IUD copper coil vs mirena coil - personal experiences??

[lightningpeach]

After having last DC, I need to go back on contraception but am still breastfeeding. The progesterone only pill is not as effective as I would like so doctors have recommended the copper or mirena coil. Ive looked through pros and cons and looks like the mirena is better long term however if I can avoid put additional hormones into my body it would be better.

What are people's personal experiences with either of these?

I had a copper coil for around 8 years. Yes my periods were heavy but not painful and tbh I have heavy periods anyway so not sure the coil made them much worse.
I dislike hormones (fake ones) and get migraines from the pill etc so the copper coil was best for me. Not nice to get fitted (though I was only a few weeks PP) but painless to remove.

@lightningpeach

Thank you for all the replies, very interesting hearing everyone's different experiences. I didn't realise how difficult and painful it can be to have them removed. Is it always difficult to remove? Do they still work if they migrate and can you tell before it comes to remove if it has?

I couldn't feel the strings and got a scan and xray to check its position. As it was still in the correct place it was left where it was until it was time to remove it.

No it doesn't always keep working if it's migrated so I had to take the mini pill alongside it until the scan confirmed it was still there.

I had a Kyleena put in a few months ago. It’s like the Mirena but a lower dose of progesterone so if you don’t have heavy periods it’s great. I have had far fewer side effects than I ever had with the pill. Love it.

I had the mirena inserted two months ago after being worried about it for years. It was suggested a long time ago as I had such heavy periods I had severe anaemia needing a transfusion and everything. I put it off though having heard some bad stories. I decided to give it a go though, speaking to a lot of female medical professionals and accepting that a lot of what I read online was naturally biased by people who had had bad experiences from it as they are more likely to be posting online about it!

Anyway, the insertion was fine. I was nervous but I felt barely anything, pretty much the same as a smear. I have had two children but both via CS so my cervix has never been ‘used’ by child birth as it were. For my first period, due two weeks after insertion, I got minimal bleeding. I think I did get a bit of PMS but then that soon went. Since then I have had rhe odd bit of spotting. what would be my second period is due now. I feel a bit bloated but no real emotional stuff which is nice. No weight gain, no obvious hormonal changes. Obviously it’s still early days but I’m really glad I’ve had it so far.

I have had two copper coils and have had great experiences x periods are lighter and less painful than they were before but everyone seems to respond differently, even the same person to two different copper coils! So you really won't know until you try xxx

I didn't want hormones either (implant made me feel so ill) so had a copper coil for 4 years, then removed to have my youngest DD. No issues. After she was born I had a copper put back in, then periods got heavier and heavier and by year 6 I couldn't take anymore. I think had 2 years nothing. I decided to try the mirena about 18 months ago and I'm so glad I did, I don't have the same hormone symptoms and my periods are next to nothing.

I am very wary about hormone contraception. My migraines are linked to hormones.

I had 1 copper coil. Horrendous periods.

Am now on my 4th merina. Love them. Virtually no periods, which is liberating. No change to my migraines. No mood issues.

Having any coil fitted is horrible. But each coil lasts for years.

There are side effects and risks. As with all contraception. This discusses risks but not in terms of % of women. I don't know a reputable website that does.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception/ius-intrauterine-system/

With merina, it seems to be a bit marmite.

Does anyone get really paranoid about whether it's moved?! I feel like I might be checking constantly to see if the strings have moved up/down! How often to they need to be checked by your gp (or nurse if they can do this)?

Removal has always been easy for me, they just tug the lines and it's out. Fitting bit like a smear. Get someone experienced to do it. Who does loads not a GP who does a few occasionally.

You just check them yourself, I went once when the strings felt much longer to see if it had moved. To be honest I forget and probably check every couple of months

@Gunpowder

I had a Kyleena put in a few months ago. It’s like the Mirena but a lower dose of progesterone so if you don’t have heavy periods it’s great. I have had far fewer side effects than I ever had with the pill. Love it.

This sounds like it might be a good compromise, less progesterone so hopefully less side effects. How do you know when they stop being effective? Is there a standard time period advised for everyone for each brand?

Mirena is 5 years and I think the other one mentioned is 3 years
Copper one varies up to 10 years I think

Oops I'm wrong as Kyleena is also 5 years. Skyla is 3 years
www.verywellhealth.com/kyleena-iud-4119899

Copper are usually 5 or 10. I've had 2 x 5 year ones and they got a 10 year one in last time
Last fitting weirdly wasn't very painful but I had a cervix reaction and went faint/sick after which hasn't happened before. They put my head down on the bed, turned a fan on, said my blood pressure had dropped and I had some lucozade and was fine 10 mins after. It wasn't scary at all, I was just a bit embarrassed even though they said it's very common!

@lightningpeach I constantly panic mine has moved. Sometimes I can't feel the strings but that's because they are easier to find at certain times of your cycle due to the position of your cervix.

I had the copper coil. Awful periods. Flooding and so painful. Had the mirena for ten years. No periods. It was great. But I’m the last few years I got terrible recurring BV. Disappeared after I took it out.

@lightningpeach

Does anyone get really paranoid about whether it's moved?! I feel like I might be checking constantly to see if the strings have moved up/down! How often to they need to be checked by your gp (or nurse if they can do this)?

I had my strings cut as my husband was feeling them (they tell you to have sex as it makes them curl up but he was still feeling them). My first indication was pain. It had found its way up into my uterus and hurt like all hell. Every time I peed it was like razor blades. Had a scan after the practice nurse at the family clinic couldn't find it and it could not be fished out except in surgery. But we were done having children so my husband booked a vasectomy after that. They offered to put in another one whilst I was under having the other one dug out but I declined. He had the snip a month later and we used condoms in between.

I had Mirena coil after DC2 while waiting for appt to be sterilised.

DC3 is 9 next week!!

I had mirena after DC2 birth . It was great for 2 years, hardly any bleeding. However meant the only clue I was pregnant was when hyperemesis gravidarum kicked in at 9 weeks.... DC3 due any day now....
They think the coil migrated and has been absorbed by the placenta.

I had the mirena inserted a few weeks ago during a laparoscopy to cut out loads of endometriosis. So far so good, hadn't really thought about when it comes time to remove it but I was having such heavy periods (last one was 73 days) that anything is better than that!

I went on the copper coil because I have had poor reactions to hormonal contraception historically.
In all honesty it was awful, I couldn't do the school run without bleeding through an ultra tampon - school is a ten minute walk away and I couldn't even get halfway some days.
As well as being exceptionally heavy my periods were almost constant. In the nine months I had it in I would bleed for three weeks out of four. In the end, I had it removed and my husband had a vasectomy. Best decision ever

@lightningpeach my insertion and removal of the copper coil was painless. It you couldn't pay me to have it again.

*but you couldn't pay me to have it again

I’m on something like my 6th marina, but the first went in in 1994. I’ve not had a period since then, and my current and last one is part of my HRT. I have never had trouble having them removed, and the only one that was a bit of an issue to get in was my last which is not unusual as I was pretty menopausal by then which affects your cervix.

Before children I had a couple of copper coils and found they made my periods much heavier.