Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Flip

Original poster

mirena coil - your comments please

24 replies

hermykne · 24/03/2008 16:26

i know its in lots of threads but i dont have the time to read thru all so can i have good & bad points please.
for me its a solution to heavy periods that drag on. however not to keen on the breakthru bleeding that may occur for first 3 months.

so please all commments
plus
i need to lose about 6/8lbs (this is the vanity side coming thru) i am a size 12, so will i have to watch my intake of food?

thanks

OP posts:

Spoo · 24/03/2008 16:40

Bleeding didn't bother me as I thought it was better than getting pregnant. That said I am not period free now (15mnths on), but I am a lot lighter.

Wisteria · 24/03/2008 16:41

It made a good friend of mine have terrible problems with her short term memory - she had it removed because of that in the end but I think it's a rare side effect.

Celery · 24/03/2008 16:46

If you have a tilted womb ( which lots of women have but don't realise ) it can be very painful. I didn't know I had a tilted womb until I had the coil fitted. The GP commented on it, but didn't say anything about possible side effected. The thing basically dug into the side of my womb for the whole time it was in there. Bending over, and sex, was painful. I also slowly became more and more depressed on it. Made me realise I can't do ANY form of hormonal contraception at all.

Sorry I can't be more positive.

Celery · 24/03/2008 16:46

effects, not effected.

solo · 24/03/2008 16:47

I've had mine almost 12 months and have been bleeding to some degree for the best part of 9 of those months. I'm still breast feeding and can't find an answer as to whether it's likely to stop if I stop bf ing, so will stick with it until Dd is 18 months and off the breast, but if it doesn't stop, then I'm having it taken out I think. It's a drain.
It also gave me greasy hair and acne along my hairline at the time of the month(proper time). I noticed lots of different things.

On the up side though, I have many friends who have used it for years and they rarely have any bleeding and love it, so I doubt there are any guarantees as to what your body will do once it is in place.

Good luck with it.

Celery · 24/03/2008 19:34

I think it's definately worth a try, because I know many women seem to get along fine with it. For those that don't, there don't appear to be any standard side effects, it effects women in many different ways, and the only way to find out if it suits you or not is to give it a try.

The actual insertion and having it taken out was no big deal for me at all. And I had one heavy period after it was in, and then nothing at all until I had it out 8 months later.

qjbtc · 24/03/2008 19:54

It's a very personal thing. There are side effects and I believe that how willing you are to put up with them will depend on how much the benefits out weigh the negatives. If your life is badly affected by heavy periods you may be willing to put up with the side effects if mirena helps.I know several people where this is the case. If you have a sympathetic fpc or gp who is willing to remove it if you dont get on with it then Id give it a try. My family planning clinic were not willing to let me have one unless I was prepared to try it for a year because of the expense... they cost £100.I was concerned about the possible effects on my already horrendous migraines so didn't get one. I had a copper coil for a while and I too could feel it like Celery. My family is complete so I've been sterilised but not answer for everyone I know

Tiggerish · 24/03/2008 20:05

I had one fitted a couple of years ago and have no problems at all. I get a very light af about every 3 months, and occasional spotting in between. They're fab

Tiggerish · 24/03/2008 20:06

it did take a while to settle down though - about 9 months iirc

LoveMyGirls · 24/03/2008 20:11

It has made my periods lighter but they can last for up to 2 weeks then i'll be back on 3 weeks later which is annoying, i'm considering having mine out for this reason.

Original poster

hermykne · 24/03/2008 21:42

really lovemygirls
god mine can linger ofr 10 days so that aint what i want to hear.
hmm, i dont know...

OP posts:

merlotmama · 24/03/2008 22:11

I've just had mine taken out after 6 years. (Left in for an extra year just to tide me over post-menopause). Had it for heavy periods and it was brilliant.

I wasn't prepared for the bleeding after it was put in - 6 weeks, but not heavy, apart from the af in the middle! Then nothing for about a year. Then af started again, regular as clockwork but v light and only lasting a day or two.

I'd give it a go. It was a lifesaver for me, I found the heavy afs v hard to cope with.

bramblebooks · 24/03/2008 22:18

loves mine - although I was a special case and eventually had to have it put in under a general anaesthetic, as 3 goes at the dr's didn't do the trick!

It took a while to settle down - just v. light periods, but nothing like the crippling probs I'd had before.

expatinscotland · 24/03/2008 22:24

if you have had PND or depression which is affected by hormones it may not be for you.

i found out hte hard way that progesten-based contraception is NOT for me - gave me horrible acne, made me bleed constantly, mood swings from hell, greasy hair and weight gain.

lucyellensmum · 24/03/2008 22:59

expat, not long after having my bastard marena coil fitted, i was diagnosed with depression. My doctor insists it is not related because the progesterone release is just local - yeah, right, whatever . Keep thinking about having mine removed but the pill doesnt suit me and i just know i will get pregnant if we rely on condoms.

LynetteScavo · 24/03/2008 23:02

No problems here No peripods either.

expatinscotland · 24/03/2008 23:06

since when is the blood flow to a woman's reproductive organ restricted to just that part of her body is what i'd ask your doctor, lucy?

it's a synthetic hormone, and since it gets into your bloodstream, it goes EVERYWHERE.

if i had 5p for everytime a doctor has trotted out that line of bollocks about the coil, i'd be rich.

suzywong · 24/03/2008 23:24

I have it for the same reasons as merlotmama
only had it for a month and I would like to be replicating her post in a year's time too.

However, it is making me shed hair, or that may just be in sympathy to the northern equinox, I know not.

Anything is better than gory, gory periods that made me seriously anaemic.

lucyellensmum · 24/03/2008 23:41

yes expat, you are right, howevever i have a better argument still - the whole menstural system works on feedback mechanisms, involving the ovaries, womb and pituatary gland, and probably some more things that i can't actually remember. So when a certain hormone reaches a threshold it effects the production of other hormones, either locally or elsewhere, i don't know why ive not actually had the balls to confront my doctor with this? Although i did have "issues" before the coil, which counter my argument.

Doctors do assume people are stupid though - i remember going to a specialist with my mother once who told her her body was producing a protein that is only found in rats. Even then i didn't have the bottle to say, "you fucking idiot - that would make her a walking miracle" and secondly, the protein he was talking about is necessary and essential to everyone, i happened to know that it was just she was producing too much. Wanker, he was trying to dumb down, but heavens there is dumbing down and downright bullshit. I just sat there thinking, shit, i know it was a few years ago when i did my biochemistry degree, but i think i might have remembered that!!! Sorry, total hijack - can't believe i didnt challenge him

expatinscotland · 24/03/2008 23:45

i challenge them. because that's just STUPID, to think you can put any amount of synthetic hormone in a person's body and keep it in one place.

however proposed this theory should be lobotomised, not unleashed upon an unsuspecting public to practice medicine.

i mean, you swallow fecking paracetemol and it gets all over the place.

lucyellensmum · 24/03/2008 23:48

There are ways of targeting drugs to specific cells or sites in the body. I am pretty certain that marena coils however don't do this. Starting to think more about having mine out now - hmmm, its going to keep me awake now

expatinscotland · 24/03/2008 23:52

mirena releases hormone over time into the womb, daily.

how is it kept exclusively in that area?

some people are so sensitive to hormones.

solo · 24/03/2008 23:58

Blimey suzywong, I wonder if the Mirena is why I've got the thickest hair I've ever had!!! I guess it could affect hair in different ways couldn't it?

Psychomum5 · 25/03/2008 00:02

I have the mirena coil, and altho it is working for me right now, I would never have chosen to have it, or even choose to have it again!!!

I was encouraged because I suffer from endometriosis, and while uder a general for lots f gynae surgery they put it in!(they thought, and still think, that mirena coil is the best treatment for endo!)

anyhoo....I suffered weight gain/alleriges/mod swings/hot flushes/sickness/itchy skin/all sorts of things.....and the doc fobbed me off and I was made to feel as tho I was going mad!!!

NOW THO

I have lost the weight and am back to pre-pregnancy size(altho that is in part to car accidents and me not eating), I have little in the way of periods (well, as long as DD1 is not PMT'ing that is), I have normal PMT, I have no pain with periods, and no flooding...and also, just feel generally better....no dragging/no leg pain/no sickness.

I admot tho, all that could have improved anyhow over time, but it has co-incided with the mirena so will gibe it the credit....but still.....will not be having another!

Flip