I’m really quite nervous. Please talk to me about your experiences.
I’ve never had kids, am 41, and will be on my period (as recommended). I have a script for Ativan to take before hand and will take an Aleve as well. My appointment is at 10am in the morning.
I am most nervous about the next couple days after the insertion - I am supposed to go out of town the following day for the weekend - will I still be in a lot of pain over 24 hours later? Can I go back to work the next day also?
Follow your doctor’s instructions for pain relief - IIRC, I pre-dosed with Motrin and used a vaginally-inserted pill intended to “soften” the cervix. I don’t recall the name, sorry.
I was fine enough to walk a few blocks to a nearby restaurant with my husband afterwards, have lunch and a few beers, and then walk a few blocks to do some shopping. I wouldn’t have wanted to run anywhere, but really felt quite fine aside from a mild ache. I did go to work the next day as well.
Forgot - pain of insertion was definitely significant but bearable. Sort of a “grit your teeth and breathe; it’ll be done soon” sort of thing. Sharp, not agonizing, and faded quickly after the insertion was finished.
BTW, other than occasional spotting (every 3-4 months), the Mirena completely shut off my periods, as well as my frequent migraines. Bonus!
The pain varies from person to person. I knew someone who got an IUD, and she was basically bedridden for a couple days after. Me, I was up and walking around 20 minutes later; I even had a difficult insertion.
Insertion did hurt for me – more specifically the sounding did, because the sound is wider than the IUD insertion device (and this was what was getting stuck on the way in – she ended up calling another clinician in to do it). However, it was manageable by deep controlled breathing, plus I’d had a couple of Advil an hour before, but that was it for medications. It doesn’t take long, so just focus on relaxing through it. Once the sounding was over, the insertion was so easy that she was done before I realized she’d started.
First one I had, the sound was intensely painful, and I damn near crawled off the table. But I recovered quickly and walked over a mile back home. No biggie.
The last one I got, the doctor said that the sound was unnecessary, because the insertion device made a beautiful sound in itself. Truthfully, I didn’t even feel the insertion.
The insertion of my first IUD was the most painful thing I’ve ever felt up to that point. The pain was so bad I threw up and then fainted.
The attempted insertion of my second IUD was even worse than the first. My gynecologist had even given me Mifepristone to use the night before to soften my cervix. The cramping from that was so bad I got up twice during the night to throw up. My doctor tried for many minutes to insert the sound, and I finally asked her to give up. I specifically went to her for this because she had a lot of experience with IUD insertion in nulliparous women.
Both experiences, as bad as they were, didn’t have lingering after effects. I was up and operating normally a few hours later. Mild cramping but otherwise fine.
I had really awful cramping for about 12 hours after my first insertion, but I’ve never been pregnant, didn’t have any meds except some ibuprofen before, and wound up working a 10 hour shift at the vet ER about an hour afterwards. And even at that, I was down to normal (though still sucky) period cramps by the next day.
Take it fairly easy Thursday and you should be fine.
It really does just depend on the person. I have never had kids and wasn’t on my period. Insertion felt like a strong cramp, but the cramp was over almost instantly. I took two advil beforehand and did a lot of heavy breathing throughout insertion. I then continued about my day normally. I did have some excessive abdominal bloating the next few days, but it went away eventually and wasn’t painful.
Good luck! I hope it goes well. Getting an IUD was a great decision for me, and hopefully you’ll like it too.
Insertion is a bitch, there’s no two ways around it. I had my first one inserted in the afternoon, and had cramps and hurt all night until bedtime. (After I fell asleep, I didn’t feel it anymore.) However, it was short lived - I think I had light cramps the next day, but nothing ibuprofen couldn’t handle. You’re already ahead of the game with the regimen to follow beforehand - I think you’ll be right. The next day should be no problem, I’m hoping.
My second insertion went more smoothly - I took Advil before and don’t especially remember any cramps after.
I had the Mirena done at the end of November. I wish my doctor would have told me to take some pain meds beforehand. I’ll be honest, it hurt like hell (and I’ve birthed 2 children). It cramped pretty bad for the rest of the day, but began tapering off over the course of a week. Take the NSAIDS before the procedure, and you’ll have to endure a bit of pain. It goes fairly quickly, however.
(FWIW, I’m having it removed tomorrow. I’ve gained 10 lbs since having it inserted, get zits now, dizziness, and horrific irritibility. Unfortunately for me, the bad outweighed the good. I exercise and eat moderately/healthy and instead of losing weight, it keeps adding up. Ask your doctor to review the side effects with you. I wish mine had been more forthcoming about what to expect instead of just telling me “It’ll stop your periods!”… I was disappointed it didn’t work out for me.
My insertion hurt like a motherfucker. That sound was the worst pain I have ever been in. I blacked out for about 15 seconds, but I lied my ass off and swore that I hadn’t so she would keep going. (I have never given birth, nor do I plan to.)
However, not only was I nulliparous (great word) I was also a virgin who had never even used tampons. It took 6 months to convince her to do it, and it would have had to hurt a shit-ton more for me to give up.
Afterwards, I rested for about half-an-hour before I felt confident enough to stand up, and once I was home, I slept all afternoon, took another four ibuprofen, slept all night, and then had excellent wake-up de-virginizing sex the next morning with no pain. It was awesome!
The second one hurt like a bitch too, but nothing compared to that first one, and I would say by that evening, I was back at 90% again.
So - expect it to hurt, but even if it hurts like a stone bitch, don’t expect it to hurt for any length of time.
I don’t want to scare you but I thought it was awful. I passed out on the table, drove myself home afterwards, then took to my bed for the rest of the weekend (insertion Saturday morning). Then I had bleeding/spotting for 6 weeks. I was ready to call the whole thing off and have it removed.
But now it’s been in place for 1.5 years, I only get occasional spotting, my PMS (the reason for getting it in the first place) is practically gone, and I’m no longer anemic. By the time it comes out I should be in menopause.
I’d do it again but I’d insist on meds ahead of time, my doctor didn’t suggest or prescribe anything.
I have a Paraguard that was inserted 5 weeks ago. No kids and no pregnancies.
I wanted strong painkillers but my brother got “addicted” to them (had to slowly wean himself off them after an operation) a few years ago so I went with a huge dose of advil and nothing else.
It was horrible. I drove myself home afterwards and laid in bed for about 9 hours. I took tons advil for about 5 days and the smaller doses for 2 days. Then I was fine, although if I’d get stressed I’d get some lower back pain (like a two on a one to ten scale) but that’s it. I should add that I have a terrifically low pain tolerance.
Totally worth it for the temporary misery, IMO.
ETA I was entirely functional that night with advil and for the rest of the week.
I did not pre-dose with any sort of painkillers, not realizing I’d need them. Insertion really hurt. I had a rough insertion and the doc almost gave up, but I wouldn’t let her. “I’ve made it this far; just try one more time please!” I drove myself back to work and worked the rest of the afternoon – at my cushy sit-down desk job. I’d have rather curled up in a ball on the couch with a bong or something, but that was a preference, not a necessity. I was fine for pretty much all activity EXCEPT sex by the day after. I was not interested in sex for about three weeks. Doggy style took about six weeks to be not uncomfortable. Take something before you go in and take it easy a bit for the rest of that day, but after that, you’ll probably be fine.
Oh, I should add that I’m in a long distance relationship for now and I did not have sex for 2 weeks after insertion. And it was good like usual.
In case you haven’t already gone in yet, do big relaxing breaths during insertion. Some dumb nurse (NOT the usual one there for my exams) kept irritating me during the procedure but if I stopped doing deep relaxing breaths or tensed up, pain went up 25%.
My initial appointment was canceled and I finally went back yesterday. And it was a total failure.
I had taken my 800mg of Advil an hour before and 1mg of Ativan 30 mintues before, but my body didn’t want to cooperate.
I wasn’t on my period and my cervix naturally tilts downward. He attempted the sound (the one he uses is smaller in diameter than the Mirena applicator), but was only able to pass it about 1.5" which isn’t nearly enough. And that attempt was intensely painful (why they don’t put handles on those tables, I’ll never know.
He said we would have to approach this another way:
I need to come back on my period when the cervix is naturally a little more open.
I need to jam some Cytotec up there a couple hours beofre.
Upped the Ativan dosage. I tried to get Valium instead because it works better, but he wants to strengthen the Ativan dose.
Repeat the 800mg of Advil.
Now all I have to do is wait for my period to show up and pray the increased Ativan dosage will actually do something.
I feel like I failed, but the doctor said this could happen given the circumstances.
Sorry to hear that. I’m fortunate in that my gynecologist did know I would have some success with insertion and cervical angle, as I previously had a transvaginal ultrasound with some kind of catheter insertion into the uterus during it. Good on you for giving it another try. My insertion was done on my period, with Motrin and Cytotec (vaginal for the latter) pre-dosing.
I will say, though, that the difference in catheter diameter between the two procedures was obvious, so the one didn’t prepare me for the other in that respect. I had no medication pre-dosing for the ultrasound, and was able to casually chat with the (male) radiologist during it about what kind of imaging equipment we use in ophthalmology (that’s my work department; I had the ultrasound at my workplace and still had my ID badge on). I figured hey, it’s awkward enough to be lying there with what looks like an electric-corded vibrator stuffed into your vagina, might as well make the best of the situation. For the Mirena insertion - yeah, there was gritted teeth and a short period of ‘whoa’-level pain.
I tried to convince him to keep going as “I wasn’t at my breaking point.” He replied that he would “get me there” and that wasn’t going to be fun for anyone.
Hopefully with the period + Cytotec it’ll be enough to just get it done. I’m tired of not having sex with my boyfriend. :mad:
It should be better when you’re on your period. I think it really does make a difference.