Mirena coil vs endometrial ablation? Any advice welcome please.

[Sarannie]

Hi, I'm 45 and have been having horrendous periods for a while now - flooding, v painful and I'm anaemic most of the time as the iron pills can't seem to keep up.
I've been for a gynae appointment today and the Mirena coil (which I've had before) was heavily pushed at me. When I had it before I bled all the time, not much but enough to be very annoying. I had it removed after 8 months. The consultant said I should have persevered but I couldn't stand it any longer.
The other option was endometrial ablation and she said 'only 75% of our patients are happy with the result....'. and seemed to be trying to put me off it.
She took a uterine biopsy (which hurt like hell!) and said result would be 4 weeks.
I asked for time to think about it as I'm so unsure about having another Mirena.
Any advice on either would be much appreciated.
Thanks

lapsed that sounds ideal. My GP had a coil and model of a womb and showed me what she does. She was very enthusiastic. I wonder if I can persuade them to do both. I will try. After my thyroid medication has kicked in.

Mu Dm had what you had op.

Tried a coil and it was horrid. She then had 2 ablations. They both worled but neither 'lasted' so she's just had a hysterectomy. Best thing for her though and she's totally relieved. No more faffing with coild/hormones/ops. No more uterus-related problems!

Hope the ablation works for you

And even if it doesn't, the problem can still be fixed eventually.

I had an EA 2 years ago aged 40 for really heavy periods.

I have refused a coil at every step. I have researched the coil and there was nothing any consultant could say that would have made me re-consider.

Sadly, I was one of a few percentage wise that the EA didn't work for. I had mine done under general as a day patient but was in a bit longer due to some issues in recovery after surgery.

I had mine done on a Tuesday and was back at work on the Friday.

10 days later I had a period and with the exception that it stopped flooding, it was just as heavy as they had always been. I saw the consultant again who said to me he knew it hadn't worked - I knew it hadn't worked but for them to consider the next step of a hysterectomy, there had to be a 6 month diary of my symptoms.

Hysterectomy was carried out just over a year ago at age 42. The best thing I ever did.

The hysterectomy is interesting too. I had a thread about endometriosis a short while ago, in it I mentioned the gynae said there may still be pain afterwards. I was a bit sceptical as I had never heard that before. Turns out he knows what he is talking about. So I feel a bit cautious about that now. I am now separating in my head my heavy periods from my endo. They may be 2 separate issues. I will be furious if my thyroid medication fixes my heavy period (relieved too, of course) because I have tried to get medication for it numerous times. Although the gp has steamrollered me a bit this time, I feel being on MN and getting all this info has made me more confident about what I want to happen.

mea culpa again i made a mistake in the latin name of this plant i was recommending,it's alchemilla glabra not achillea.

Actually, i tried achillea millefolium too, it's also a "women's tea" plant, common name = yarrow.

a qualified herbalist (nhs employed interestingly enough) told me it "dries things out", and indeed a few years back i found an endometriosis thread where the sufferers controlled their endo with capsules of the whole plant = leaves and flowerrs dried.
You need to take several capsules and continuously, not like the ladies mantle tea.

if you would be interested in trying this tea, this plant is very common, found in fields everywhere, take a look on the net i'm sure you've seen it nearby.
you would need to pick the white flowers variety.

Lady's mantle too is pretty easy to find, i once nicked some from a london park!!!

ghostinthecanvas yes the thing is, usually heavy bleeding has to do with hormonal imbalance, and despite what docs assert, thyroid hormones and ovarian hormones have a link and when one is out of synch soon so is the other.

it seems to me anything that redress the hormone imbalance issue is the priority but how to achieve it? In the end, ablation, coil, hysterectomy + the like just suppress the main symptom not deal with the causes.

Do you think you might be already pre-menopausal?
Have you had the full hormones blood test done?

be careful with hysterectomy, as it's irreversible.

Boobashka it's the bane of the middle aged woman's life.
i know what you mean with the heavy periods, but it is not correct that you cannot try hormones (i'm in the same boat i cannot take hormone pills due to genetics)

ask your doctor about hormonal gel/cream (progesterone0 that is not harmful, and apparently heavy bleeding is due to too much oestro and too little progesterone.

I refer you to the latest issue of "women's health" paper magazine.if i can quote next time i'm online i will.

though you might have a job with your gp if this is what you need...

gps grrrr

marlena what would you suggest for the best way to even out hormone levels?
Not sure I will be able to get a copy of the magazine you mention and I need some info as struggling with periods/cyst/hormones/weight gain/pmt etc.

Hi I'm 44 and had the mirena coil fitted in 2009 it was fantastic no more periods no pain, however I started putting weight on, really bad mood swings, headaches, cravings like you wouldn't believe, fatigue so I asked for it taken out, my weight started to drop off and I felt I had a little more energy however the pain was so bad I had to go back to the GP who advised to have the coil fitted again :( after about 6months all the symptoms started up again so I went back to the GP who referred me to the gynae, I am now having the mirena taken out again and I'm having the novasure done tomorrow. Has anyone had the same experience as me if so please let me know your outcome.