Mirena coil age 51 - yes or no ?

[DinosaurDiana]

My periods are pretty regular but I get very heavy day 2 and 3.
I move around for work, so knowing how close to a loo I am going to be is a worry on those days.
I really just don’t need periods any more, and my ferritin was in my boots recently. I expected to be offered a coil TBH, but no.
Should I ask for one ? I’ve read about punctured wombs, spotting and bleeding being worse , so I’m not sure if I should or not ?

I'm the same age as you and I'm having my 5th and final one fitted a week on Friday. I've not had periods for over 20 years. Love my coil!

At 51, no I don't think I would. I got flooding for 4 months solid. I was on mat leave so could handle it at home, but work would have been tricky as I'm a nurse and have very very few opportunities to go to the toilet at work outside of my scheduled break.

Now it's true that after those 4 months they stopped completely and I havent had one in 4 years - but mine were usually 8-9 days long and heavy anyway which is why I got it in. At 51, approaching peri menopause, I'm not sure I'd bother unless it was that heavy tbh.

If I were you, I'd investigate a combo of Mooncup and period pants on Day 2 and 3 first.

That said, when this wears out, I will 100% get it replaced there and then, but I'm presuming my body won't realise its a different one and it will be seamless.

But when getting it the first time there is definitely a challenging transition period.

Yes. I got mine at 48, changed my life, incredibly freeing

@Mabelface

I'm the same age as you and I'm having my 5th and final one fitted a week on Friday. I've not had periods for over 20 years. Love my coil!

No periods for 20 years ?!!! Sounds like heaven !

I wish I'd had mine fitted years ago! Has freed me so much and saved me so much money in supplies, pain killers, iron supplements... Went from horrendous pain and flooding to no bleeding at all, in the space of maybe 6 weeks. Hallelujah!

How horrendous is it having them fitted and removed ?

The reason I put it off literally for years was fear about having it fitted. But it was absolutely fine, the doc knew how worried I was and used anaesthetic el or something, and it was honestly less painful than a smear. Not had one removed yet but it will be worth it, even if its painful, because its spared me years of regular agony

I am lucky in that I don’t have period pain, it’s just this heavy period for two days and, quite frankly, I’m fed up with having periods if I don’t have to !
Not being able to go where I want on those days because I’m worrying about leaking and being able to change myself. Wearing hot period knickers plus two pads on those nights, waking up multiple times in the night because of the feeling of flooding. I’ve just had enough !
Lat time I went on holiday I couldn’t swim as much as I wanted, and every time I got out of the pool I had to change my tampax. It was just a pain .

Go for it, if you don't get on with it for any reason you can have it removed. But it could very well solve all of those problems for you and at our age it will probably see us through

To the other side of menopause I mean

I've loved mine and will keep having it done until menopause. Which in my family is apparently 60

Thanks. I just suppose that I’m not sure because it’s just heavy period for two days, it’s not as bad as some women get I know.
I’m concerned about making things worse !
I’m going to ring the GP and have a chat as I believe the waiting time has been long due to Covid.

On the waiting list now. Dr said to give it 3 months to settle then, if I’m not happy, she’ll take it out.
She said that in her experience 50% get no periods and 50% get lighter periods.

Did you ever manage to get the mirena fitted and did it help?
I am in a similar position. I’m 48 and have extremely heavy periods caused by uterine polyps. It has made me so anaemic, my ferritin is only 5.
I have been on a year long waiting list for a hysterectomy and fitting of mirena and still no date yet!
I have to say I am nervous about the mirena as there are so many horror stories out there.

I had mine inserted at 56 and wish I’d done it a decade earlier.

But the first month was patchy. Six months in and now and it’s really good.

I'm 51 this year and am 2 years into having another mirena coil in. Wouldn't be without it to be honest. It's my third one. I had such heavy clotty periods before. I get nothing now and it's brilliant.

How horrendous is it having them fitted and removed ?

It's quite uncomfortable I won't lie and I then had cramps pains for a day but nothing paracetamol and resting didn't sort out.

I'm on my 3rd at 48, used to have heavy periods now none at all which is brilliant. Usually I'd say fitted and removed not really much worse than a smear test that went on a bit longer. No cramps or bleeding but last one they couldn't find strings so had to have removed and new one fitted under general . Still worth it though

I was 53 when I finally agreed (reluctantly) to have one fitted. It was to solve my extremely heavy bleeding.

I can't tell you anything about the fitting as it was done under general anaesthetic while I had a hysteroscopy, so I felt nothing.

Unfortunately it didn't work for me. I bled almost solidly for over a year on it and the bleeding was getting worse and worse until January 2021 when I insisted it was removed (doctors had been reluctant up until then and kept saying I should give it more time).

I guess you don't know until you try it though. It obviously does work well for some people, but we are all very different.

I am now on a six month course of Zoladex to try and tip me into menopause by shutting down my rather stubborn ovaries. I'm three months in now. Time will tell if this has worked or not. I will be 55 next month.

I'm on my second and they are FABULOUS. I had no problems with insertion or removal.

Life-changing. You have so much more energy when you no longer have that enormous blood loss, too.

I do really, really need to get my iron levels up and my periods much lighter as I can no longer even climb my stairs without having to take a min or two to gain back my energy!
But even though I feel like crap I still worry about the hormones in the mirena. I’ve never had any form of artifical hormones and was hoping I never would but I don’t really have many appealing options (they won’t do a hysterectomy and they say an ablation should only be offered if the mirena doesn’t work)
I know it’s my anxiety talking but one of my biggest worries with the mirena is a fear of breast cancer. I’ve looked online and the research is mixed, it still seems as though they aren’t really sure. I know it’s a bit of an irrational fear but nonetheless it’s a fear that’s there in my brain and hampering my decision making!