Tell me about your experience with IUDs (probable TMI)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hey all,

I discovered that there are some doctors in the region that are willing to give me an IUD* and, since I’m almost due for my annual check-up for birth control pills, I figured that I’d set it up early and talk with them about the options. But first, I’d like to hear about your experiences with Mirena and Paragard, as those are my two IUD options.

For those who have been on low dose birth control pills before having Mirena inserted, was there a significant difference between the amount of hormones in Mirena and those in the BC?

Has anyone tried both Mirena and Paragard? I’m not sure exactly how my body is going to function off of birth control pills, as it’s been quite a few years since I started them. (How do you keep track of when your period’s going to come without the handy little “pill calendar” format? :confused: Do you mark the “warning day” on a calendar? My periods weren’t anywhere near regular when I started on BC pills, so I never developed a prediction method other than “my vagina hurts; I’m probably going to bleed soon” and I’ve only had a year’s break since I started them.)
[sub]*Planned Parenthood is where I’m going. Without insurance, this is probably going to be my least expensive option, and I had a bad experience last year with a local doctor. The people answering phones say “yes, we do IUDs for nulliparous women” and then I find out after an uncomfortably quick and efficient exam that, no, she doesn’t do IUDs for nulliparous women and doesn’t offer anything else besides BC pills and shoos me out the door with a prescription for pills.[/sub]

2

Being male, I don’t have any experience to share. Just wanted to note that I think it’s utter bullshit that doctors treat you differently because you haven’t had children. (I had to look up nulliparous) Unless there’s some physical change about having children that makes IUD’s or sterilization or whatever procedure the woman wants safer or something, though I’ve never heard that it did.

3

Women who’ve had children generally have had their cervixes stretched before, and women who have not “may not be able to handle the pain” is the [del]excuse[/del] explanation I got from the dotor. This, combined with the fact that the waiting room was a Jesus glurgefest and that I felt like I was at the “stick your fingers in a vagina” factory with her professional manner turned me away from making her a regular doctor. Either way, it looks like I might be able to get what I’d prefer, but I’d still like to hear about others’ experiences so I know what I might expect.

4

Hi Nashiitashii,

I have a Mirena IUD. I have had it since 2006. I have no children, but I do have endometriosis, which presents pain issues for me that may not be present for you.

I do think it was one of the best decisions I made (and $500 I spent). I had a wonderful gynecolgoist who inserted the IUD under general anesthetic, though I’m give to understand this is not common. After getting it, I cramped for a bit, but was otherwise fine. Having been on every kind of birth control drug on the market, this is by far my favourite. Because the progesterone is released locally, it is lower dose, so I didn’t gain any weight. I didn’t have any emotional ups and downs. I did not have a period for two years. However, I am now starting to get periods. They come without notice (beyond some bloating) which is slightly annoying, but the trade off is that they are so light I can get away with just a pantyliner. It has helped with my Endo pain tremendously.

Good luck.

5

I have a Paraguard. I’m actually on my second - I also had one between kids. Overall I’m a fan, although my periods are heavier/longer than they were when I was on the pill. I’m also perpetually surprised by AF’s arrival. I think at least the first of those wouldn’t be an issue with the Mirena, but I wanted to avoid a horomonal method.

I will say that a post-baby cervix is a very different thing than a pre-baby cervix. Insertion can be pretty uncomfortable, although it doesn’t take all that long. You’ll definitely want some ibuprofen or something, but something stronger might be better.

6

I’ve tried pills, Depo and now the Mirena. Off BC, I have irregular periods, anywhere from 20-40 days apart, so anything that straightens me out, or eliminates the mess entirely is a blessing.

Pills worked alright for me, the taking it daily at the same time thing didn’t. I was on a wacky schedule for years, though.

Loved Depo, both times I was on it. 2 years and 3 1/2 years, respectively. I did notice some hair thinning, but nothing drastic like some people report. My issue with Depo was a scheduling problem, my work hours and my doctor’s office hours were incompatible.

Mirena is what I’m using now, and I adore it, I can’t sing it’s praises enough. I have a slight weight gain with any hormonal BC, but less of one going on Mirena than I had with either pills or Depo. No mood swings, zits or bloating, menstruation ceased within two months, very occasionally I’ll get a bit of schmutz but it’s seriously not even underwear-ruining.

No anesthetic here, the doc advised an Advil prior to insertion. I’ve had a child, but in retrospect I’d have taken something a bit stronger. Not for the actual insertion, it really wasn’t that horrible, but there was some major cramping afterward for days as my uterus got used to the invader. At first, I had some pretty heavy-duty crampage after sex, as if the orgasming squeezed the uterus around the device and was pissed off at the general pokiness of it. That lessened and finally went away entirely by 6 months out.

FWIW, I have a sister who’s been miserable with her paraguard. She was all about giving her body a break from hormonal BC and has had numerous menstrual issues since. Heavy periods of increased frequency from word go, she had to have an endo ablation eventually, after bleeding for over 2 months straight. Since then, she’s got very light periods and spotting irregularly, but is still sticking with the para. I’m happy with the none of the above option, tyvm.

7

FWIW, I haven’t had children and my Gyn was perfectly willing to give me an IUD. Until he did the exam. He took a look and changed his mind. So it doesn’t necessarily imply some type of a moral judgment if the doctor won’t give a childless woman an IUD. Even if I could find a doctor willing to do the equivalent of parallel parking an SUV in a space designated for a compact, I’m not really willing to go into it knowing the insertion would be on the difficult/painful end of the range. YMMV.

8

I got my Mirena in February 2007 at the same time as my diagnostic laparoscopy, so under GA, and all my (fairly minor) pain was related to the incisions and being pumped full of gas for the scope, not the IUCD itself. After that, I don’t notice it at all on a day to day basis. You know the way you can always tell you have a tampon in, even though they say you shouldn’t? Well, not like that. I mean I really, truly don’t know it is there.

I LOVE it.

I had 9 months without any bleeding or spotting, now I get a 2 day “period” every 3 months or so, and it is so light I just use pantyliners or a mooncup. Unfortunately I still have some pain, nausea and tiredness starting a few days before hand, so I have warning. All of that is related to my endometriosis, not the IUCD, and my life is 1 million times better with it than without it. The pain, tiredness and GI upset are much, much better than they ever were before, and I can now cope without opiate painrelief during my period, which is a first for me.

My mood is more even, my skin is better and I’ve lost weight too since coming off the pill for the IUCD (my boobs unfortunately are only a slightly less full E cup, I was hoping they’d get smaller, but no such luck).

When it works, it works really, really well, and if it doesn’t work, it’s easy to have it taken out (I speak as someone who has both inserted and removed IUCDs for my patients- piece of piss for the person doing the inserting and removing).

Fertility also returns really quickly if that is important to you- I had a patient get pregnant within 3 weeks of removal.

Take 800mg Ibuprofen or your favourite very ouchy painkiller beforehand (whatever you’d use for a really bad toothache), don’t make plans for the rest of that day, and have someone drive you and pick you up.

Give yourself at least 3-6 months before giving up on it- sometimes it takes a while for them to “bed down”.
Good Luck- 90% of women love it.

9

I loved my Paragard IUD, which I got in 2003 and took out in February of this year so my husband and I could TTC our first child. I got pregnant almost immediately upon trying, so it didn’t limit fertility at all. I don’t do well with hormones, so the IUD was a great choice. I tried several different types of BC pills, the Nuvaring, and Depo, and they all sucked. The IUD was completely worry-free.

10

On the patient information leaflet they give you, along with the latest date for removal is a little calander. They suggest you mark on any PMS symptoms, spotting, cramping or bleeding so you can try and see any patterns emerging.

Mirena is the THE lowest dose hormonal contraceptive on the market. Only a progestagen, no oestrogen, all released locally. Very, very few systemic side effects and basically no drug interactions. This is going to be as near to being without hormones as you’re going to get, while still being on hormones!

Seriously I recommend this thing to everyone, it is the bomb and has utterly cahnged my life for the better.

11

I love my Mirena. I had it inserted when my son was 4 months old – so my cervix was still at the tail end of recovering from labor – and I was crampy afterward, but nothing major. It’s been 7 months now, and my periods are erratic but short – usually 1-2 days, and mostly light. I’ll get minor, minor cramps before a bleedy day.

My midwife installed mine, and they do them for nulliparous women, but she said that there’s a greater risk of ejection for women who haven’t had a baby. So it may be more than just “it’ll hurt more.”

I love not having to think about birth control, I haven’t noticed any weight gain (but then, I’m still working on losing baby weight!), and I love that it won’t affect my fertility when we want to have a second child.

As others have mentioned, I would recommend taking a painkiller before you go. It’s not the worst pain you’ve ever experienced, but it is kinda ouchy. I didn’t need to have someone else drive me home – I think the baby might have been in the room with me, even, in his stroller (hey, nothing he hadn’t seen before!), but I don’t remember.

12

I have a Mirena. I’m 26 now, childless, and it’s been in for about three years now. I had one period, a few weeks after it was inserted, and since then nothing. Well, not nothing; a little occasional spotting once or twice a year. Anyway, yes, it hurt like hell going in, and I suspect it will be at least as painful coming out. I figure the two short periods of intense pain are more than worth five years of no cramping or bleeding.

13

I have a Paragard, got it put in a little over a year ago. I have no children (and don’t plan on any).

My periods are extremely hard to predict, which was tough to get used to after 15 years of hormonal birth control. But not having to take anything, put anything in or out, or having a body on hormones has been well worth it.

The pain on insertion was pretty rough for me - worse than the worst cramps I’ve ever had. But by the end of the next day everything was A-OK.

I was lucky that my insurance covered everything, so all I had to pay for was the office copay. Definitely much cheaper than the prescription co-pay every month for the next 5 years.

14

I had the Paraguard for ten years. I really liked not having to worry about BC, but did have a heavier period with the IUD. Last year, when my 10 years was up and I had to have the IUD out, I had an ablation. Overall, I found the IUD an excellent, no trouble, no worries type of BC.

15

Unfortunately, the doctor had mentioned not doing IUDs in nulliparous women before I’d had an exam, so she wasn’t even aware of whether I had a compact, SUV, or clown car uterus beyond the fact that I hadn’t given birth. ::shrugs:: We’ll see what happens in a couple of weeks after this year’s exam, as they seem to at least be a little more open minded here.

Thanks for all the information, everyone. I’ll see what the doctor says when I get all this done and what he/she might recommend for me. I just hope I can get off the pill, as I really just don’t want to have to consciously go “have I taken my pill today?!?” four or five times during the day and wondering whether part of why I’m having trouble losing weight because of the hormones in the pill.

16

nashiitashii, thanks for starting this thread. I’m scheduled to have a Mirena inserted in August. My son was born in May, but through a cesarean. I wonder if that counts as nulliparous in this regard.

I had no idea the insertion was going to hurt that much. Thanks for the heads up.

17

Even though I had some problems that may have been related to my IUD (I’m not at all sure they were and can’t remember accurately what the GYN said - basically my punani was really irritated), I’m considering getting another one.

I had a Paragard, and this time I’d try Mirena, so I could have lighter periods instead of heavier. Other than heavy bleeding the Paraguard was a dream - birth control you don’t have to think about, yay!

But yeah, insertion totally sucked. I’ve had two babies without any drugs, but if I get another IUD, I’m demanding not only ibuprofen but valium, and having my husband there to hold my hand. I think the bad thing is they have to grab the neck of your uterus with an implement and drag it forward. Shudder Pleasantly though, removal is completely painless. I didn’t even know she’d done anything - she had to tell me it was out.

18

Maastricht, I suspect that if you’ve given birth, even through c-section, the pain you felt with that is more than you’ll have getting an IUD inserted. Were you in labor at all? Did your cervix dilate? It’s entirely possible that your cervix has already been more open than it needs to be to get the little guy in there.

19

scout1222, no, no labor at all, and probably no dilation, either. I was two weeks overdue and had a scheduled cesarean. So I guess technically I “haven’t had children”. Ah well, nothing I can do about it either way. I need some birth control and the Mirena is supposed to interfere the least with breastfeeding.

20

It seems like the pain of insertion varies from person to person, but I’ve seen a universal “take at least a little bit of painkillers beforehand” as advice on the other sites that I looked up IUD info on. It may hurt like there’s no tomorrow, or not hurt that much. We’ll see how things go for the both of us.