I am considering getting an IUD as a precursor to getting a tubal ligation. My doctor recommended the Paraguard IUD by Ortho.
My husband and I are not planning on having any children and I want to go with permanent BC, but finacially the IUD is much more workable right now.
So what I was wondering about is:
[ul][li]How do you like having an IUD?[/ul][/li][ul][li]Has it been painless to “wear”?[/ul][/li][ul][li]Do you have really bad periods/cramps?[/ul][/li][ul][li]How much did it hurt to have it put in place?[/ul][/li]I have read tons of stuff online, but I would like to hear about experiences from real women 
I have used a copper IUD twice. Once when I was in my mid-20’s and had had no children; and have been using one for 8 years now and have had two children. The two experiences were very different.
I was only able to keep the first IUD for 10 months. I tried hard to beat the one year mark, but I couldn’t handle the pain. My periods were heavier, and I had terrible cramps. I had had bad cramps before, but these were something special, and they happened every period, and lasted for days. I later found out that the worst of these cramps were as bad as my labor pains.
With my current IUD, I have actually had three IUDs. The first was removed after three years, because the string curled up inside my cervix. The second I expelled after two years. The current one is doing fine. With this experience, I have not noticed any increasing flow, and I have had no problems with cramps. My periods have changed, but that is probably because of perimenopause and would have happened regardless. This time the IUD is so “invisible” that I have to remind myself to check that it is still in place.
The first time, it was fairly painful to have inserted, and I had pain the rest of the day. I actually expelled that IUD, which was inserted on the first day of my period, as recommended. I had to come back the next month, and they inserted that one on the last day of my period and it was in until I requested that they remove it. This time around, the insertions were pretty mild, just a moment of sharp pain and no problems afterward.
I think the difference in my experiences had to do with the changes in my uterus from pregnancy. YMMV, and I hope so; I know some women who have never had children have no problems with it.
I’ve had an IUD for two years now. I can’t use hormonal birth control, so this seemed to be a more workable solution.
At first, my periods were more painful, more messy, and generally more unpleasant. Now, though, they’re really no different than they were before I got the IUD.
It helps to check to make sure it’s still in. I do that once a month. I also had my exam this week, and it’s still in place.
Robin
I am not a woman, but the question I have is… why are you the one to get the BC? A vasectomy for your husband is cheap, reliable, and has no side effects. Surgical birth control is far more easily and safely done on the male than the female.
Okay, now I’m gonna put my ignorance on display, because I thought I was all up on all sorts of birth control alternative methods, but I had no idea you could “check” to see if your IUD was still in. I thought it was all contained in your uterus? Is there, er, a tag? “In case of fire pull ring and handle”?
And the concept of expelling one just cracks me up. I picture it like expelling a demon: “Get thee behind me, copper coil! The power of Christ compells you!”
IUDs have a string attached to end of them, I believe thats how they check to see if it’s still in place. Sorta like a tampon.
Mrs. Giraffe has an IUD, after finally realizing that her body simply doesn’t like hormonal birth control. She’s really happy with it. Insertion was painful, although she thinks that was partly due to her (now former) gyno being somewhat incompetent. Since then she’s had no problems with it. She went from having crampy periods to having no period at all, with rare exceptions.
The string is similar to fishing line, kind of like a plastic thread.
I had very minor cramping as my IUD was being inserted, but no real pain at all. I have had it in place for five years with no pain or noticable changes in my cycle. The type of IUD that I have is supposed to be good for ten years.
I’ve had a Mirena for a little over a year, and I have to say that I love it. Because of the hormones contained in it, I’ve just passed the one-year mark of not having a period. (That was a little weird at first, but the benefits more than made up for it.) This isn’t something you can count on with Mirena, though, and something you shouldn’t even hope for with Paragard. Some women respond to progestin-only stuff by bleeding constantly, or having continuous cramps, or retaining more water than the Hoover Dam, and copperT models tend to increase bleeding and cramps.
For me, the insertion was pretty crappy. I’ve never been pregnant or had biopsies or anything, so my cervix had never been dilated and it rather wanted to keep it that way. Between that and my freakishly tilted uterus, the insertion turned into such a three-ring circus that I started a MPSIMS thread about it. That first day, the cramps were horrible. I mean, roll around in the floor wishing you were dead horrible. I have to say, though, that it probably wouldn’t have been nearly so bad if I didn’t have to work that night and could have taken the proffered sedatives. (And when it comes time to get this replaced, you can damn well bet I’m taking the drugs.) The cramps were just normal menstrual cramps by the next morning, though, and I had a few twinges the next month, and nothing since.
I guess your partner just gets used to there being a little string up there? It’s not long enough to, er, wrap around or anything, right?
You could ask my daughter Chrissy. She was a copper-7 baby, circa 1978. I’m not trying to scare you, I’m just telling you my experience with IUD’s. :eek:
I like to think that the new IUD’s are much better than their predecessors. Talk with your doctor and make the decision that is best for you.
I don’t recall the actual insertion of the copper-7, it was during my six-week exam after the birth of my oldest daughter, circa 1977. Six weeks after giving birth you could’ve driven a backhoe upside my girlie-parts and I wouldn’t have noticed. Unless Val Kilmer or Orlando Bloom were at the helm… 
The IUD strings are cut off very short, and end well above the reach of Mr Happy.
I have a Levanova, which is basically the same thing as the Mirena. I didn’t like the Pill but I love the Fantastic Plastic. Very mild periods, in fact most months I don’t get any at all.
Insertion went okay, although the sensation I felt immediately after the gyno said “Now I’m just going to put this clamp on your cervix” has got to qualify as the weirdest thing I’ve ever felt. I had intermittent bleeding for about two weeks, the first three days of which I had cramps like a very bad period. Since then, absolutely no complaints. I had heavy menstrual bleeding and anemia which meant I was not a candidate for a traditional copper IUD; the hormonal version was a very pleasant surprise!
I had an IUD inserted about 12 years ago and the insertion itself was very uncomfortable.
My b/f at the time insisted he could feel the “fishing-line” strings and that they were poking the end of his … you know. So I went back to my doctor, and she checked and said that the strings were as short as they could be, and there was nothing she could do about them.
(My b/f’s equipment wasn’t exactly porn-star size or anything so to this day I have no idea who was right and who was wrong).
Anyway, I had never had any kind of menstrual cramps before, but the first two months with the IUD were absolutely horrible, as in legs-giving-out PAINFUL. So I got it taken out and went back on the pill.
Have to say though, I agree with BoringDad - even though it’s off-topic - I would encourage hubby to get a vasectomy instead. Just MHO.
S.
I did ask her about problems associated with the IUDs such as inplantation/embedding, uterine puncture :eek: and rejection/expulsion. I had always heard bad stuff about the IUDs, but she said they are so much better and safer than they used to be. She said that the implantation/embedding was rare and she had only seen it once and the woman had a weird uterus or something. All the stuff about expulsion I have read and what my doc said, that it will usually happen relatively soon after having it put in, if it is going to do so. She also said utering punture is extremely rare and is usually associted with trauma. The whole risk of pregnancy with them does bother me a bit, but it is supposed to have a higher reliability rate than the pill.
I am not too worried about cramps, I get them anyway Pill or not. Midol extra strength is my friend
Hmmm…a cervix clamp… sounds kinda S&Mish in a medical sorta way.
BoringDad we did discuss him getting snipped, but with is aversion to pain, doctors and anything medical, it is easier for me to do it. For example, when he had appendicitis, it took over a week and a half to convince him to go to the doctor, finally we had to take him to the ER at midnight and he was in surgury the following morning- his appendix was on the verge of bursting.
I am just tired of taking hormone pills and associated possible risks of them. I don’t really want to be on pills the rest of my life- just in case I change my mind… :dubious:
I thought about having just my uterus removed (a partial hysterctimy) and then donating it to science (science fiction maybe). Hey I figured- give it someone who could use it, I’m not! But apparently those aren’t on any organ donation list.
I’ve had an IUD for seven years now. I don’t recall insertion as being particularly difficult but it’s been a while since then. I very much like having “thoughtless” birth control and I really! really! do not want to get pregnant again (the last one was a disaster). As far as avoiding pregnancy, my IUD has worked perfectly.
I have heavy periods, but I had them before the IUD, too, so I’m pretty much used to that. I don’t get cramps at all. The one I have has to come out in three years and I’m thinking of asking for another one at that time.
Also, I’m a nurse whose whole experience has been in different areas of women’s health. I have only seen one case of embedded IUD and in that case, the IUD had been in nearly 20 years.
I have a Paragard. It hurt like I can’t even tell you when it was inserted, but that was a short-lived pain. No problems since then.
Thanks! I was mainly curious. Hope I didn’t come off as critical.
OK, I’ve got Mrs. Giraffe here…
Hi. After years of hating the side-effects of hormonal birth control (I tried standard bcp’s, progesterone-only pills, Norplant) and the uncertainty of barrier methods, I finally demanded an IUD from my gyn. I chose the Mirena (which has progesterin, but in lower doses than pills and Norplant) because it has less bleeding & cramping and thus less chance of expulsion. I’ve had problems with heavy periods and cramping in the past and didn’t want to take a chance of starting that up again. The copper IUDs like Paraguard cause problems like that in a lot of women. I have a friend who got the Paraguard and after bleeding about 70% of the time for four months she gave up and and had it removed. But it’s different for every person so don’t count it out - just know to ask the right questions of your gyn, especially if you have a history of it.
I absolutely love the IUD. I don’t have to think or worry about it (I check for the strings about once a month), my husband has never felt it, and I haven’t noticed any side effects from the progestine. On the pill, I spent the first week of every month feeling nauseous (and actually throwing up if I accidentally forgot a pill and had to double up) and on Norplant and progesterone pills I lost my sex drive and felt moody all the time. With the Mirena I haven’t had a period since the first month after I got it and while that isn’t something I would have asked for, it is rather convenient (I had the same side effect when I had Norplant as well).
I haven’t had children and we don’t plan to but aren’t ready to commit to something permanent. I had to go to four gyn’s before I found one who would give me an IUD because of that. Most of them refuse to even consider it if you haven’t had kids. I think some of that is probably leftover concern from the Dalkon Shield, but it’s a real concern if you’re single and/or have multiple partners because of the seriousness of a PID infection. Anyway, I finally found one who wasn’t patronizing when I said that we don’t want kids. The insertion was painful but pretty quick. There are two parts to the procedure - first the “sounding” where they measure the depth of your uterus, and then the insertion. The sounding felt like a sharp pain/pressure but lasted less than 15 seconds. The insertion was slightly more painful but it also didn’t take very long (probably less than 30 seconds, but it will feel longer than it is). I didn’t have any cramps afterwards and actually went back to work an hour after the procedure.
I would recommend the Mirena to others who are serious about not wanting to get pregnant. Even those who have been sensitive to other hormonal methods.
Yes. He was 33 years old last May. I hope they are more reliable now.
My wife and I have reached our sanity limit of two kids, so she had an IUD inserted about a year ago. She has complained about longer-lasting and more painful periods since then. However, she does like the convenience of it vs. taking a pill every day. From my end of things, I can occasionally feel the string (and no, I’m not of porn star dimensions, just on the high side of average), and once or twice it has had the misfortune of poking up my urethral opening…which is rather unpleasant (the string must be some sort of stiff nylon). When my current bout of medical ailments subsides, I’ve promised her I’d submit to going under the knife and get myself snipped in the name of love.