I’ve been sort of considering going the Mirena route. I don’t find it difficult to remember my pills or anything, but it looks like it would be cheaper in the long run and would keep me from having to go to the stupid pharmacy all the time. So that’s a plus.
On the other hand, I take the pill continuously and never have a period, which is AWESOME. Seriously, awesome. I know some people on Mirena don’t, but some do and you’re pretty committed, aren’t you? And I’ve read in other threads that it takes a while to settle in, and there can be spotting. Which is fine if after that I’m good to go and have no periods for five years, but on the other hand… yeah, there’s that.
On the third hand, I think the pill is contributing to loss of libido. I’m 30 and have been on it for years, changed a year ago to a different pill (fom Desogen to Ocella, which I think is generic for Yasmin?) and didn’t see any changes. I know Mirena is a very low dose hormonal thing - would it help, or would I pretty much be locked in for five years?
I’m going to ask my doctor about all of this (and of course I can’t get in until November) but I was hoping there were people here with the same problems as me, which haven’t come out so much in the other threads.
Oh, also, are doctors happy to insert these if you haven’t had any kids? I know it can be more painful, but am not sure if it’s going to be a problem to even get my doctor to agree in the first place.
I’m 10 years older, and I’ve been having a lot of spotting/breakthrough bleeding on continuous oral contraception, so my doctor was recommending Mirena.
She also, because of the amount of bleeding I was dealing with plus the fact that I’m not going to have children, was suggesting I undergo endometrial ablation, specifically the Novasure method. This is intended to destroy most or all of the uterine lining, which should eliminate or drastically reduce any bleeding that does happen.
Anyway, I’ve never had a baby, so I do have a smaller cervix than a woman who’s had one, and yet my doctor was fine about recommending Mirena.
The no kids thing isn’t an issue unless your gyno is a total dinosaur or unless you have an unusually tiny uterus and the thing won’t fit. If your doctor won’t do it, call your local PP, they were the first ones to suggest the Mirena to me 8 years ago.
The whole no-period/breakthrough bleeding thing is going to vary wildly by person, as will effect on libido. And my experience with my second one has been very different from the first one. With the first one, I had almost immediate cessation of bleeding until right before replacement time, but I also had pretty serious vaginal dryness and loss of libido for the first year or so. With this one, I’ve continued to have periods, but they’ve gotten progressively shorter, lighter, and farther apart and I’ve not had nearly the dryness and desire issues. Every body is different, even the same body at different ages, so it’s impossible to predict how it will affect you.
And if it affects you poorly, you’re not stuck with it. They can take it out early and removal is very easy–just snag the strings and pop it on out of there. That was one of the things that sold me on the Mirena, actually. I can’t take combined hormone contraceptives, and we wanted to get away from using condoms, so it was either this or Depo–and if you respond poorly to Depo, you’re just up shit creek for several months until it works its way out of your system.
The only thing I know of that will for sure stop your periods and not affect your hormones is endometrial ablation, but that’s something that’s going to be an uphill battle to get done at your age without some fairly serious medical issue.
Did you get the second one put in right after the first? In other words, do you think the different experience is just age related, or did you have a baby in between or wait ten years or something?
Yeah, I had them taken out and put in in the same procedure. No younguns, no medications, as far as I know no changes to the device itself–the only difference seems to be that I was 5 years older. My hormones had been shifting before I got the first one, so I assume they shifted some more in the intervening time. Which makes it a damn good thing you can use Mirena right up to menopause, because my mood swings had gotten…scary. If that trend continued, I’d need psych meds without the hormones.
No children. I had a little trouble finding a doctor who would do it, but when I found one, she said she’d been putting them in women who hadn’t borne children for years. She said the risk is uterine perforation, but she’d done hundreds of 'em and had never seen a uterine perf, so it appeared to be basically safe.
My periods stopped immediately after insertion but about three months ago, started back up . It looks like they are about the same as my cycle when I’m not on any birth control, which was: every 23 days, for about 2-3 days, very light flow always.
And honestly, I can’t tell you exactly what has caused the spike in my libido lately, but I think it’s not just one thing, rather a combination of factors, including:
•New lover; we’re in that can’t-keep-our-hands-off stage.
•Haven’t been with anyone in almost three years, so I’ve been starved for it, so to speak.
•This new lover is particularly skillful, so I want to be with him more than, say, a casual encounter.
•I’m 41 (as of yesterday) and can feel the hormonal shift as I’m entering peri-menopause, lower estrogen levels mean higher (proportionally) androgen and testosterone levels; thus, jacked up libido.
• I’m in pole dancing classes, which means two things: A) I’m working out a lot and all the exercise seems to jack up my libido, and B) pole dancing is sexy and jacks up my self-confidence considerably so I “own” my sexuality much more than I did in my 20s.
Any perceived difference between the one hormone thing with the Mirena and the dual-hormone pills? Or is it just so different altogether that you can’t tell?
The Mirena hormones are localized in the uterus, so I think less gets into your bloodstream than the dual-hormone pills. You can get the Paraguard – the copper one that lasts 10 years – and it is hormone-free, if that’s what you’re after.
I find the lower level of hormones seem to make just the right amount of difference. My moods are smoothed out a bit, but there are fewer of the side-effects (like lower libido) as with the pill. I don’t feel like I’m poisoning myself with synthetic hormones, even though I know there’s a little bit in there. After 35, I wanted to go mostly hormone-free, as I’d been on Depo for ten years and that was enough of high-dose hormones for me.
Heh, for my regular annual I have to wait until November, IF there’s space. For a Mirena consultation, a couple weeks. I guess they make money on it or something.
but about three months ago, started back up 
. It looks like they are about the same as my cycle when I’m not on any birth control, which was: every 23 days, for about 2-3 days, very light flow always.