I’m pretty sure mine is trying to make its way out and it is freaking me the hell out!
Here’s what I got… Started out Saturday as some lower belly pain/burning with urination/increased frequency in urination/bloating. By Monday afternoon the pain got really weird. When I would sit down it felt like I was being stabbed from the inside by something really sharp. :eek:
Still thinking it might be a run of the mill bladder infection I went right in to my general doc Monday for a urine test. It showed lots of white blood cells but was missing something else that would indicate a typical bacterial infection. The culture turned up negative as well. Doc is stumped but gave me some antibiotics back on Monday - said to finish these up and return for a follow-up urine test if not better after the weekend is up.
By Friday afternoon the symptoms got worse plus the strings on my IUD seem a bit longer so I called my ob/gyn. She was more than a bit worried. Booked me for an ultrasound and full check-up for Monday with orders to go right to the ER if things got worse over the weekend.
So here I sit with yet another medical mystery at hand. The last one was for Rainbow Colored Breastmilk a few years back that turned out to be nothing. Yeah, I still don’t quite get THAT one…
Any ideas all? I’m thinking that my body no longer wants this IUD which would suck in a big way for my birth control options. But it still doesn’t quite explain the other symptoms well.
Everything I’ve read online about expelling IUDs involves the IUD just slipping out without any big fanfare or having it migrate up into the abdomen :eek: and requiring surgery to remove it. Neither of these scenarios seem to fit my symptoms at all.
I’m not a doctor, of course, but my first guess is that the IUD may have slipped and dug into or scratched your uterine wall, and that’s caused a small localized infection. Nothing terrible, and removing the IUD and making sure you’re on the right kind of antibiotics will take care of it. They may be able to put in a new IUD once your body has cleared the infection.
If you haven’t got a fever now, but you develop a fever (temp over 101.2 F) before you see the doc, get to the ER, though. That would be a good indication that the infection has gone systemic, and you’ll probably need IV antibiotics if that happens.
Yeah, mine didn’t necessarily give warning. I do seem to recall it was right around that day that I was just sitting around and suddenly got this nasty, severe wave of nausea out of nowhere, which passed after 5 minutes or so. Perhaps that was the IUD going through my cervix or something? Or it could have been totally unrelated. Definitely no pain and stuff like you’re describing.
I would definitely run this down with the doc. If they can’t figure out what is causing your pain, they’ll probably want to take it out anyway, just to see. Which blows from the standpoint of needing to reinsert or use another bc method, but is better than your current state!
The ultrasound showed that my IUD was located all the way at the top of my uterus instead of floating freely somewhere in the middle. Not good.
The tech could also only see about 2/3 of IUD. BIG NOT GOOD.
The gyno thinks that the IUD has imbedded itself into the top of my uterus and need to be surgically removed. It’ll be done next Wednesday in an outpatient procedure.
Between now and then I’m a nervous wreck though as I’m now susceptible to having the darn thing perforate and go all the way through my uterus. :eek!: They tried getting me in sooner but the surgery schedule is booked.
Yikes! I’m glad you got it checked out, too! How’s the pain today? Remember, if it hurts, it’s easier to keep pain away than to get rid of it, so take whatever the doctor recommended religiously, even if the pain goes away.
I had one that decided to go floating out a fallopian tube. It required my first abdominal surgery, which was done the same day, and left a huge horizontal scar all across my lower abdomen. Hope your experience is better.
Are you sure it’s OK to take ibuprofen if you have imminent surgery?
I hope everything goes well, too! That is pretty scary. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to have something jab you from the inside.
I am scheduled to get an IUD later this month and am now scared out of my mind. I heard nothing but good stories until I actually bought the thing, and now I feel like everyone I know started having serious problems with their’s!
Mine is pretty well stuck right now so I doubt it’s going to wander off. But thanks for the well wished on the surgery.
In fact the IUD it’s so stuck that I think it hasn’t been 100% effective for about 6 months now based on my symptoms. A bunch of the wonderful “side-effects” of the IUD - lighter periods, few to no PMS symptoms, etc have been gradually tapering off. I didn’t associate it with a probable tapering off of the hormones and ratcheting up of the pain until last night.
I called my doctor just now to check about the ibuprofen. Waiting for a call back. It’s about the only thing that provides much relief right now so I’m hoping to take it as long as I can.
Thanks!
It sucks to put it mildly. But I appear to be the 1 in 1000 to have this sort of a complication. Prior to this I absolutely loved my IUD. But it does come with lots of risks (embedding in or perforation of the uterus, and a higher risk of ectopic pregnancies are among the more nasty ones).
For me choosing an IUD came only after trying just about everything else out there - pills, the patch, nuva ring, and the depo shot - and not liking them. Either they didn’t react well (the patch and the shot), I couldn’t remember to take them (the pill), or I got pregnant while on it (the nuva ring). An IUD seemed like a true God-send. Little did I know…
I am less than 24 hours away from surgery now. It’s scheduled to tomorrow morning at 8am.
The pain is pretty near constant at this point so I will be so glad when this is all over.
On top of all of the belly issues now I have a cold. It started on Saturday so it’s right at its peak now. I left a message with my doctor’s office to make sure this won’t complicate the surgery. I really hope it still goes through.
Anyone ever have to reschedule surgery due to a cold? I’ve googled the issue quite a bit and the responses seem pretty split. Might depend on the type of anesthesia used and type of surgery.
Typo Knig had a cold when he was scheduled for a combined vasectomy / spermatocelectomy. Some brief discussion and they decided it wasn’t a big deal. I think they may have avoided full-on intubation for him either because of the cold, or because it wasn’t necessary given his time under anesthesia. They did give him something that pretty much wiped out all the cold symptoms for 24 hours - wish I knew what that was, LOL!
Anyway, in your case they’ll weigh the risks vs the benefits; if you have other conditions such as respiratory issues (e.g. asthma, COPD) they might decide the risk is great enough to require postponing; if not, they might decide that the benefit (getting rid of PAIN) outweighs the concerns.
All went well this morning. Everyone at the surgery center was amazing - very kind, knowledgeable, and professional. They even numbed my hand up before inserting the IV - very nice!
Turns out the IUD was only pressed up against my uterus and not embedded after all. It slid right out after my uterus was dilated.
I’m more groggy from the anesthesia now than anything. My belly hurts pretty bad but it’s not a ton worse than before the surgery. I’m guessing that has a lot to do with my cervix closing itself back up.
So all in all it was a great experience. I’m free of the IUD and hopefully in time I will also be free of this horrible pain that has been plaguing me for the last 6 months or so.
