[anIUDresponder]

Hello All:

I wanted to chime in here too. I've been lurking on this page for a while and I finally went in and had mine inserted today. A little background: I'm in my early 30's, I have two kids, and have never done very well on hormonal birth control. Reading this thread made me scared to death, so much so that they gave me a prescription of Valium to relax. I took the prescription and some Tylenol and made my way to the appointment. It took the doctor about three minutes from start to finish. I felt a slight pinch and some moving around in my uterus. That was it. He was done. He has me lay on my side, in the fetal position until my head stopped spilling, I got dressed and left. I took the whole day off for this, deciding to give my body a break. I'm laying in bed as I write this and am having the occasional uterine spasm, but nothing painful. I'll monitor things through out the next several weeks and will check back in if anyone is interested.

[kschuffert]

Hey guys, I am finally getting my paraguard iud inserted today. I'm 23 and have never had kids. I have been in touch back and forth with my gyno since march to see if they had them and they were having issues with the distributor but finally got one in. I had the mirena last september and ended up getting it taken out because it made me super tired, gave me horrible acne, and hot flashes which i am still dealing with now. I can't take regular BC pills because I have the protein-C defeciency that causes blood clots and had 3 blood clots in my lower right leg in june of 2010 so my hematologist said absolutely no synthetic hormones. I am extremely nervous about the insertion and how it will react to my body because I had such a bad experience with the mirena. Say a prayer that this one goes smoothly! I will try and remember to update on here about how it went.

[Dreya40]

Hello Mariana,

I had Mirena inserted last December and after it was inserted, I bled for almost 3 weeks straight, but then it stopped. I was sore after the insersion, but used a heating pad and that helped immensly. Despite the cramps, occasional headaches, and mood swings, I really like the fact that I do not have a period. Every now and then I will spot, but very little. I would give it a little more time for your period to stop. I was told by the Dr. who put mine in to give it a good 3 months to adjust. It's weird, after I had Mirena put in, I was in a really good mood, but now I have bad mood swings that come and go. Every now and then I get nautious. I know having it inserted hurt like heck. I hope this helps. Keep in touch. Let me know how you are doing with Mirena. Take care.

[kschuffert]

Hey guys, I got my paraguard copper IUD inserted on june 2nd. The insertion was painful which I had expected it to be but I took an 800 mg Ibeprofen the morning of and another an hour before my appointment. I've never had kids and since I knew what to expect from having the mirena previously I made sure I kept breathing and didn't tense up. After it was inserted I had a little cramping but nothing like I went through with my mirena. I came home and put a heating pad on until I had to leave to go to class because I go to a night college. I was fine sitting through class from 5:30 pm to 7 pm. The next day I was cramping a little but it was nothing the Ibeprofen and heating pad couldn't help. I bleed for about a week but now I am fine. I was super nervous about getting the paragaurd since I had seen so many bad responses and good ones plus the horrible experience I had with mirena, I didn't know if I was making the right decision but now I know I did although me and my long time boyfriend are now broken up (which was one of the factors about me getting it done). Hope this helps anyone trying to decide to get it.

[kschuffert]

Hey everyone, I need help/advice. I was trying to check for the strings of my Paragard iud and couldn't find them. I don't really know exactly what I'm supposed to be looking/feeling for so I began to panic. Although I'm not having any problems with mine. I'm just worried about finding the strings and if I can really feel them. Thanks!

[smiligirl]

I have had a copper IUD for about six months and couldn't be happier. After years of having my sex drive stifled from birth control it was a welcome change, for both me and my partner. I would highly recommend this for anyone wanting to try something natural.

It did hurt going in, very, very uncomfortable but only for about 5 minutes. I also had it done at a womens clinic so they had some one to hold my hand. I had cramps all day and sporadically for about a month, nothing major, and nothing a couple advil couldn't fix at the worst of times. Now I seem to be back to normal, slightly heavier periods, but no longer, still five days. Oh and I am a 25 yr old who's never been pregnant, and never had an abortion.

Also from what I've read a lot of people seem to comment that they get acne, and really bad cramps with an IUD. I think a lot of people switch directly from the pill to IUD and because the hormones in the pill clear your skin and make for lighter periods that might be a reason for the drastic change in the balance of your body. I stopped taking the pill 3 months before I got my IUD (long distance relationship) and noticed immediately a few more pimples and a longer period (but also a higher sex drive)
Anyway hope this helps.

[lisa74]

I had my Merena coil put in 25th sept 2012, took three attempts and two coils as the strings kept getting caught in the tube that they use to place it up there, not really that painful. I had been swabbed and checked for any infections prior to placing the coil.
I bled for 22 days straight, not just spotting, I mean really bled. The day it stopped I thought halleluja, by the following night I had a fever, terrible cramps and this god awful discharge. Went to Doctors and I had contracted BV, have never had it before in my life, prescribed Metronidazole oral tabs, after only taking three tablets whilst I was in work, I felt really strange and realised I couldn't feel my hands. Everything was tingling and it was like electric shocks running through my fingers and up my arms. Phoned GP, had a serious side effect to the Anti-biotic, they then prescribed a different one and I thought things would be fine. I then developed thrush, not just vaginally but orally as well. Prescribed Canasten for down below and Daktarin gel for the mouth, it took 5 daktarin tubes and only when they prescribed Nystatin did it clear up , that took a month. Anyway the bleedng only stopped for 9 days then I came on again, heavier than before. By this point I was run down, exhausted, Anaemic and feeling low. I am a happy bouncy person but all of a sudden I was crying at the smallest thing or wanting to kill someone, the mood swings were awful. I have been evil towards my family. Anyway I stopped bleeding on Thursday last week and by the Friday the BV was back with a vengeance, prescribed the metro gel as I can't take it orally and it's pretty gross. I booked an appointment for Monday to have the coil out. I was told I would need a consultation first before THEY decide if it going to come out. I told them either you take it out or I will. Came home from work last night and by this point I was doubled over in pain from the contractions in my womb. The discharge was disgusting and I felt sick from the smell. I sat on the toilet had a rummage around and found the strings and gently pulled, came out easily. What worried me was the coil and the strings were completely covered in a green and yellow fungus looking gunk and my cervix which seemed to be dilated was so swollen it was practically prolapsed. I feel so much more positive today already and the cramps have almost gone. I will still have to deal with the BV and infections but I am pretty certain that thing was festering inside me and I would have been very sick if I had left it in any longer. I am in a new relationship and I haven't been able to have sex since September and when I wasn't bleeding I had an infection, so great birth control. Also my hair was greasy, my skin like an oil slick and the spots OMG they developed in places I have never ever had a spot and I have a good complexion normally. It didn't work for me but I have many friends who swear by it.
Not sure what to try next as I have exhausted all other BC and suffer from irregular heavy periods so think a Hysterectomy is on the cards for me.

[1800LAWFIRM]

I had my Merena coil put in 25th sept 2012, took three attempts and two coils as the strings kept getting caught in the tube that they use to place it up there, not really that painful. I had been swabbed and checked for any infections prior to placing the coil.
I bled for 22 days straight, not just spotting, I mean really bled. The day it stopped I thought halleluja, by the following night I had a fever, terrible cramps and this god awful discharge. Went to Doctors and I had contracted BV, have never had it before in my life, prescribed Metronidazole oral tabs, after only taking three tablets whilst I was in work, I felt really strange and realised I couldn't feel my hands. Everything was tingling and it was like electric shocks running through my fingers and up my arms. Phoned GP, had a serious side effect to the Anti-biotic, they then prescribed a different one and I thought things would be fine. I then developed thrush, not just vaginally but orally as well. Prescribed Canasten for down below and Daktarin gel for the mouth, it took 5 daktarin tubes and only when they prescribed Nystatin did it clear up , that took a month. Anyway the bleedng only stopped for 9 days then I came on again, heavier than before. By this point I was run down, exhausted, Anaemic and feeling low. I am a happy bouncy person but all of a sudden I was crying at the smallest thing or wanting to kill someone, the mood swings were awful. I have been evil towards my family. Anyway I stopped bleeding on Thursday last week and by the Friday the BV was back with a vengeance, prescribed the metro gel as I can't take it orally and it's pretty gross. I booked an appointment for Monday to have the coil out. I was told I would need a consultation first before THEY decide if it going to come out. I told them either you take it out or I will. Came home from work last night and by this point I was doubled over in pain from the contractions in my womb. The discharge was disgusting and I felt sick from the smell. I sat on the toilet had a rummage around and found the strings and gently pulled, came out easily. What worried me was the coil and the strings were completely covered in a green and yellow fungus looking gunk and my cervix which seemed to be dilated was so swollen it was practically prolapsed. I feel so much more positive today already and the cramps have almost gone. I will still have to deal with the BV and infections but I am pretty certain that thing was festering inside me and I would have been very sick if I had left it in any longer. I am in a new relationship and I haven't been able to have sex since September and when I wasn't bleeding I had an infection, so great birth control. Also my hair was greasy, my skin like an oil slick and the spots OMG they developed in places I have never ever had a spot and I have a good complexion normally. It didn't work for me but I have many friends who swear by it.
Not sure what to try next as I have exhausted all other BC and suffer from irregular heavy periods so think a Hysterectomy is on the cards for me.

Lisa - that sounds like an absolutely horrible thing to go through! We hope you're feeling better now.

Although we can't recommend a new form of BC to you, we advise you NOT to consider Yaz, Nuva Ring, or Ortho Evra Patch because they, like Mirena, have been linked to serious side effects and there have been many lawsuits filed against them.

We wish you the best of luck!