Well, you convinced me.

SallySunrise

I thought I was mirena's poster child! No periods, no cramps, painless insertion, no weird side effects.... that I realized. Turns out, a lot of the crap I've been experiencing very well may be from this tiny little thing inside me! I would never have realized it if so many of you hadn't posted about your experiences. I finally decided I should read the list, and sure enough, I'm experiencing a third of the symptoms supposedly only experienced by 5-10% of people. Eight out of 24! That's a lot, right?! Do y'all agree I should have it removed? Some of the thing I'm experiencing are acne, hair loss, bloating, abdominal (gas-like) pain, nervousness... And follow up question: what should I do for be instead?? The pill kills my sex drive. What other options would you recommend? TIA! And thanks so much to all of you for sharing your symptoms, prompting me to investigate mine!

SallySunrise

Idk where my paragraphs went, sorry! TB has been weird on my iPad lately.

meagan.pilkington

Have you thought about the paragard IUD? It has no hormones. The only thing that sucks for me is that is makes my periods last longer (used to be 4 days, now 7 or 8) although I hope it will even out since i've only had 2 pp periods so far. Also the cramps are more painful but only one day was really bad for me.

Boing214

I also have the paragard IUD and it's working great. Yes, heavier periods, but it sounds like a lot less than what several of the Mirena ladies are dealing with. I also don't really get much in the way of cramps, and they were terrible prior to having LO. Good luck with figuring out what's best for you!

SallySunrise

LOL @emilypc! It does sound like that, though not on purpose! Didn't mean to fool ya. Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I'll talk to my doc and see what she says about para guard. One of the pregnancies we lost was a condom fail, so I'm not comfortable using only condoms.

SallySunrise

@MissMusic I've heard of the depo shot, but I don't think I know a single person who has actually used it! Anyone here?? I'd like to know that at least one person was happy with it before I consider it for myself, kwim?

gonggirl_98

I did Depo for 3 years and loved it. I never had a period, was finally able to lose the 20 pounds I had been working on, and didn't have any other symptom until that last year I was on it. I suffer from Depression anyways, but I feel that the Depo kept me down. (Normally, I can control it with a good diet and exercise) 

The month I stopped Depo, I was able to get out of my depression like normal. My periods were back to normal by my second cycle and I had no problems conceiving Keira a year and a half later (we weren't trying, but not preventing).

I'd totally recommend it if it's an option - but if you don't do well with hormonal BC you might want to look into the other IUD instead.

Boing214

I did have the depo shot and like PP said I gained a lot of weight from it. But it also made me a heinous bitch, and I'm really very easygoing naturally. I react funny to hormones though, the shot made me a bitch and the patch made me paranoid, it was bad.

SallySunrise

I think hormone free is sounding more and more appealing. @mrsmckinky, I preach TCOYF to any woman who will listen! I charted for a good two years, both TTC and TTA. I think natural family planning is awesome, I just don't want to do the work anymore. LOL. Plus, it only takes one whacky cycle to surprise you, and knowing my body, we'd get surprised for sure.

SallySunrise

Well shit, sounds like there is NO good option! Is it silly to be waiting for the big snip til we get older? We are sure sure sure we are done... But we're only 27 and 28. I know it's morbid, but I think, what if the kids and I both die in a car wreck or something? Twenty-eight is plenty young, MH could totally start over. I'd hate for him not to have that option! Crazy? Should we just do it?

DeniseRN

It's not just me!!!! I'm so glad y'all validated me as my (now former) OB blew me off and basically said it was me and not Mirena. The options for no hormones are paraguard, Essure, vasectomy or tubal ligation. I'm not sure which we are doing. I'm hoping for vasectomy bc it's Hs turn to deal w BC

nesenotes

I've used depo before and DO NOT reccommend it! It was awful. It made me really psycho bsc. That's why we use condoms now. Its not super fun but its hormone free.

Boing214

nesenotes said:

I've used depo before and DO NOT reccommend it! It was awful. It made me really psycho bsc. That's why we use condoms now. Its not super fun but its hormone free.

I'm just thankful I'm not the only one this happened with. LOL

BubbaJug

I did depo for years. I didn't have any weight gain or acne or the bsc's. I would recommend it if you don't hate the idea of going to the Dr every 3 months to get the shot. It took me about 9 months to get my cycle back after stopping.

elizdg

Hmmm... Reading all these side effects with Mirena, I'm definitely thinking that this is where my issues are coming from. My Mirena was free though since I had met my deductible last year. I don't know if I can justify spending money on a new bc when I didn't pay for this one, but it's definitely something I'm going to check into. What would I do without you ladies?

zyas

I use

SallySunrise said:

@MissMusic I've heard of the depo shot, but I don't think I know a single person who has actually used it! Anyone here?? I'd like to know that at least one person was happy with it before I consider it for myself, kwim?

I used the depo for years, probably for 5 or 6 years. I had no complications or side effects at all. The only reason I went off it was because my dr said if I wanted to plan on having kids in the next few years I shouldn't be on it any longer. Once we are finished having kids I will probably go back on it.

Are you still breast feeding? Once I finished BF I went back on the Nuva ring. Another one that I have not had side effects with. Love it!

lada85

I was exactly the same way with the Mirena. Crazy much that little thing messes with your body. As soon as I got it out I felt better(which was probably in my head) but within 2 days I started feeling back to my normal self again. I sure hope you start to feel better when it comes out.

ashleynaka

Ugh!  Sorry you are experiencing the yuckiness of Mirena.  I was at my annual appt. today and was staring at the Mirena demo thing on the counter.  I don't think I would want something foreign in my body, but like you, the pill killed my drive (although, not nearly as much as bf is killing it, sheesh!).  

Believe it or not, the only pill that worked great and gave me no side effects was BeYaz which is in the Yaz family (I am sure you've heard of all the lawsuits).  

My sister, who is an OB/GYN MD uses Nuva and loves it, but it's not for everyone.

shawnie13

I was on the depo shot in my early 20's. I gained a bunch of weight and had horrific acne (I still have some scars). It's like its first line of defense against pregnancy was making me hideous and ensuring no one wanted to touch me :P All kidding aside, those were the only side effects I had and it was nice not having to remember to take a pill every day.

aylafsu88

hijinx said:

I can't do the hormonal BC options so we're doing charting/condoms. Well right now it's more guessing and condoms since I can't bring myself to actually temp and chart. I charted a lot before conceiving DS so I have an idea of how my body operates and I feel comfortable with what we're doing. Charting to avoid isn't actually as scary as it sounds.

I was going to suggest this as well. I hate BC pills and they kill my sex drive.  I started charting as we are TTC and found it to be easy.  Now that I have an idea of how my cycles work and when I normally ovulate I will stick to this method once we are done having kids.  Our plan would be to abstain from sex around the couple day I would normally ovulate and then use condoms until I confirm ovulation.  I temp, monitor CM, and use OPKs.

SallySunrise

Thanks so much ladies. I'm not sure what I'll do, but you've given me a lot to think about! I appreciate all the input.

Barefoot84

This exists: https://www.ladycomputer.com/   I used it for over a year, and it was okay, but relatively hard to program, and I left the country twice and didn't bring it to me and I had to restart the period where the machine gets to know your body twice. I can't say I absolutely loved it, but I took it out yesterday to start using it again. However, it's a pretty expensive solution, and I'm pretty sure there's an app that would do the same thing.

hokiemama06

Before TTC, I was on the NuvaRing and loved it.  Nothing to remember, just in and out once a month.  When we decided to TTC, I was back to regular immediately.  I'd highly recommend it.