[Becky314159]

Hi! I am 20 years old, never been pregnant. I've had Mirena for a little over a year and I hate it. My cramps have been horrible, I bleed constantly, and I am just ready to get it out of my body. However, my gynecologist was apprehensive about just taking it out without me having another birth control plan because I am sexually active. So, he prescribed me with Nuvaring and told me I could try it for a few months before I get the Mirena out. To me that sounds like too many hormones, but he said that it wouldn't be an issue. I would get a second professional opinion but there are very few plausible medical options near me. So I'm just wondering, has anyone else been in a similar situation? What do you ladies think? Any help or advice at all would be greatly appreciated!

[kira]

That is weird. No doctor I know would do that. They are concerned if you just take the higher dose pills/methods and start you with the lowest dose pills they can to see if you react well to them. I'm also not sure stacking a nuvaring on a mirena iud is going to give you accurate results of what will happen without the mirena. There's no reason you can't start nuvaring the day they remove the iud and still be completely covered. If the nuvaring doesn't work out it's not going to get you pregnant. It will just give you side effects so you can switch to another method. My horrible mirena experience led to starting lybrel the day it came out which was even worse than mirena in some ways. I spent months bleeding, uncomfortable, and gaining weight. Went back on yasmin for awhile and then proposed seasonique to my doctor. I was never at risk for pregnancy even if there were side effects that made me quit each method.

[Becky314159]

Kira, I thought it was strange as well. The reason he wanted to start me on the Nuvaring before taking out the Mirena is because he thought that I might change my mind..I guess because of insurance it would be pricey to get it put back after I get it out. HOWEVER, I still have a weird feeling about doing both at the same time and I'm a little suspicious of this doctor now. He brushed me off completely when I tried to tell him the side effects I experienced from Mirena and he seems a little too biased towards it. He convinced me to get it put in last year and it was a total mistake. He spent 5 minutes at the appointment today lecturing me about how superior Mirena is to any other birth control. So maybe he has some sort of ulterior motives? However this gynecologist is very respected and has hundreds of patients. Should I just trust his advice?

[kira]

Doctors tend to fall in love with certain meds from studies they've read and things the drug reps have told them and they shove them off on everyone equally without taking first hand accounts or individual people in to the equation. Such doctors and I tend to clash because if there is an exception to the rule I'm probably it. My mirena went horribly and eventually my body shoved it in to my cervix where it got stuck. They had an ultrasound saying it was positioned perfectly and telling me the pain was normal and then telling me that IUDs don't get stuck and go in and out. Then they found mine in my cervix on exam. I have even more trouble with my sleep meds. According to the studies and drug companies the normal sleep meds should knock anyone out for those that don't a normal dose of one of the other types of meds, whatever is the doctor's favorite, should knock someone out. I'm on the max dose of seroquel, trazodone, amitryptiline, gabapentin, lorazepam and starting lamictal while I sit here wide awake typing at 90wpm. Doctors sometimes question how I'm upright and talking to them after they hear my meds.

I just have to doctor shop. I don't care if they have a great review or big practice. That may mean they are even less likely to care about individual results. I'd rather go to the small hospital than the big university hospital and I'd rather go to my local clinic unrelated to any big group. There are also certain doctors at my local clinic that I do or do not want to see. Just because something should work according to studies does not mean it does work on everyone.

[Becky314159]

I feel like I'm the same way-the thing that doctors say "never happens to patients" ends up happening to me. Granted, my Mirena story doesn't sound as bad as yours was! Honestly, I just feel very uncomfortable about the whole situation and I think I'll probably call back and ask that he just take out my Mirena-when I can get another appointment in 3 months.

[kira]

A regular doctor can remove it. You just pull gently at the right direction. There are occasionally complications but they would then discuss the options and if they need to send you somewhere for that. The IUD can get pressed against the uterine wall and when the uterus applies it's layers of tissue it can cover the IUD so it doesn't remove easy. Not all of the tissue layers always comes out during your period. Granted my regular doctor office then charged my insurance a $300 "surgery" cost. At least insurance 100% covered it. That office was highly annoying. I was going to have my regular doctor put in the IUD but mixups happened for months with the various people in the office not communicating until finally they called me in to the main office to yell at me over stuff I had updated like phone that they hadn't recorded. Also that I kept making appointments when my insurance wouldn't pay for it and no one told me. Entirely not my fault. Great doctor, horrible office staff. They managed to get me in to a free IUD program that had just ended by planned parenthood. When it all went south I just went to my usual doctor to remove it cause the planned parenthood people were very unhelpful.