aversion therapy, since it was making me really really not want to have that happen anymore at all.

Luckily, I figured out pretty quick that rolling into a spoon where I'm in a fetal position and he's behind me with an arm patting my lower belly seemed to avert/relieve the cramps. That, or maybe it just settled into the right position in my uterus, but either way, nothing but a twinge once in a blue moon after about six months.

[Indygrrl]

It's absolutely barbaric that they'd do that while you are awake. It wouldn't be that hard to get put out for 15 min. so they could do it. I swear, if men had to go through it they would be knocked out cold first. Women's procedures always have to be painful and awkwardly embarassing, that's a rule or something.

[Carol the Impaler]

Is this a stupid question: Do they not give you any kind of painkiller or numbing med before they do the insertion?

If not, is there some medical reason why not?

[Little Bird]

Originally Posted by elfkin477

You have one the OP does, not the copper one, right? Or so I guess since a frequently cited drawback of the copper is heavier periods.

Yeah, I have Mirena. Looooove it. Love it.

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by Indygrrl

It's absolutely barbaric that they'd do that while you are awake. It wouldn't be that hard to get put out for 15 min. so they could do it.

It'd increase the price from expensive to "omg how much?!!" Plus it'd no longer be an in-office procedure, it'd require an anesthesiologist, probably a surgical-type procedure room, and someone to drive you home afterwards.

[Queen Tonya]

Originally Posted by niblet_head

Is this a stupid question: Do they not give you any kind of painkiller or numbing med before they do the insertion?

If not, is there some medical reason why not?

I'm guessing everything Ferret Herder said, plus there just seems to be some time-honored tradition that things involving girl bits are uncomfortable and humiliating.

I was advised by my doctor's office to take a few mild tylenol or motrin before coming in, fwiw. Being a mom might've made my insertion easier, though, it wasn't horrifically painful at all but just a few moments of 'oof!' instead.