Getting one soon… looking for feedback from anyone who’s had one. Doc said it will resolve my PMDD. Let’s pray she’s right. 
YEARS ago. Many, MANY years ago.
You’ll have cramping, and perhaps spotting quite a bit until your body gets used to it.
This may be TMI, but when I got my second IUD, the string was too long and it poked my husband. You have to go back to the doctor you trim the string, you can’t do it yourself.
Good luck!
~VOW
I have the Mirena IUD. Love love love it. Seriously, I’ve waxed rhapsodic about it before on the Boards. (You can search if you’ve a mind to. But it might be weird.)
I’m 35 and have never had children, so the insertion of my first one (I’m now on my second) rather sucked. Crampy, gross, icky for the rest of the day, a little achy for the next, then right as rain. The insertion of the second one seemed to go better, but I’m not sure if that’s just because I knew what to expect. Take some ibuprofen an hour or so beforehand. Removal of the first was a non-issue, really, but it also came just before insertion of the second, so that all blurs together.
The Mirena is the plastic, hormonal version that’s good for 5 years (instead of the 10 years for the copper one). My periods have largely stopped; I do get some spotting infrequently.
My favorite thing about the IUD is that now, I never think about birth control. Ever. I never plan for refilling a prescription, I never calculate when my period will fall for a vacation, I never worry whether I remembered to take my pill this morning or not, I never need to look for back-ups in case I’m on antibiotics or whatever, I just never ever think about it. Ever. While the no periods thing is nice too, this is the reason I’ll not switch to a different form of birth control until I absolutely have to. I’m someone who is very focused on controlling my own fertility (rather than relying on someone or something else), so the IUD has been an excellent choice for me. I was always careful about taking the pill, but would sometimes forget one (especially on weekends). I got fed up with worrying about it and so looked for a better solution. And now I never have to think about it. And it’s awesome topped with awesome sauce.
A lot of ads for the Mirena say something about it being the choice for mothers, but my doctor had absolutely no problem with me getting one, even being childless. She did mention that insertion can sometimes be harder, but there’s no real reason that I couldn’t get one. And so I did. And another.
I can’t speak to your PMDD - while periods are annoying, mine were never debilitating. I got mild cramps but no PMS (as far as I was able to tell) or anything. Here’s hoping that it’ll help yours.
I have the 5-year Mirena and I had terrible bleeding and bad cramping for a full month when I got it inserted. Not to scare you off at all, but it truly sucked. My periods were really heavy (but regular) for the first 3 or 4 months, and since then it’s tapered off into a very reasonable flow with no cramping and very little PMS.
I look forward to the day when I have little or no flow. I’ve had the IUD for about 5 or 6 months now, maybe a little longer.
Plus, it’s nice to not have to worry about birth control with my husband. The first month was bad, but I’m glad I got it. I plan on keeping it in until we try for our next child.
Good luck! I hope it goes very smoothly for you.
Also, awesome User Name and Post Title, OP. 
Oddly enough, I don’t even need birth control (my husband is snipped), I’m getting one for the sole purpose of stopping/controlling my out of control cycles. We’re talking 2-3x/month and bouts of severe PMDD that are almost debilitating (despite being on SSRI’s, doing yoga, walking, tea, herbs, benzos, you catch my drift). My doctor said we’d just “get rid of my periods”. Sounds like it’ll take some getting used to. Crossing my fingers this works… glad to have the feedback!
Another one for the Mirena, and overall it was great.
Had it in while in college, and had a really hard time convincing a doctor to insert it - not only had I not had kids, but I was a virgin as well. That whole process was… not pleasant. I have never ever ever hurt like that ever in my life. But then, 24 hours later, I was totally fine, life was good, and after the first month, I went 5 years without a cycle.
God that was amazing. Finished it out, got another in (hurt much less that time) and went on - still no periods. Not even spotting. The only way I could tell the time of the month was my monthly “eat everything in sight and bitch a lot” day.
Sadly, I’m not on it at the moment - I got in a car accident and it got dislodged and poked a hole in my uterus, which got massively infected (because we didn’t realize it had poked holes in me in bad places), and they also found out I had an ovarian cyst the size of a baseball that had already burst (ew) and then I found out the hard way that I was allergic to both main cycles of antibiotics to counter the infection. That whole deal was also… not pleasant.
Doctor is pretty sure that the cyst was from the Mirena, but since it burst on its own, and didn’t cause any pain (that I could tell besides the infection) he’s not too worried about it. That is listed as one of the possible side effects.
I’m off it for the moment while my bits recover, and let me tell you, having periods again SUCKS. Having to remember contraception methods before sex SUCKS.
With all that drama, you’d think I might be hesitant, but I’m going back to Mirena as soon as my doctor gives me the ok. God I can’t wait. I’m planning to spend the rest of my life with no cycle. It’s like heaven, I swear.
About three weeks of pain total, compared with nearly 8 years of not having to think about periods and sex and babies and all that shit? Totally a fair trade, and I’m willing to discount the latest problems and blame it all on the car accident anyway.
I feel like it saved me from the rubber room–by the time I got my first Mirena my hormonal mood swings had gotten so bad I caught myself considering burying a kitchen knife in my husband’s skull because he wasn’t taking the trash out fast enough to suit me, and 30 seconds later I was wanting to slit my wrists because I was such an awful person to think such a thing. I was ready to go on psych meds if the Mirena hadn’t helped because I just couldn’t go on living that way. Then I got the IUD for birth control and it stopped my periods and the mood swings like turning off a faucet. The effect isn’t quite so strong with this second one, I have some very slight bleeding and a little moodiness for a couple days every 4-5 weeks this time around.
I fucking HATED the IUD!! TMI alert: It gave me very profuse watery discharge throughout the month, so much so that I had to wear a panty liner or pad every day. And my periods were very heavy, long and crampy. According to my gyn, it was my body’s reaction to the foreign body. He thought it would diminish with time as my body got used to the IUD, but after a year and half of these miserable symptoms, he took it out.
I have had a copper-T IUD for the last 7 years. It’s been great! No hormones, no having to remember, and no pregnancy.
I had a Mirena inserted last May. I experienced little discomfort during insertion, and I’ve never had children. When I woke up the next day, however, I had bloat so bad I could wear none of my pants - it was horrible. It lasted for about three weeks with cramping thrown in before mysteriously vanishing. I haven’t had cramps since.
Other than that, I’ve been pretty satisfied. I haven’t had a single period on it, although like Enola Gay, I do have constant clear discharge so I have to wear a liner every day. (Not a big deal for me.) It hasn’t been a perfect experience, but I do appreciate not having to take a pill every day. Also, my insurance covered all of it except $30, which spread over five years is a great deal.
I love love LOVE LOVE mine. I have the Mirena, got it just about a year ago, haven’t had a period since! I don’t even think about it, it just hangs out in there doing its job.
I did have it shift once, at the beginning of a relationship. One assumes there was… vigorous motion. I could feel the plastic shoving against the os of the cervix, as if it were thinking about coming out. I was worried about it and about to schedule an appointment but then it moved itself back and everything’s been fine ever since.
ETA - the insertion was quite painful, but only for the time they were actually, you know, cranking that cervix open. I was fine afterwards, a little crampy. Maybe the next day too, not beyond that.
This is what I’m hoping the outcome will be!!
I had the Mirena IUD, also. I decided to try it because of heavy, lengthy periods and severe cramping. I’ve never had children.
The insertion was very, very painful. That evening, the cramping was so severe that I feared I was going to expel it.
After the initial cramping settled down, I began to cease to have defined periods. Instead, I would have constant spotting, with it occasionally getting heavier. Never enough to use a tampon, though. And I never had any days without at least a little blood or heavy, thick discharge.
The cramping remained a problem. Some days I would seemingly cramp for no reason, while at other times I would have very sharp cramps after having worked out. The cramps were often severe enough to keep me up at night.
My doctor seemed rather dismissive of my concerns and experiences (I would eventually hear that she quit practicing because of burnout), so after a couple of years of no let up, I finally went to see someone else, who immediately removed it. My main regret was waiting so long to do something about it. I wasn’t a very confident person at the time, so I was hesitant to question my original doctor.
That said, most women I know who have had this IUD have been very happy with it. My experience is hopefully a rare one.
Actually, it’s because of that, that I know the OP by username already. Don’t have time to search for it now, but I recall in one of the more epic period threads she mentioned *sitting in a bathtub *because she was bleeding so badly. :eek: I’ve thought of you off and on since then, RedBloom - partially because that was one helluva mental image/user name combo, and partially because, well, I’m worried about ya, girl. That shit ain’t normal. So, here’s hoping you find some relief.
Love my Mirena - no side effects or issues with insertion (immediately after, my husband and I walked out of the office and had lunch and beers at a restaurant a few blocks away), and not only did it shut off the migraines I was having anywhere from once a week to a few days each week, it has also stopped my period except for a little spotting maybe every other month, for a couple days.
I’m on my second Mirena and still absolutely in love with it, too. The second placement was worse than the first for me, what with the insertion immediately following removal. It’s never a good day when the doctor says “Now why can’t I find your cervix, hmm?” There seemed to be way too much hardware hanging out of my software there for a few minutes.
Like most, no pain the next day and it’s so totally worth it to me to not have to deal with menstruating at all. In my completely unscientific opinion based on anecdotal experience of women in my circle, if you have ‘bad’ period issues, Mirena or Depo will likely make them better/lighter/manageable. If you have normal cycles, they’ll disappear completely. Sure, there are exceptions and this is all pure conjecture, but that seems to be the experience of women I know.
I have the Mirena IUD, inserted this past August. Was kinda stoopid and didn’t predose with painkillers – YEOUCH!! Insertion was Not Fun, it involves uterine sounds
But I recovered real quick, had a few days of cramps and heavy spotting, and each period I’ve had since has been lighter and lighter.
It’s one of the best things I’ve done for myself 
I kept my copper IUD for 10 years and was very happy with it. I had heavy periods (and did before the IUD as well), but thought that not using hormonal BC was a better choice for me, so didn’t mind.
I finally had an endometrial ablation. I had complications- during the procedure, then a urinary tract/kidney infection that required hospital admission and IV antibiotics, and then extended bleeding and discharge- but after all that settled down, I would do it again.
Good luck to you!
Question for those of you with Mirenas - did you experience any changes in weight with it? I’ve had a copper IUD for a while now and have been happy with it, but I’m just over dealing with periods. I’d love for them to go away permanently. My one concern is that my default body weight with the copper IUD seems to be about 10 pounds lower than it was with the pill. If weight gain would be a side effect of switching to Mirena, I think I’ll still with my paraguard.