Happy with my Mirena coil BUT......

[lulumama]

periods virtually non existent.. usually have a day or two of spotting.. this month i was a few days late..and got quite anxious. i know it is reliable contraception, but the very very light periods do make me worry a bit.

what are the alternatives? apart from sterilisation

do you have periods with the copper coil? and is it as effective

cannot take Pill due to history of DVT in the family

[TotalChaos]

copper coil is I believe slightly less effective than mirena. You still have regular periods with copper coil, they may be heavier because of the coil.

[lulumama]

hmmmm.. used to have heavy periods, don;t want to go back to that.. will have a chat with nurse when i go back for my smear. thanks !

[CarGirl]

you don't actually get proper periods with the mirena they are more like a break through bleed IYSWIM, so don't rely on them as an indicator of whether being pregnant or not?

[Bumblelion]

I have had the mirena coil for nearly 5 years (due to have it changed in October) and my periods stopped completely after about 3 months. Now don't have a breakthrough bleed or anything.

[lulumama]

do not say that cargirl!!!!!!

i have spotting/breakthrough every 28 days or so , so for me, having that seems to be my indicator that i am not with child!

no other PG symptoms here !

[CarGirl]

the mirena is the most effective form of contraception apart from a abstinence & sterlisation I believe.

[CarGirl]

the mirena is the most effective form of contraception apart from a abstinence & sterlisation I believe.

[lulumama]

ooh. you have said that twice for effect !

i know, that is why i chose it!

problem is, i am super super fertile, so i do worry..

thikn i will avoid fertile times too

DH won;t have the snip, and TBH, we are too young.

[CarGirl]

lulumama same here but I've had mine removed because of the side affects.

It's all a bit scarey now tbh.

[lulumama]

oh . so what you doing instead, if you don;t mind telling me?

i have no side effects, so there are many positives to having the coil ,it is whether i can take the stress of thinking i might be pregnant every month!

[crochetdiva]

lulumama - I too am super-fertile - and that's why I went for a mirena, as it's the most reliable method of contraception.

Not having periods freaked me out at first, but now, I don't even notice.

If you are really that worried about getting pg, couldn't you take your temperature every morning just to be sure?

[CarGirl]

back to using condoms, desperately hoping dh will be driven to having the snip.

I:ve either been pregnant, bf or had the mirena for 6.5 years so decided I want to have a hormone break to determine whether or not the mirena is giving me side affects - hellish PMT for weeks on end and then none for a few months etc, or whether it's just me!

I really don't want to do anything as final as sterilisation "just in case" but I really can't see me ever getting broody again.

[lulumama]

thanks cargirl. i am absollutely sure we don;t want anymore DCs, but too young for sterilisation. just think god forbid something happened to one of the DCs or to DH

crochetdiva, i don;t know what to look for in terms of temperature

[CarGirl]

I had it all planned, 2 mirena coils to take me up to 44 and then sterilisation.......I'll give myself a couple of years then potentially have another one.

I'm hopeful that my sex drive will return now that the coil is out - perhaps that is how it really works your sex drive severely diminishes!

[lulumama]

best laid plans and all that..

i think i will stick with it..

[Pinkveto]

Am going for mirena after this baby precisely because of very light "periods"!! Sounds brilliant!

[CarGirl]

first proper period again was a bit yuk although on the mirena they were 7/8 days (very light) long even after 2.5 years so not great in that respect for me.

[oldcrock]

I've had the Mirena for about 10 months, no periods at all now. Feels a bit strange tbh but you can get used to it! Only problem for me has been weight gain, nearly a stone since having it put in. No diet seems to shift it at all. And I still get quite bad PMT so no improvement there either... Tempted by the sterilisation option as I'm not inclined to have any more....

[crochetdiva]

With the temperature thing, you take your temp. every morning at the same time, and plot it - when your temperature goes up by a couple of 10ths of a degree, then you've ovulated.

I used this book both to help me avoid pregnancy, and also to achieve pregnancies the last 3 times.

If you have your coil out, you could also use the cm method ...

I can't use condoms, as I'm allergic to latex ... and to spermicide!

[lulumama]

thanks crochet.. i don;t think i could do temping and charting.. am just too fertile and would be too scared. but thank you for the info and the link. i am also not organised enough !

[Flamesparrow]

I have a copper coil, and periods were heavier for the first 6 months, but then settled down.

Saying that though, my strings are currently awol, I'm awaiting a scan to find out if it is in the right place, have a neg test yesterday but my norks are HUGE and I have been feeling sick since the start of the week

So, reading that back, not too sure I advise it

if there is a problem, then I think we are officially screwed. I can't do hormones, I don't trust condoms enough (another one who gets looked at to become pregnant), do they still do diaphragms?

[lulumama]

oh bloody hell flame!! it is a bit of a mare, no?

have actually remembered that at my smear, the nurse said my coil was in situ still worry though, esepcially as fletch got pregnant with the coil !

maybe abstinence is the answer?

[Flamesparrow]

but I like sex!

I would have conceived around the 5th, not due until Monday at absolute latest (5 week cycle but still ovulate at 28 day cycle time iyswim). It would have shown up on a test yesterday wouldn't it???

Had a clinic appointment on Tuesday, realised at the weekend I couldn't feel my strings (am paranoid so check every now and then!) so I asked the doctor to check.... he couldn't find em either. So he told me to phone GP to arrange scan, gp receptionist said to call family planning, they say they can't sort scans on my say so so I now have to be prodded again on Saturday to find the thing!

[frazzledgirl]

Flame, I 'lost' my Mirena a few months ago (lulu in fact may remember, she was on my panicky thread giving moral support IIRC...).

I was told they're infintely more likely to head up than out, esp without you noticing.

Mine's still in, tho not in place, so dr advised leaving it until I'm ready to try for another DC. At which point it may need to be removed under GA, but I'm trying not to think about that at the moment.

TBH, I'm getting breakthrough bleeds with this one and never had anything with the other two, and it's driving me crazy - I LIKED not bleeding at all.

Lulu, how about investing in a pack of those el cheapo tests from eBay and just testing yourself every month? Works out at a few pence a time.

[Flamesparrow]

where mine is copper apparently the positioning is fairly important, so if it has shifted too far up it won't be doing its job.