Kyleena Implant - Fed up girlfriend, please help!

[Libertyornot]

Hi ladies of Mumsnet,

I'm really reaching out for help here, I don't know where else to turn to, to hear from other peoples experience.

My girlfriend (25) had the Kyleena implant put in about 3 weeks ago. Ever since then, she's not been quite right. She has been up and down emotions wise, (more down than up!) Constant feeling of being bloated, bleeding a lot, back aches, fatigued and cramping, total hell for her.

Shes concerned they didn't fit it correctly, as she cannot feel the strings as you're supposed to, and due to the reasons stated above. I know they are all common side effects of it, and perhaps this is just a case of it needing to settle down and the body to adjust and we haven't given it enough time.

She has an appt with the Dr to have a checkup on it, but that's not until next week.

It's putting a huge strain on her, and I hate seeing her feel so depressed and fed up. She's not her usual self understandably and I'm doing everything I can to support her in as much as I can do. Has anyone else had this implant or similar, and had a similar experience. Any advice is so so welcome right now.

Thank you!

I had a mirena coil which was an absolute disaster - many of the things you mentioned, plus hours of intense contractions every day. They cut the strings too short so when they finally agreed to take it out (made me wait 3 months first) they couldn’t get it out. Ended up waiting to have it removed under general anaesthetic after a few attempts that were very traumatic for me - took about 12 months to get the thing out.

Progesterone really impacts my mental health too.

If I were her, I’d be insisting they remove it - it’s not working out, it’s causing pain and mental health issues and she shouldn’t have to wait for it to “settle down”.

She might be better on a combined pill (they work better for me anyway).

And I hate to say it but (assuming you’re a man) go with her when she asks to have it removed - sadly I still only get taken seriously by doctors if my husband is with me!

Thank you for the response @SinkGirl - appreciated.

I'll pass this on to my gf and see what she's says. Sorry you had such an awful experience, sounds terrible!

Anyone else had similar or can advise too?

In my experience she needs to decide what she wants to do and may need to fight for it. If she wants it out and to try an alternative she needs to be clear. Unfortunately GP dependent she's likely to be told to wait it out, to try for a bit longer to give her body a chance to get used to the hormones.

I have the implant in my arm and am Ok with that but didn't get on with the depo shot.

@Libertyornot

Thank you for the response *@SinkGirl* - appreciated.

I'll pass this on to my gf and see what she's says. Sorry you had such an awful experience, sounds terrible!

Anyone else had similar or can advise too?

What other advice are you looking for

It's clear your gf needs to get this implant out ASAP as it's damaging her. Even if someone comes on saying they waited for it to settle why should she have to endure what she's going through now

This bit isn't aimed at you OP but I just hate how women are expected to automatically endure things around artificial contraception and their experiences just swept aside/belittled in a sexist way, in a way that would never be done to men.
They're expected to just get on with pumping their bodies with unnecessary hormones and/or foreign bodies and take on all the potential side effects and risks including cancers and blood clots (which are often not explained to them). Natural family planning is much better.

^SinkGirl

I had a mirena coil which was an absolute disaster - many of the things you mentioned, plus hours of intense contractions every day. They cut the strings too short so when they finally agreed to take it out (made me wait 3 months first) they couldn’t get it out. Ended up waiting to have it removed under general anaesthetic after a few attempts that were very traumatic for me - took about 12 months to get the thing out.

Progesterone really impacts my mental health too.

If I were her, I’d be insisting they remove it - it’s not working out, it’s causing pain and mental health issues and she shouldn’t have to wait for it to “settle down”.

She might be better on a combined pill (they work better for me anyway).

And I hate to say it but (assuming you’re a man) go with her when she asks to have it removed - sadly I still only get taken seriously by doctors if my husband is with me!^

I had exactly the experience that SinkGirl had, and the pain and low mood that your gf has. The doctor couldn't locate it and I had to go under general to have it taken out. It also affected my fertility for 18 months after they eventually deigned to remove it (a nice fact that the doctors only shared with me after 18 months of conception worries). Hormonal contraception can be so miserable.

I had the Mirena coil too and it was terrible for the first while, but finally settled after about 6 weeks then it was great - no pain etc and although the strings had "disappeared" it came out without any problems.