Hello Girls, I have read many of the stories in this thread and think can relate to most of the experiences that many of you have been complaining of although I'm a lot older than most of you here. I currently have a Mirena fitted and this is my second one since I hit the perimenopause at 45.
I was experiencing heavy and prolonged bleeding at intervals of only 10 days and occasionally episodes of severe cramps of menstrual type pain often not associated with heavy bleeding, in fact, quite the opposite. This was all getting too much and my GP offered me a Mirena coil as a way of regulating this. I had the coil fitted and (after 18mths of spotting and brown discharge) things settled. Over that time I gained 2 dress sizes, I was miserable, moody, unsociable, 'headachy' and tired. I did not put these two things together and attributed my situation to many other things; such as, my age, my demanding job, my general inactivity outside of work, my children growing up and flying the nest, being in a boring marriage and questioning my love for my husband.
In 2008 (aged 47) I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a double mastectomy and chemotherapy. The chemo produced a chemical menopause from which I had no hope of recovery thus tipping me into a natural menopause as would be expected at my age as I am now 51. My recovery from all the chemo and reconstructive surgery involved a complete re-evaluation of my life and I took this opportunity to diet and exercise on a daily basis and lost over 3st in weight. Since I was lucky in the respect that my cancer was not hormone or genetically linked, I was told it would be safe for me to take HRT as I complained bitterly about lack of sex drive amongst the many other menopausal symptoms. The oestrogen HRT was good and helped a great deal with the hot fluses and sweating episodes and then, after a while, I talked to my GP about getting my Mirena renewed as part of my HRT since I reasoned that the one I had had in situ for the past 4yrs was probably running out of hormones and yes, my sex drive was still poor. She agreed and a year or so ago I had a new one put it......guess what? I have gained weight, I have spotty, unpredictable skin, I have headaches and migraines, backache, lethargy, moodiness, occasionally feel tearful and unreasonable angry over something small, unsocial and frankly, can hardly be bothered with sex anyway so what's the point? I stopped taking the oestrogens about 7 months ago because I was fed up with struggling with all the effects, completely forgetting that I still had the Mirena inside me. Stopping the oestrogen did not result in me getting the hot flushes back, I have had no further such symptoms thus I am concluding that I am now post menopausal.
I have my suspicions that the Mirena was responsible for my getting breast cancer but this is something I will never know or be able to prove. I'm just grateful to be here, thank Goodness for the NHS!
Now I have developed an ovarian cyst, common for ladies of my age yes, but my mum died from ovarian cancer so I'm having my ovaries removed soon. My Gyno doc says I don't need my mirena any more and he will remove it when he operates. Guess what girls, after reading your stories, I'm not going to wait another moment and it's coming out tomorrow!
I am hoping that this will result in positive effects for me and that I will feel better and not worse for my actions.
Good luck to all of you out there.