[edingirl]

Hi, I recently tried the IUS, or Mirena coil and it was terrible, all sex was painful and worse than that even after masturbation I had really bad cramps the next day and I put on loads of weight, had at least 14 day periods and the water retention was terrible. In the end I just stopped any sexual activity, it was like aversion therapy. I had it removed recently (and painlessly) after 8 months, and my periods have been ridiculously heavy ever since, but I'm just glad it's out. However a friend at work has had one for years and she hasn't had a period and it's great. So I suppose it works differently for different people...

[maddy29]

oh freckleface, i just read your letter to your mr. i really feel bad for you YOu should NOT have to be going through all of this misery with hormones and pills and stuff that makes you hurt!

it is SO fucking frustrating that women still completely carry the burden of birth control. i mean, condoms are one thing, but you have to use another method besides condoms anyways! so really, it's up to us.

it is so annoying that my boyfriend doesn't have to deal with it or worry about it. i understand why he doesn't want to get snipped-but why is it all or nothing for men? we have a bunch of different kinds of B.C., but why don't men?

my iud is feeling a lot better, i'm back to sorta regular periods and i feel ok about it. every now and then i want to just rip it out of me, cause it's just this foreign object in there and sometimes it really freaks me out that it's there.

(btw, treehugger did have a tubal and recovered really well, i think-might want to ask her about it-i mean, i know it's surgery, but once it's done, it's done)

[freckleface2727]

I spoke to a woman yesterday who also had the copper t and just had it removed, due to similar problems we've been discussing along w/ possible endimertiosis issues too.

anyway!

her insertion was totally painful like mine was, and she too expected to have to have it surgerically removed, but nope!
she said they put her legs in the stirrups like for an exam, the lady got the strings and pulled it right out w/ no trouble, easy as that. didn't feel it. said a pap smear hurt worse (which they did while she was there anyway).

this is encouraging news for me.

I'm somewhere wavering in the middle of yes & no as to it's removal. ( see rant in a letter to my mr late last week in the Letters thread.) part of my fear was how much it might hurt based on the insertion.
minus that I still don't have a Plan B alternative I'd totally have it taken out now.

were I given the chance to do it over again? I wouldn't have done it

[maddy29]

I posted a while back that my boyfriend had two holes poked into his penis from my iud strings. Whoops. It doesn't hurt me at all, but we found that position doesn't really work anymore, sadly. But hey, at least I don't have a kid.

I'm not sure why it would be hurting you though, I'd definitely go get it checked out. That seems weird that a tampon would hurt. I don't know anything really about the copper iud. I wonder if there are any discussion/message boards about it? I found a bunch on the IUD when I was trying to decide.

[FiveAlive]

I've had my Copper IUD for 3 years now. My periods are heavy, and crampy, but no different than before my IUD. I've been ignoring my one side effect for years though, since I've been so happy to be BC hormone-free. My cervix has been sensitive since having it put in. Sometimes it's too painful to have sex in certain positions, and when I put in tampons I sometimes feel a little pain if it's deep. This, plus pokey strings freak my husband out, so I finally realized maybe I should go have my IUD checked again.

I can't find anything on the internet about pain during sex except relating to men or infections. Does anyone else experience this?

[maddy29]

i think i'm finally over the spotting. knock on wood. but, it seems like things have normalized in just the last few weeks. i haven't bled since i actually had a period, so that's good. i'm really hoping it'll continue to get better.

[freckleface2727]

my sister has two kids, and she got her mirena and didn't have another period after that-seems like maybe for some reason it works better when you've already had kids? or maybe it's just random.


i think it's a good idea to wait until after your test, because there is some weird new random cramping that i've had, and wouldn't want to have to perform in the first month or so.

i'm really frustrated, because i've been bleeding so much. the whole point was so i can have sex, but i'm all bloody all the time and don't enjoy sex when i'm bleeding. grrrrrrrrrr
[/quote]

maddy, word.

altho, I've had a kid and the insertion hurt like bloody (ha) hell anyway.
then again it was 11 years after her birth, so maybe that it's better if it's more recent?

and yah, I got mine in what, Oct was it, or was it Aug or sept of last year? and I've more or less resigned myself now to the freakish misery of it; longer periods w/ little rhyme or reason to cramping etc etc, altho there does seem to be a decrease in pyschotic pms- always a good thing!

I pissed the mr off when I told him I'm ready to embrace menopause, bc I'm frickin' sick of dealing w/ all this and want to be done w/ it once & for all. I've fought & struggled w/ bc for the last 17 years of my life, at times getting really, scarily (depo) sick from side affects. it really shouldn't be this hard.
I'm only 35.
it made him very sad I think to hear me say I'd rather give up my fertility. and with it his too, than fight it anymore. ( & no, getting him fixed isn't a -le sigh- option either, but that's a whole other topic in and of itself.)

I never went back to the dr for a follow up.
damn. either way I'm about due.

we just changed med clinics and I'm a little stressed now, bc I have no idea who my new pcm is, if they even have a seperate gyno there, what hoops I have to jump thru or who's ass I have to kiss to get an appt there.

damn.



zahia- are you military? I ask bc you mention PT Test.
my mr is a soldier. I'm w/ maddy on the waiting til it's over, just to be safe.

[maddy29]

i'm still having random periods and spotting on my mirena. i'm fuckign sick of it, it's been 4 months. it better chill out.

my sister has two kids, and she got her mirena and didn't have another period after that-seems like maybe for some reason it works better when you've already had kids? or maybe it's just random.

i have to go to the dr. to get my strings cut or something.

i think it's a good idea to wait until after your test, because there is some weird new random cramping that i've had, and wouldn't want to have to perform in the first month or so.

i'm really frustrated, because i've been bleeding so much. the whole point was so i can have sex, but i'm all bloody all the time and don't enjoy sex when i'm bleeding. grrrrrrrrrr

[gilabat]

I got the paraguard today and the insertion didn't hurt at all! I was expecting it to be really painful. I did just have a baby on July 6th, so the pain may be more of an issue with women who haven't given birth.

[zahia1996]

Thanks Maddy!
It really sounds like the first few months can be pretty rough, but I think I'm gonna give it a try. The only worry I have is that I have a PT test (swimming, sit-ups, push-ups) coming in the beginning of October, and my promotion hinges on it, so I've gotta be able to perform well. I think I might wait until after that. I'm afraid the heavy bleeding/cramping will mess with my swimming routine. But after October, I will be able to take a couple days off here and there if I need to. I'm not gonna see Mr Z until January or February, so I won't know for a while whether or not the strings affect him. I'm thinking about Mirena, just because of the whole cramping issue, but then there's the poky strings to deal with. Argh!!
Thanks so much to all of you for posting, FINALLY i get to hear what real women say about it, not just some promotional advertising website, or my mother, who is basically convinced that if I get an IUD my uterus will fall out into the toilet or something

[dayglowpink]

Wellll, I have been bleeding for over a week now, and it's not too fun. It started out with what seemed like a pretty light period, and I was all excited, because I thought maybe the iud was somehow making my period *lighter* for some reason. Ha ha. On Thursday it got super heavy, and it's been that way ever since. I've had mild cramps off and on throughout which really haven't been bad at all, however I used to only get cramps on the first day of my period, so it is a little more than usual. I hope things even out over the next few months, because it is definitely not going to be fun to have my period for half the month. That almost cancels out the benefits of the iud in the first place. Although I do kinda like fucking while I am bleeding. But as more of an occasional thing rather than daily!

[maddy29]

bump for zahia

[maddy29]

thanks-yep i have the mirena. my sister has it too and never mentioned this. you're right, i don't know if cutting the strings will help or hurt. tha'ts like, a pretty major downfall, i'd say. blah. i hate stupid birth control.

[dayglowpink]

I talked to the nurse practitioner who inserted mine about whether it was likely to bother the guy since I had read about that here. She said that in her experience, the Mirena tends to cause more problems, because the strings are stiffer. I don't know which one you have, but that might be the issue. For the Paraguard, the strings are softer and she said she likes to leave them longer so they kind of curl up. The first time I had sex with mine in, the guy didn't notice it at all. I have been having sex with him for a while, and he is pretty big, too, so it seems to be working out. Unfortunately, it kind of seems like getting the strings cut shorter could cause it to be even worse, because they might be more prickly. I guess get it checked out and see what they say!

[maddy29]

i feel so bad-my boyfriend's penis has two small hole-like things on the top of it. it's from my iud strings. i guess when he pounds me hard, it stings and hurts. crap:( i mean they looked painful-like something had just been poking it and poking it.

i'm going to the dr. since i haven't been since insertion (whoops, my bad-my dr. left and i'm scared to go to a new one). i hope they can trim the strings or something, otherwise he's going to have crazy looking scars.

does anyone know?

[maddy29]

Gargh- still spotting a bit from that last period that started, oh, July 6th. Nice 11 day period. I mean, it's totally light except for 2 days, so it's not so bad. But I have to basically wear a pantiliner every day, just in case. I don't like that, and I hope that changes. It's now been 3 months. I'm praying that this month goes better and I stop fucking bleeding already!

[dayglowpink]

I just got the Paraguard on Tuesday. The insertion wasn't too bad, but I have a pretty high pain tolerance. The worst part for me was when she clamped my cervix with some thing, I forget what it was called. I felt a bunch of cramping right then, but it didn't get any worse when she actually inserted the thing. My 'gina was all weird and dry and sore feeling that day which I think was due to the Betadine, and now I am having some brownish spotting, but other than that it's doing pretty well. I am anxiously awaiting my next period to see if the cramps and bleeding are horrible. I hope not!

[ramsay]

I wish that I'd known about this thread before I got my IUD.

I got the copper T in January. I think that I've had good luck, apart from the killer cramps and intense bleeding during my period. I only spotted a few different times during the first month. But, does the heavy bleeding and cramping ever go away?

[maddy29]

this has kinda become my log for my iud. i started bleeding again yesterday after a glorious maybe, 10 days, of not bleeding. it's weird how much more i appreciate NOT bleeding now.

anyways i checked back to see when i last complained about bleeding and it was june 14th. so i'm thinking it IS getting further apart. It'll be 3 months next week that I've had mine, so hopefully after this it'll be smoother sailing.

i'm still having small cramping more regularly. i can feel the thing going through my cervix and sometimes it makes me kinda freak out, like i just want it out! but then i think at least i'm not worried about getting pregnant.

i dunno, i guess i didn't think i'd be able to really feel it, which is dumb i guess, cause it's a piece of plastic in my body-why wouldn't i be able to feel it....

[suczka]

redding -

After I had my copper IUD inserted, I expected to go through hell. But I didn't. I had a few crampy periods and I still have heavier flow than pre-IUD. However, it's still within the range of "normal," and I just make sure I have lots of extra giant tampons for the first couple days of each period now.

obelix is right about the spotting before and after menses. But I was thinking this week, while I began to spot, "Oh! I better get the extra giant tampons ready." And somehow it seemed like a convenient warning.

And the strings - I got them trimmed because my guy partner could feel them. Now they hide most of the time and if they get moved around I can move them back pretty well (depending on how high my cervix is and how I'm sitting ).

BUT! Truth be told, the cramping in the first month or two was pretty sucky sometimes.

And, though I didn't have any real expulsion, I did worry, and I even had a dream it came out in the shower and I was going to get pregnant. Yikes!