Mirena coil experiences please!

[JanS17]

I’m getting the mirena coil in a few weeks and I’m really anxious about the insertion! Everyone I’ve spoken to has told me it’s very painful and traumatic. Does anyone have any experiences to share, both of insertion and of having the coil? I just want to be prepared…

When they "sounded" my uterus it was excruciating, it gave me anxiety attacks from hell, and killed my libido. Worst thing I ever did. I had it from age 40-42 (had two pregnancies and normal births 10 years prior).

I have a pinhole cervix so had mine done as part of another procedure. There is no way they'd have got that in there without me being under a GA!

It clearly does work for lots of women, it really didn't for me. No change to my periods and made me moody, homicidal and suicidal. I always said the reason it worked as contraception was because it made me such a fucking nasty bitch. If my husband had left me in that time I wouldn't have blamed him, I was utterly horrendous and not myself.

Not everyone's experience, obviously, but it's not the universal panacea. Just be aware of that.

I rejoiced the day I decided to get it removed.

It seems to vary a lot. I've had one in, and I genuinely didn't feel a thing - the slight discomfort of having a speculum inserted (as in a smear test), but absolutely no sharp pain or cramping either during or afterwards. And no problems at all since. I took painkillers (Ponstan, I think) an hour before the procedure.

As a GP I'm also a trained inserter so I've been at the other end of the couch on many occasions. Most women cope absolutely fine and are surprised at how straightforward it all is. A small proportion find it very uncomfortable, but it's certainly not the norm.

I had one put in a month ago, I honestly didn't even feel it go in. I asked the nurse not to tell me what she was doing and I think that helped. I didn't have any bleeding for the first two weeks then my period started 3 days earlier than normal and has lasted 12 days so far, getting lighter every day.

I’m on my third now. First one was inserted by a GP and was painful. And felt like I would faint afterwards.

The others have been put in at a sexual health clinic which was much better. Still not nice but overall a better experience.

And no periods and only occasional spotting since 2008 has been great.

I’m on my 4th & it is now working nicely alongside my HRT. I wouldn’t use any other contraception to be honest. I’ve had painful insertions and ones I haven’t noticed. It depends how you feel on the day and the skill of the professional. I’ve had them replaced whilst on shift and gone back to work. Once I did have to go home due to cramping.

Mirena releases a tiny amount of hormone that is basically localised to the lining of your uterus. You are very unlucky to experience side effects (of course people will experience these, it’s inevitable). We were taught that generally (again, not always) any side effects were not in fact related to the IUD.

I’ve had 2 and they were very different experiences. The first about 6 years ago I hardly felt go in however I had awful dragging sensations (like it was pushing down on my cervix, as my labour felt!) and started getting vertigo when swimming, so I had it removed after about 3-4 months. The second time was last September, I was really hesitant about trying it again but felt it would be the easier option for the progesterone component of HRT that I had recently started and decide to give it another go after discussing with the nurse, the insertion felt a lot more painful (sharper) partly I think as the GP was aware of the previous issue and wanted to get it far enough up into the uterus, the period pain cramping feeling after insertion lasted around 10 days (I didn’t have this with the first one). On the positive side I can’t feel this one and no vertigo so far, my periods are very light now after having terrible peri menopausal flooding before but it did take around 8months for this to settle.

Thank you that’s really good to know, I’ve heard so many horror stories it’s good to know that’s not the norm!

Thanks all for sharing your experiences, I’m feeling better about it now!

I have had one child but had an emergency c-section so my cervix hasn’t been stretched by childbirth… hopefully insertion will be straightforward!

It can be extremely painful for some people, including me. A midwife I knew passed out when she had hers changed. I had to have a general anaesthetic to have my last one removed as it got stuck and I was in agony when they tried. It was like childbirth.

Make sure you take some paracetamol before you have it fitted, and if it's too painful, tell them.

I had a vasovagal episode when mine was inserted making me feeling horribly faint, hot and dizzy.

I still had heavy periods with it in so had it taken out after 5 years, and had another vasovagal episode while that was being done.

I will not entertain having another.

So I got my coil fitted today. It was unpleasant but not horrendous, and over quickly. Now just having cramps like a bad period and feeling a bit icky but hopefully that won’t last.

They’ve told me it can last 6 years instead of 5. Apparently since Covid loads of people left them in longer and they worked fine so they changed the guidance to 6 years!

Great update op. Well done your cervix, glad it cooperated

Great op, I've had mine in 3 weeks now. I'm having my first period which is super light compared to normal. Ive had some spotting on and off past 3 weeks and my face has broken out a little with acne. Hoping that all calms down. I have put on 6lbs I am super hungry but I feel this is maybe calming down now so I'm going to give myself a kick up the butt. Mood wise in on so far, which im grateful for.

I had it done under a general anaesthetic as I've not had kids and was told it would be very painful. It was removed without any anaesthetic at all - a bit of a shock but nothing too bad.