Ok, I’m going to become known as the TMI chick.
I cannot take hormonal birth control due to side effects, and I’m just not trusting the whole condom thing. I found a clinic that does birth control for women without health care, and they offer low cost IUDs. However, I’ve heard some horror stories, heavy bleeding, cramping etc.
What’s your experience?
My experience has been absolutely wonderful. I had a Mirena put in July of 2003, had a period that August, and haven’t had one since. Well, once I spotted enough to need a pantyliner for two days in a row, but considering the rate I used to go through the super-absorbency tampons, I’d hardly consider that a period. According to the research I’ve done and my gyn, the heavier periods and cramping are mostly associated with the copper-T type IUDs. They’re not really sure why the copper one causes that, but the thinking seems to be that it’s something about the metal.
I don’t know that I’m necessarily a typical example of a Mirena user, though. It’s like any other bc–some women respond to it wonderfully, some women respond horribly, and most women are somewhere in the middle. Basically, any sort of side effect you can have from Depo, good or bad, you can get from the Mirena. Stopping periods, breakthrough bleeding, water retention, etc., it’s all a possibility. The incidence of side effects seems to decrease over time, though I’m not sure if that’s because the side effects subside or people get sick of them and have the device removed.
As for horror stories, I’ve heard some doozies, but they were mostly from people who were so stupid that they thought just because they had a bad experience that everyone would have a bad experience with it. One woman was begging me to not get a Mirena because she had horrible cramps and bleeding for three whole days and it was so awful she had to have it taken out. (Horrible cramps and bleeding for three days sounds like a pretty normal period to me, but I guess mileage varies.)
Now, I’m not going to lie to you–the insertion and the first day or two afterward ain’t fun. My cervix had never been dilated for anything before, and my uterus is really impressively retroverted, so my insertion was pretty damned awful. There’s a thread about it if you want to read it. The cramps afterward were really, really bad. It took three naproxen, four ibuprofen, and a couple tylenol to get them under control. Of course, I made it a lot worse on myself than it had to be, scheduling it on a day when I had to work. If I’d had any sense, I would have done it on my day off, accepted their offer of valium, come home and taken a big slug of NyQuil and slept through the whole thing. Then I really think it wouldn’t have been that big a deal.
IANALady but my wife had an IUD for oh, 6 months or so. They had to take it out after my wife became pregnant with my youngest daughter. Then I had to get a vasectomy. FWIW everyone my wife had talked to before having it put in had nothing but good things to say about them. Everything was going great with us too, at least until she’d missed a period. I guess that proves nothing is 100%
They are not 100%, as Madd Maxx says, however they are pretty darned effective.
If you can’t handle hormonal birth control, stay away from the hormonal IUDs. The Mirena that CCL mentioned is hormonal, copper ones are not. I have a copper one, though I kinda wish now I had gone for the hormonal. Not enough to get it switched, though!
I tend to have some cramping on the first day or two of my period (which I never did before) and it has always been heavy, so no change there.
It can be uncomfortable during sex, depending on the position. Nothing too horrible, though.
I recommend them, over all, but the insertion was a b*tch.
It depends on whether she can’t handle all hormonal birth control, or if she just can’t handle combined hormone birth control. I can’t use combined hormone stuff because of side effects, but I’ve never had the first speck of trouble with the progestin-only thing. She might still be a candidate for a Mirena, depending on the specifics of her situation. Her gyn should be able to make recommendations.
i had a copper iud for years.
zero problems, 100% effective in my case.
i have heard the insertion isn’t pleasant.
mine was inserted during a surgical procedure while i was under general anesthesia, so i obviously did not feel a thing.
the removal wasn’t bad at all. pain for an instant, then it was over.
I have a copper T and bleed like a stuck (insert yucky thing that bleeds alot). I’m on year 7 of a 10 year IUD. It didn’t hurt much going in.
To be fair to the IUD, I bled heavily prior to the IUD, but it certainly hasn’t helped. I have no problems with cramping at all, just bleeding. I’ve had a disastrous classical C-section in my 23rd week of pregnancy and also have an incompetant cervix- that whole organ is a mess that I’m hoping to get rid of or have ablated soon.
Anyway, I have had no pregnancies with the IUD. I got pregnant with both kids on the pill because of my irregular lifestyle and work hours. I live in fear of getting pregnant again after that last disaster (even tho I did get a nice kid out of it eventually!). My greatest worry with the IUD is hoping it won’t fall out through my crappy cervix during one of my horrible bleedy periods, not pregnancy.
Oh, I meant to add that I had mine inserted on my post partum checkup following the last kid.
Dammit, why didn’t I see this yesterday before 3:00? Because that was when I got my IUD inserted.
Interestingly enough, despite my original inclination to get off of hormonal BC altogether, I went with the Mirena, which uses progesterone, over the Paraguard copper version. I’ve been on the pill for the last 10ish years, and my periods have gotten lighter and lighter while on it - I’d say a long one lasts maybe three days. This from someone who never really had heavy periods to begin with, maybe five days on average, very little cramping.
Well, I likes me my light periods, so I went with the Mirena to try and keep it that way, although I do wonder if I made the right decision.
Insertion is a bitch. And how. (But still, nothing like CCL’s experience!) I’ve never had kids (don’t plan to), and apparently that makes things more difficult as you’ve never had anything pass through there. It hurts. Very crampy. Take ibuprofen/aspirin/tylenol before - you’ll be glad you did (I didn’t). Good thing is that it’s short, maybe 10 minutes. Crampy the rest of the evening, too - I took two ibuprofin as soon as I got home, which finally knocked it back to a dull ache two hours later. Went out to eat that night and rented a movie, so it’s not like I was totally down for the count, but I wasn’t 100% either. Today is much, much better.
I was worried about the expulsion aspect - the literature I’ve read told me that there’s a greater possibility of expulsion both a) after insertion and b) if you’re childless. C’mon, I’m going off the pill so I don’t have to worry about such things anymore, I’m not going to trade it for worrying about whether the thing is still where it’s supposed to be. However, I talked about it with the doctor and she said that that’s really not the case, and that since I’m childless, I’ll feel it if it’s starting to be expelled. So that eased my worries. She also said (contrary to the literature) that I didn’t have to check for the strings to make sure it was still in place correctly if I didn’t want to, but I’m going to anyway.
So, one day in and I’m liking it fine. Not that that gives you much of a data set, but there you are.
I had my Mirena inserted about 3 months ago, when my baby was 6 weeks old. This was my second child, so my cervix is pretty used to being stretched out, but yowza, it still hurt like the dickens during insertion. I had moderate to severe cramps for about 2 weeks after insertion (bad enough that I had to temporarily stop taking my daily brisk walk through the neighborhood). I had spotting for a couple of days. After those first two weeks, I’ve had intermittent cramping, but no periods (probably due more to the fact that I’m still breastfeeding). All in all, I’ve had a positive experience and have recommended it to two of my friends. It’s nice not having to remember to take a pill every day.
I would advise asking your OB/GYN for a script for a few vicodin (or your narcotic of choice) just in case you’re one of those women who experience a lot of post-insertion pain. I wish I had!