4 years with Mirena

I decided to make a blog about life with my Mirena IUD, and make updates after my removal. There are a few blogs out there already, but the more experiences that are accounted for the better!

After having chronic migraines, which started producing auras, the doctor decided to take me off of birth control pills (people who have auras are at a higher risk for blood clots, which means birth control pills were out of the question). I couldn't have the patch or the ring, as it was the same hormones involved as the pill. My choices were the depo shot or the IUD. I had heard enough horror stories about the shot so I decided the IUD would be perfect. It was highly recommended by the doctor, only progesterone and it wouldn't go through my body! This was in Feb of 2008.

 I really loved the IUD, I didn't have any issues with it (other than having to get the strings cut after a couple of weeks when it settled) and I was very happy to have a 1 day very light period. The cramps were always quite intense, but it was a small price to pay for the convenience of it. In April of 2008 I noticed rather suddenly that the vision in my right eye was blurry. I went to the optometrist, and sure enough I was near sighted in my right eye (-.75, not a lot but enough to need glasses). I figured it must have been from working at a desk job, even though I had been doing that for a few years already.

Over the summer I started gaining weight. I moved to a new city with a new job in the fall, and more weight came on. I figured it was just from the stress of it all. By Christmas I was up 30 pounds. I started dieting and working out, to no avail. In fact I gained another 10 pounds. I've yet to get that to budge, despite having a personal trainer for a time, spending months in the gym, doing P90X, various diets... the weight just won't budge. And the BOOBS. OMG! I was always rather chesty but I went from a large C to a freaking double G. Goodbye pretty bras!

Acne. Ugh. I always had acne as a teen, but not like this. Big cystic acne that wouldn't go away. My skin is now covered in deep scars.

 I had experienced lower back pain for quite awhile, my back was just very tender and felt bruised all the time. Early 2011 (3 years after Mirena) I started getting sciatic nerve pain all the time, I couldn't sit for more than 10 minutes without a shooting pain down my leg. I started going to the chiropractor 3 days a week for 3 months, which did help a bit and the sciata isn't as frequent, but the bruised feeling never went away. I never attributed this to being a side effect of the Mirena until reading how many others have had the same issues.

Summer of 2011 I experienced headaches every single day for 8 weeks straight. I thought it was food related, so I experimented with that for awhile. Gluten seemed to have an effect, but after cutting it out and still having headaches I realized that couldn't have been the culprit. These weren't just normal headaches, intense cluster headaches that radiated pain behind my eye and left me with a throbbing tightness all day and worsened at night. I would wake up in the middle of the night in the worst pain imaginable.

One night I experienced a strange feeling in my hand, it felt like it was burning, and anything I touched made it worse. Yet my hand was cool to the touch. It lasted for about an hour. I started googling and that's when I came across strange Mirena symptoms women were having, and that's when the pieces started to fall together and everything made sense.

A list of the symptoms I have had with my Mirena:

• headaches
• acne
• weight gain
• blurry vision
• back pain
• sciatia
• burning sensation in hands
• nausea 
• bloated (I always look pregnant)
• muscle twitching and spasms
• lowered sex drive
• forgetfullness 
• speech problems (slurring, stuttering, forgetting words)
• mood swings

I never had any of these issues before Mirena. I am healthy person and have passed a physical with flying colors, yet I have so many unexplained issues. 

I have decided to have my Mirena IUD removed after 4 years. It comes out tomorrow morning. I'll be using this blog to keep track of the process and hopefully some of these strange symptoms start to disappear!